No, they haven't stopped spaying! We were bombarded twice in L'Ampolla campo with planes spraying insecticides and one of our dogs got quite ill the first time round. But I think they are spaying because of the tiger mosquito and less because of the flies (which by the way are already appearing again!). The flies tend to come in their thousands if the land that surrounds a finca is not kept clean and the olives are left to rot on the trees! The smell attracts the critters and they then hover around human beings as well as any other living creature. There are products available in hardware stores which smell vile and should be hung in the trees, away from the house. The flies go for the smell and drown in the stuff, which helps to keep them at bay.

If you want to live near the coast, bear in mind the thousands of tourists flocking to the Costa Daurada every summer. They can be more of a pest than the flies!
The hills may be hot etc. but you do get your peace and quiet (sort of, if you ignore the hunters of a winter time and the olive growers the rest of the year).

Avoid Tres Cales as it can be sandwiched between motorway, N340 and railway! The noise is unbearable.

Cretas by the way is fantastic. Well, the surrounding landscape is. Very reminiscent of England and not so many flies up there as far as I can tell. You have the El Ports mountains and the waterfalls and Valderrobres is stunning (one halve of it) - quite Italianate and lovely restored old buildings plus a great castle at the top of the hill. People are much friendlier up there, I suppose because they don't get many tourists. It is becoming more expensive but still very affordable compared to Catalonia. And easier to obtain planning permission. You do need to speak Spanish though as there aren't many Brits or English speakers up there. If you are into mountains, solitude, green hills and vines/oranges then this is the place for you. If you love the beaches then it's obviously not so attractive.....

Sabine