Know what you mean about the french visa, its a total nightmare. Even more so for us that live in the heart of the country!!! The spainish one I believe is easier as there is a consolute office in mancester. I'm a little sketchy as its a while since I look into it but its just a matter of phoning up to book your appointment. When you go have proff of your flight, hotel staying etc, maybe even a bank statement to show your not going to be a drain on their resources and utility bill to prove your uk address. Of course you'll need the wife and her passport as well!
From what I read off the embassy website, just rock up at the consol office, you can go in with her, thay take the passport and post it back to you in 2-3 weeks I believe. It sounded so much easier than the french one to me but of course go onto the spainish embassy website and have a look. The dutch embassy as well is supposed to pretty easy.
All you have to do is enter into the country of issue and then you can travel to other countries. So fly into spain and finish your trip with a long weekend in paris. That was what i was going to do with my missus.
