Portugal's
Algarve recently topped a poll by Channel 4's Place in the Sun programme
as the best place to buy overseas, and it's not hard to see why.
This stretch of coastline has all the ingredients necessary for
a second home or even for permanent relocation: sandy beaches, golf
courses, traditional fishing villages and great transport links
with the UK all make it a firm favourite with British buyers. But,
as its popularity drives up prices, is it still possible to find
a bargain
Homes:
From UK to the ALGARVE
LIFE
in a four-bedroomed farmhouse in Bedfordshire might seem idyllic
enough, but Huw Leyshon and Lisa Duke dream of something more.
Systems
analyst Huw and art director Lisa are in their thirties and want
to trade their pounds 350,000 Victorian home for a place in the
Algarve after a savings windfall. Apart from the obvious appeal
of year-round sunshine and glorious beaches, Huw and Lisa hope that
life in Portugal will give them the opportunity to improve their
golf handicap. "We're m ...
THE
INDEPENDENT TRAVELLER'S GUIDE TO The Algarve
THE
Algarve frightens the independent traveller. Package
tours and purpose-built tourist towns litter the naturally stunning
Portuguese southern coast. Its reputation suggests it only caters
for sunstarved pensioners, sex-craved teenagers and golfing bores.
But
we had been promised another side of the Algarve - a family holiday
just an hour's drive from Faro in a villa in the hills. We would
enjoy constant sun, a view, a cook, a maid, a pool and a masseuse.
Afternoon
tee on the Algarve
One
of the more unexpected consequences of a globalized economy has been
the propensity of the British to export our property boom to some
select faraway places. The verdant golf developments of Portugal with
their fairways lined with elegant villas, luxury hotels and sea views
long ago became - in part at least - enclaves which will forever be
England, populated by determined-looking Home Counties types, typically
to be found striding across the greens sporting baseball caps and
those short- ...
