Hot property with a taste of Moroccan life

Marrakech: from €375,000

A luxury golf resort on the outskirts of Marrakech features peat moss from Ireland, grass from Spain and modern villas with a Moroccan twist.

The perennial cool destination of Marrakech is currently undergoing a major overhaul. Luxury hotels, golf resorts and swish housing developments are under construction and the cranes are creeping further out into the desert.

For northern Europeans Morocco has much to offer: mild winters, long hot summers, a stable economy, fantastic cuisine and fascinating culture. So it's no surprise to hear that 4.3 million tourists visited Morocco in the first seven months of 2007 - a 10 per cent increase on last year.

The hot spot destination offers everything from snake charmers and magical souks to luxury spa breaks, swanky restaurants and skiing.

Samanah Country Club is one of a number of luxury resorts taking shape on the outskirts of Marrakech.

The scheme, which is 14kms south of Marrakech, will comprise 580 villas and riads, when complete.

A total of 220 villas were sold in the first phase last year. Buyers were predominantly French, Moroccan and British with one Irish buyer.

Prices start at €375,000 for a three-bedroom villa with around 300sq m (3,230sq ft) of living space. At the top end there is a 1,200sq m (12,916sq ft) villa with seven bedrooms for €2.5 million.

The houses have a strong Moroccan flavour with large airy reception rooms, or salons; high ceilings; lots of terrace space and air conditioning.

The fit-out is luxurious and features lots of traditional details such as open fireplaces in the main salon, woven ceilings, ornate wooden grilles between reception rooms, beaten metal basins and beautiful ceramic tiles. Colours are Moroccan reds, pinks, cornflour blue and earth browns.

All of the villas have a number of interconnected reception rooms. They also all have a bedroom on the ground floor with a separate entrance (ideal accommodation for a home help).

All bedrooms are en suite and each villa comes with its own infinity-style swimming pool and a car port with room for a car and golf buggy.

Fancy houses aside, it's the top notch golf facilities that are likely to be the big selling point. Samanah is being billed as the first private golf club in Morocco by Paris-based developers Groupe Alain Crenn.

Membership of the Nicklaus Design golf course is restricted to owners of property on the resort. Family membership costs €36,000 and annual subs will be around €1,500.

There are 400 workers involved ithe construction of the course which will cost €16 million to build.

A mountain of bags of peat that have come all the way from Newbridge in Co Kildare is an incongruous sight on the site where the desert course is being constructed.

The peat will be used in the construction of the course. Why Irish peat? "Because it's the best," says Robert Rault, director of golf at Samanah.

Grass sprigs are being shipped in from the south of Spain - where there are also dry conditions.

Other amenities will include a pitch and putt course, driving range, tennis courts, a kids club and a plaza with convenience stores (supermarket, bakers and hairdresser) and seven restaurants.

A 170-bedroom hotel, which will be run by the Campbell Gray group, the company behind the super hip One Aldwych hotel in London's Covent Garden.

Water from the villas will be recycled and used to water the plants and golf course, says the developer.

Undeveloped tracts of the resort are now being used as nurseries where 50,000 trees and 400,000 flowers and shrubs, earmarked for lavish landscaping, are being grown.

Buyers at Samanah will own the freehold of their homes.

Property transactions in Morocco are modelled on the French and Spanish systems and buyers can expect to pay taxes of around 5 per cent on the purchase price. This includes notary fees.

Annual maintenance fees will be around 0.5 per cent of the purchase price, according to the developer. Villas in phase two are due to be ready for occupation in October 2009.

For more information contact Bridgehouse International on 0044 2074789253 or see www.bridgehouseinternational.com

Marrakech is a 3.5-hour flight from London. There are no direct flights from Ireland.