Aficionados of Spain's sunny south coast will already know of Sotogrande, a chic resort between Estepona and Gibraltar on the Costa del Sol. Formula One team leader Eddie Jordan, restaurateur Patrick Guilbaud, businessman Tony Kilduff and boxer Steve Collins are just a few of the Irish who have villas there.
Prince (formerly known as) and fashion designer Roland Cartier are among the international names who have bought into Sotogrande. Golf, polo and sailing are the main attractions on this exclusive 4,000-acre resort, which is an hour from Malaga and 30 minutes from Gibraltar.
It has three world-class golf courses and the famous Valderama venue borders the development. Manicured verges, heavy planting of palm and bougainvillaea and indigenous groves of cork oak provide an oasis of greenery in this "scorched earth" region of Spain.
Eddie Jordan bought his plot on the river estuary from golfer Tony Jacklin in 1983. His next door neighbour is a polo player from Northern Ireland - Sotogrande is the largest polo venue in Europe.
The Jordans employed Dublin architect Joe Kennedy and Irish artists to design their villa around a Joycean theme. A stained-glass window
incorporating Dublin Bay, Anna Livia and the Wild Geese was created by Roland Mahon and mosaic artist Orla Kaminska made the mosaic floor tiles in a river theme and shipped it out in parts to be pieced together locally.
Much of the artwork around the house is by Alice Nelson who studied in Dun Laoghaire art college. Peter McKenna painted the opening lines of Ulysses on one of the walls. His sister, Suzanne, with Roland Mahon, painted a fantastic night sky scene on the ceiling of the main bedroom upstairs.
"We like it here because it's by far the nicest urbanisation in Europe and it's very safe. I'm so busy with racing in the summer, so the family can go to Spain and enjoy the best weather in Europe," says Jordan. His wife, Marie (a former Ireland basketball champion), has brushed up her golf on the Robert Trent Jones-designed courses and is now playing at county level in Oxford.
Businessman Tony Kilduff likes the area because it has "the best golf and the best weather in Europe". He also points out that it is safe for children and teenagers, with supervised children's clubs and discos. Luxurious three-bedroom villas on the golf courses start at £331,334. They have swimmingpools, landscaped gardens and high-specification fittings. Three of these are available for sale at present.
One exceptional house, Casa Campanilla, set on a prime plot facing the mountains and the Mediterranean, will appeal to wealthier investors. Finished to exacting standards, the split-level house has five bedrooms and bathrooms, a wine cellar, a temperature-controlled larder, garden-level games room and a staff apartment.
Floors are in natural brick and marble, the windows and doors are of solid iroko and there is a huge salt-water pool and tiled barbeque area. The main bedroom, with its marble bathroom and wide balcony, is particularly stunning. The price tag is £946,669.
More affordable properties are to be found in the apartments and townhouses under construction on man-made island sites around the marina. There are one-bedroom up to three-bedroom apartments and three-bedroom and four-bedroom townhouses on offer, selling off plans in advance of completion in the spring.
Prices are range from £118,330 for a 1,000 sq ft one-bedroom unit, up to £442,567 for large three-bedroom penthouse suites.
The townhouses, priced from £194,067, are set in their own landscaped gardens with a communal swimming-pool. The marina area is next to the Sotogrande beach club with pools, restaurants and a variety of children's play areas. Berths are available for sale to all Sotogrande purchasers. It is also possible to buy a building plot in the resort from £39,000.
One of the advantages of investing in golf resorts is the extended letting season. Rents at Sotogrande are strong at present (up to £2,000 a week for the larger villas) and there is a high percentage of all-year-round occupancy. The resort owners have provided an international school for long-term residents and an exquisite Spanish-style church.
Factors to take into account include annual community and maintenance fees, which are around £500 for a small apartment and up to £8,000 for one of the top villas at Sotogrande.
The weather? Sotogrande is further west than Cork, yet on European mainland time, so it stays light until almost midnight in the summer. The temperature shoots up into the 90s in the summer but is beautifully temperate in spring and autumn.
Earlier this month, it was 60 degrees - bright and crisp, just perfect for golf or a trip to Ronda for a leisurely Andalucian lunch at Tragabouches, a restaurant perched over a canyon.
Sotogrande property is available through Roy Lee of Bandon, Co Cork.
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