Spanish Property Press and TV

There is a special region on Spain’s sun-baked Andalucia that lies snuggled in cool hills, approximately two hours from the coast and covering a radius of about 100km (60 miles). It is extraordinary not only because of its gently rolling, unspoilt terrain and authentic rural Spanishness but also because of its caves.

These are not dark, damp places, with dripping water and evil smells. They are residences â€�€� ancient Bronze Age dwellings now being done up for hundreds of 21st century troglodytes. In Galera, the region’s most important village, it’s estimated that there are at least 1,000 hewn into its hillsides.

“We take old caves, refurbish them, then sell them on”, says Rob Oakley, office manager of Golden Sands, the sales arm of leading cave developers Galera Enterprises. “Our company was set up by someone who discovered the area of Galera when it was just a tourist attraction 15 years ago and saw its potential.”

The properties are transformed from raw holes gouged by nature out of the mountains into relatively luxurious dwellings, kitted out with mains electricity and sewage, phone lines, running hot water â€�€� even, in some cases, broadband connections. They range from cosy single bedrooms cottages, priced at around â�€�¬50,000, to multiple-bedroom properties with en suite bathrooms, patio extensions and even double glazing, costing as much as â�€�¬100,000.

Maggie Clarke, a 57-year-old former civil engineer from Belfast, bought a cave dwelling on 30,000 sq metres of land with three almond groves for just â�€�¬90,000 in July. “I love the whole ambience of the cave, the feeling of well-being and security and being at one with nature and the land”, she says. “I also have all this wonderful space. I wouldn´t have ended up with this paradise in the UK for the same money.”

Caves are not the only type of refurbishment-ready property attracting buyers in Andalucia, however. The province embraces not only the well-known costas such as Costa del Sol and Costa Almeria and the towns of Granada and Seville, but also the flat, windswept beaches in the west and the cooler olive-groved hills and mountains of the Sierra Nevada. Its housing is just as diverse.

"We moved because we wanted to find something that felt more authentic and less developed"
The traditionally agricultural region is the poorest in Spain, and, until about 20 years ago, much of its land was carved up into large estates, or “latifundia”, belonging to wealthier land-owners who would employ local workers as day labourers. As a result, the homes now available to renovate usually fall into two categories, says Bill Tickle, proprietor of Andalucia-country-houses.com.

“You tend to find either the cortijos or enormous land-owner estates, which are now extremely expensive and come with lots of land that people often can´t handle, or the fincas or little sheds on the hills and the small town-houses,” where the workers once lived, he explains.

The cortijos are quite different from the large farm-houses found in the north of Spain. These old white-rendered stone buildings often have flat roofs, many small windows and shutters to keep out the sun, centre courtyards and several out-buildings. They come in a mix of architectural styles, some strictly symmetrical and almost geometric, others more windy and twisting, reflecting Andalucia´s Moorish and Christian pasts.

Prices range from â�€�¬150,000 for unrenovated smaller cortijos with just 2,000 sq metres of land up to â�€�¬800,000 for a fully renovated luxury cortijo with a pool and guest cottage on 30,000 sq metres.

Dominique Le Forban, 54, who previously owned a fashion boutique in Paris, bought Cortijo La Fe, 30 miles from Granada in the hills near the Sierra Nevada, three years ago. She spent the first two restoring it but now has a fabulous home with its own tiny chapel, specially converted Turkish bath and 30,000 sq metres of land. “We were living in Majorca but we moved because we wanted to find something that felt more authentic and less developed”, Le Forban says. “Andalucia is so real. The people are genuinely friendly and natural. We are just living the quiet country life here.”

At the other end of the spectrum are the fincas and townhouses. The former are humble sheds or hovels located on small pieces of land up in the hills that were once used as basic, overnight accommodation for workers but are now beiung touted by estate agents as fixer-uppers with countryside views and authentic charm. The latter are white-washed structures with terracotta roofs that stand huddled together on precipitous hillsides or small villages, such as Frigiliana, north of the smart coastal resort of Nerja, Istan, north of Marbella, and Casares, near Estepona. The houses range from Bijou, fully refurbished properties owned by foreigners and Spanish second-homers to the original humble dewellings that they began life as.

"I love the whole ambience of the cave, the feeling of security and being at one with nature"
“It is an eclectic mix”, says Tim Hodges, director of County Homesearch International Spain. “You can have a former banker from London living right next door to someone with one tooth and a donkey, in a house that is as it always was.”

This is part of the appeal of living in a traditional property in inland Andalucia, away from the new-build villas and apartments on the costas, adds Tickle. “Everyone used to want to be on the coast and only bought inland because they couldn´t afford it”, he says. But “then they fell for the real Spain. It has cheap housing, a great life-style, wonderful weather, and people really have time for each other. There is just a tremendous sense of well-being.”