Valencia, Alicante, San Miguel de Salinas, Spain

Twenty minutes from the beach, but high enough to see the sea and the pink lagoons from the hillside, San Miguel de Salinas is where people buy once they've already spent a summer on the coast and know what August is like down there. Up here there's a square, a market, shops that stay open all year, and somewhere to park.




The development has 111 homes, and they aren't all the same. There are apartments with their terrace, ground-floor homes that open straight onto the garden, and penthouses that take the solarium. Every one has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, the size that works equally well for a couple, a small family, or letting the place out when you're not using it.




The communal areas are made for staying put. The pool at the centre, surrounded by garden, walking paths and a playground where children know each other within two days. One of those places where you end up greeting the neighbours by name.




The homes are handed over ready to move into. Air conditioning, electric shutters, fitted wardrobes and appliances included. There's also the option to buy them furnished, which for anyone coming from abroad means collecting the keys on a Friday and sleeping in your own home that same night.




The airport is 50 km away, so a three-and-a-half-hour flight from northern Europe ends here in a little over four. Everything else sits at the right sort of distance. The beaches of the southern Costa Blanca, the local golf courses, and Torrevieja and Orihuela for anything the village doesn't have. People come for the price and the climate, and end up staying for the quiet.