WHAT has been happening to Cardigan? It used to be just a holiday town with a pretty harbour – very charming, but far too remote to consider moving to. Yet figures show that people are now most certainly relocating to the West Wales town. Property prices rose by 8 per cent last year, and 44 per cent over the past three years, according to the Halifax.

Why the sudden boom? “It’s down to widespread use of the internet,” says Richard Emanuel, of one local firm of estate agents, John Francis. “People buy into the dream of getting out of the rat race to find a better quality of life by the sea. The net brings the dream nearer. Buyers can see our house prices at the click of a mouse.”

The town has a lot to attract newcomers. There is a 1950s feel to the main street, with its family-run shops, many with their original frontages, and a proper café with waitresses. Market day, held on two levels in the Guildhall, is an interesting mix of indigenous locals and incomers. Welsh is spoken everywhere.

Cardigan has good recreational amenities for a town of its size, too: there’s a superb golf course, a recently revamped cinema, theatre, arts and entertainment centre (Theatr Mwldan), and a trendy-looking restaurant, the Royal India, in a converted boat.

Christopher Burgess, a retired local government officer, is moving to Cardigan from Horsham, West Sussex. He and his wife, Heather, didn’t confine their property search to Wales when looking for a retirement home. “We looked in Devon, Cornwall, Suffolk and Norfolk,” he says. “We chose Cardigan because it is so much cheaper than the other areas.” Burgess has bought a three-bedroom farmhouse, with three acres of land, for £330,000. He estimates that the same property, which is the conversion of four stone cottages into one, would have cost at least £750,000 in Sussex. It is typical of the kind of home that is popular in Cardigan.

“Lifestyle properties are very popular,” says Emanuel. “You’ll pick up a three-bedroom farmhouse with ten acres of land for £350,000 to £400,000. People keep horses or use the land as a smallholding, sometimes also working from home. Smaller terraced properties are the most popular as holiday homes. You can buy a Victorian three-bed terraced house for less than £200,000.”

The town is good for sailing, as are many of the ports in the area. More than £1.1 million was recently invested in boating facilities on the River Teifi as part of an EU-supported project. Some 200 yards of pontoon has been installed, providing berthing for 30 further boats. There is also a new slipway in the town centre for trailer sailors and other small craft.

However, it can’t be denied that Cardigan is well away from the beaten track. If you are approaching from the east, via the M4, then you still have another hour to drive along country roads after the A48 peters out at St Clears, near Carmarthen.

What was the overriding factor that prompted Burgess to sell up and move away from Sussex? “By moving, I could release some of the equity from my Sussex home and help my daughter to buy a house in London,” he says. “I think house prices in the South East will prompt more parents in the same position as us to move to comparatively less expensive places such as Cardigan.” John Francis: 01239 612080

WEST WALES

The average price of a home in Cardigan is £181,776, compared with the average in England and Wales of £210,001, according to the Land Registry.

The average price of a home in the resort of Tenby, 32 miles farther along the coast in Pembrokeshire, is £205,209.

A total of 19 per cent of people in Cardigan are aged between 20 and 34.

Crime is low, with 1.2 burglaries per 1,000 of the population compared with the average for Wales of 3.1, according to recent figures.

The nearest airports are Swansea, 41 miles away, and Cardiff International, 73 miles away.

The River and Food Festival takes place in Cardigan tomorrow (www.visitcardigan.com).

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