Rovinia, a sprawling house in 12 acres, had become too much for my mother to keep up, and climbing the 86 pebbled steps to the gate became harder. We wanted to stay in Corfu — but it didn’t take us long to realise that we had to change our vision of what comprises a perfect view if we wanted to find happiness in new surroundings. We also found we weren’t the only ones looking for a solution to the problem. All of Britain appeared to be on the move, colonising Corfu with the same zest so clearly manifested in France, Italy and Spain.
To demand a property on the sea is to expect an outlay of between £350,000 and £700,000. In Corfu, where prices have risen steeply in the past few years, even a sea view pushes the price up as steep as the vertiginous cliff or hamlet that provides it. You would do better to relax and learn to love the stunning country and mountain scenery, the olive trees planted four centuries ago by the conquering Venetians, and the villages themselves, with their tiled roofs and narrow streets, each windowsill lined with pots of bright geraniums or festooned with wisteria.
The sea, after all, is never more than a few miles from anywhere on Corfu. In the west, a short hop takes you from a village such as Liapades, where only the satellite dishes on many of the houses announce the existence of the 21st century, to the coast. Bathe in the morning, stop at Yefira bay to see if Jannis the fisherman has brought in the barbounia (red mullet). Then back to lunch in the hill village that is home. It sounds a perfect life — and we were keen to see if we could achieve it.
And now, just six months later, we’ve settled in to our new home in the village of Doukades, only eight minutes from the sea. It’s an old-fashioned type of village where the enormous palms, pines and olives form a dramatic background to the simple stone houses, and the seductions of Rovinia seem hundreds of years — and miles — away. In fact, as my friend Tim’s pedometer shows, we’re all of 1.7 miles from our old house.
We found a house built 15 years ago by a builder called Babis Moumouris, a man with a perfect eye for space and proportion. It has two bathrooms, three bedrooms, a verandah and pergola dripping with vines in 900sq m of land. It’s entirely surrounded by trees: mimosa, jacaranda, orange and lemon, with views of cypresses and mountains beyond, and we paid about £150,000 for this piece of paradise.
Only here in the west — unlike the fashionable northeast coast near Cassiopi, known as Kensington-on-Sea — is there a world the Durrells would have recognised when their family and other animals lived on the island.
A trip just outside Doukades shows the countryside at its most mouthwatering. Wild pear and meadows of purple-flowered honesty, with swathes of marigold and daisies, rise gently through rolling hills to Vounalatika, where a large old stone barn, standing in 18,000sq m of meadow land, looks out over a landscape that could be England — or the south of France — a century ago. Barns are rare in Greece and this one, of 95sq m, is in good condition, if in need of timber-checking and insulation. It’s on the market for about £115,000 with Luvcorfu.
A few miles away, and fed by the same network of lanes as the barn, is Three Arches Olive Press, which looks down on the reed beds and forgotten lakes of Gavro Limni. Without a telegraph pole or asphalted road anywhere on the horizon, there is no indication of which period of history you are in. The building is 150sq m and the land size is 4,000sq m, which amounts to an acre of your own. The owner’s family asks £196,000 for the Olive Press, again through Luvcorfu.
These are big projects to undertake, and around here it’s possible to find a house you don’t have to renovate from scratch or build. Planning laws can be confusing: out in the country you need four stremma or 4,000sq m of land in order to build. In a village, a much smaller plot is permitted, but beware: make sure you check what proportion of it can be built on.
Lakones provides another scene — more Capri than Corfu — high on the mountain that stares across at the hill villages. Here, houses rush down the cliff, with views that sweep down to the coastline, still undeveloped, of the western shores of the island. Corfu Estate Agents has a century-old, three-storey stone house here for about £100,000. The adjoining garden has almond and fig trees, and the house has uninterrupted views of Lakones, the west coast and Paleokastritsa.
For those who must be on the sea, Arillas on the northwest coast has two beachfront villas for sale at £390,000 each through Corfu Homefinders.
Susan Daltas and Di Giannoulis of Corfu Homefinders are Englishwomen married to Greeks. They have watched prices rise by some 50% over the past five years, and know the ins and outs of life in Corfu: the maddening bureaucracy, the best time to go to the bank (very early) and how to fast-track a planning permit for a pool before the hot weather forces the workforce not to work. They undertake to find houses for foreign buyers and renovate where necessary.
“One couple just bought a wreck in the north from us,” recounts Daltas, “for which they spent the equivalent of £7,500. They want it re-roofed and ready to move into. We have several properties like that and realistic prices are available: £345-£415 per square metre to renovate an old house, with £600 per square metre for new-build.
“We work sometimes with a developer — as at Koukoula, a house built high up in the village of Skripero, just 15 minutes from the sea at the Durrells’ favourite bay, Paleokastritsa. Koukoula is a ruin with potential. There’s a barn attached, and planned are two bedrooms, a balcony and an upstairs sitting room. Done up, the house will cost £62,000.”
An Englishman and his Argentinian wife have just bought a handsome- sized house in this same upper part of Skripero for £18,000 and will do the work themselves. A tower, wrecked but with a life-enhancing view over plains, marshes and mountains, will cost you a mere £8,000 — but, as Daltas and Giannoulis point out, there is only a ledge down one side that can count as outside space, and you’d have to depend on the goodwill of the lady next door to stop her hens using the ledge as their perch.
Gerald Durrell would feel perfectly at home.
Emma Tennant’s new novel, Heathcliff’s Tale, is published by The Tartarus Press, £8.99; her memoir A House in Corfu is published by Vintage, £7.99
Corfu Estate Agents, 00 30 266 306 4494, www.corfuestateagents.com; Corfu Homefinders, 00 30 266 103 3416, www.corfuhomefinders.com; Luvcorfu, 00 30 266 105 2833, www.corfurealestate.com
ON THE MARKET
This 200-year-old beachfront villa on Agni Bay has five bedrooms, stone floors and a galleried sitting room. It also has steps down to the beach and a private jetty. It is on sale for £1.7m with Aylesford International, 020 7351 2383, www.aylesford.com
Francis House, in Magoulades, is built over three levels. With five bedrooms and two bathrooms, it’s surrounded by olive trees and has a swimming pool on the top terrace. It is £480,000 with Corfu Estate Agents, 00 30 266 306 4494, www.corfuestateagents.com
The Three Arches Olive Press — in need of renovation — is a 150sq m traditional stone barn overlooking a country track. It will be sold as part of an acre plot for £196,000 with Luvcorfu Properties, 00 30 266 2833, www.corfurealestate.com
This two-storey stone-built house — in need of renovation — is in Peroulades in the northwest. With beautiful sea and woodland views, it has water and electricity. It is on sale for £85,000 with Corfu Property Agency, 00 30 266 102 8141, www.cpacorfu.com
