Nothing Sacred

[Guest guest]

Virgin territory

June Field

(Filed: 22/03/2006)

 

Facts

 

Dismayed by the steady destruction of classical Greek

olive groves June Field sets out to preserve her own

fragment of antiquity

 

I've never needed much of an excuse to follow a story

about Greece's immortal olive trees. As part of the

shimmering landscape, the greyish green groves have

symbolised the meaning of life since 5,000 BC.

 

Bounty hunter: June Field went to Crete where there is

plenty of land for sale

Last year I was saddened to hear that swathes of Corfu's

ancient groves were illegally being cut down, loaded

into lorries and shipped off to Italy to make charcoal for

pizza ovens.

 

Sure enough, I witnessed some of this island's most ancient groves reduced to

stumps. There were trucks parked up here and there and teams of Albanians were

using chainsaws to cut the trees down.

 

Landowners were selling them for around £28 each.

 

I decided that one way to stop the destruction was to

buy my own grove and leave it; better still, harvest my own

organic oil as some of my Greek friends do.

 

If nothing else, it would serve as a quiet place to camp out

under the starry Aegean night skies.

 

Corfu, however, is ruled out by soaring land prices.

 

Islands close to Athens are crowded in summer and dead

in winter. So I chose Crete. It is the largest island and

 

 

consequently there is more land for sale and it has

the balmiest winters.

 

Before leaving, I got the lowdown from Katerina

Samarapoulous, one of Athens's leading property

agents.

 

" There's no rhyme or reason to putting a price on

plots;

especially olive groves. They vary greatly depending

on region, location and utilities. Some owners price

their land per tree, perhaps around €200 (£138) per tree,

but that again depends on the quality of the oil. " My best

 

 

course of action seemed to be to use local agents

combined with the Greek method - personal contacts.

 

First stop is Mary and Kostas Damvoglu who live in

Heraklion, a 50-minute flight from Athens (or high

speed ferry, six hours) who own an organic smallholding.

 

We drive two hours west to investigate the endless lush

orchards surrounding Chania.

 

Here wealthy agricultural villages, such as Perivolas,

are fed by waters from the White Mountains; olive trees

reach up to 40ft; branches laden with juicy fruit are left

to fall into ground nets until as late as June.

 

The former mayor of Kandanos village, a sprightly

93-year-old, emerges from the kafenion, and whisks us on a

tour of the most ancient groves of Crete. " Ours produce

world records; over 150 kilos of oil per tree each harvest, "

he explains.

 

John Goodwin, a British agent who specialises in

Crete, admits that land here is in high demand. " You may pick

up a plot for as little as £5,000 to £10,000 but it's too

small to build on. " He sells most of his homes to

foreigners and there's a huge supply of new and

renovated villas on the market.

 

A brand new stone house with three bedrooms, fireplace, solar heating, sea views

and swimming pool costs around £178,000; without pool, £161,000.

 

For sale: a four-bed house in Lasithi for £427,635

 

Next, we are lured towards Crete's south coast, which

is less accessible and quieter. It has the most dramatic

scenery - a series of gorges open out towards the warm

Libyan sea.

 

George Cassimatis, the owner of the Triopetra Yoga Retreat at Agios Pavlos says

that " plots near the sea are hard to come by, and expensive " .

 

How true. Just minutes later I locate my dream spot: a

slab of land overlooking the prettiest of coves and

metres from the beach and tavernas. Sheep are grazing among

the olives, the sunset is a tropical golden orange. But

the moment is shattered by the arrival of the local

landowner in a truck. He informs me this acre is for sale at

 

€300,000 (£206,000).

 

Moving swiftly on, we pause to take a photo. A very

old lady hauls us into her tiny home and kick starts a

deal over three nearby family plots. It pays to haggle in

drachmas and speak the language. Temptingly, she's

selling a plot just 300 metres from the sea, for £60,000. At

4,225 square metres (1.1 acres), it is buildable. A second

has a small house on it with electricity and water. I'm

getting excited, but am not ready to commit.

 

Further east, in the olive heartland, we stumble

across a new hotel in Zaros called " Eleonas " or olive grove.

Owner Manolis serves up a Cretan feast; nearly everything

seems to be home-produced including the orange cake. This

seems the ideal spot, but can he find us a plot? He sends

his father off to ask around the town, bustling with

harvest activity in the blazing January sunshine.

 

By now I discover I'm not the only one hankering for

an eco bolt hole. My order book is soon thick with

requests from other jaded urbanites. Fellow grove hunters

include Giles Henschel, who has lived and breathed olives,

since his year-long motorcycle honeymoon around the

Mediterranean in 1992.

 

He and his wife founded Olives Et Al from a spare bedroom; today the

Dorset-based company employs 30 staff producing marinated olives, tapenades and

oils.

 

Giles has set his heart on a five-acre plot on the

large island of Evia, three hours north of Athens, so he can

help support the local olive farming community " and put

something back into this fascinating industry " .

 

On the market: a two-bed in Roussospiti

for £81,454

 

Others like Joy Hodson moved to Crete to retire but

wound up working. Joy is now sales manager for Property on

Crete based in Sitia - a three-hour drive east of Heraklion.

 

 

Last year she sold over 23 homes, mainly to British

buyers. " This area is the best investment on the

island, but due to new tourism projects and a better airport,

prices will rocket in three or five years, " she says.

 

Another investor is Stelios Hadjioannou founder of

easyJet who is rumoured to be developing his estate near

Scripero.

 

Joy's boss George escorts us here to view a grove of

12,000sq m, with olive trees and distant sea views.

It's on the market for £28,777.

 

The most beguiling, however, is a 8,500sq m plot, only

50m from the beach at Xerocambos. This is one of Crete's

prettiest corners, scattered with Minoan remains.

 

" These rarely come on the market; it's buildable and

linked to new roads, " says Joy. I want it now, but at

£129,500 it's a tad over.

 

Meanwhile house hunters can still find affordable

properties around Sitia. For example, a compact stone-

built, two-bedroom house in Handras village costs

£46,700.

 

I catch up with Katerina back in Athens. While

chatting over coffee she reveals that she has also acquired her

own bolt hole. To many it may sound truly off the map, but

on closer inspection it's a clever investment. For a mere

 

 

£3,400 she's bought a couple of acres of virgin

woodland in northern Greece, not far from the town of Xanthi.

This area, close to the Nestos river and Rhodopi mountains,

is becoming a sporting paradise; rafting, trekking and

hunting are available.

 

In the meantime, my scouts tell me that I must return

to Crete. After heavy networking they have found 300

olive trees on three acres, with a view of the Libyan sea.

 

They tell me this grove has water and electricity but no

dwelling. The price? No one knows. I'll find out over

a retsina at the local taverna.

 

For more information on the author's olive grove and

forthcoming book log on to www.greekgroves.com;

 

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