'A place in the Sun' Folkstone or Cape Verde? Article Published: 08:00 12/07/2008 Article Classification: Cape Verde Beach Resort
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On Friday 4th July 2008, Channel 4 series of the popular property show, A Place in the Sun - Home or Away, showed how it was make your mind up time for singer and presenter Cheryl Baker and husband Steve Stroud, as they decided where to invest their £160,000 inheritance.

Property experts Jonnie Irwin and Jasmine Harman helped them choose between a buy-to-let in up-and-coming Folkestone, or a holiday home on the tropical island of Sal in Cape Verde.

They chose to buy on Sal Island, being heralded as the nearest winter sunshine destination to the UK, and the ‘new Caribbean’.

The shows website comments on the property market;
Governed by Portugal until gaining independence in 1975, it’s easy to see why the Portuguese were reluctant to release Cape Verde from their control. Beautiful white sand beaches ring most of the islands, while palm trees sway in the breeze that cools the year-round tropical temperature of 23C (75F).

If the Portuguese brought European ways to the Islands' administration, its colourful culture owes everything to West Africa. Today, while the hotel complexes on Sal and its capital Santa Maria are very much international in appeal, elsewhere the language, cuisine, architecture and nightlife are exotically out of Africa.

The Island’s government has only begun to appreciate the rich cultural melting pot in the last five years. Tourism and housing construction are largely new to the islands, and in particular its main two: Praia and Sal; the latter being the destination to which charter airline Astreus has recently begun the first direct flight to the islands from the UK airports of Gatwick and Manchester.

The onset of direct flights is expected to have a large impact on the property market.

Source: Channel 4, A Place in the Sun: Home or Away website