Member of the Federation of Overseas Property Developers, Agents and Consultants

Toros Mountain Retreat at Kalkan Mountain Villas - the story behind the properties

Toros Mountain Retreat at Kalkan Mountain Villas.

The developer (Alan) bought a town house in the old part of Kalkan in 1999, after spending many enjoyable holidays there. After several years enjoying the bustling tourist town of Kalkan, with it’s many bars, restaurants and pretty fishing harbour, Alan decided he would like to ‘retreat’ into the beautiful, pine covered mountains.

He had visited Patara Beach on many occasions and sensed a great feeling of peace and serenity on the 18 km stretch of golden sands with the crystal clear Mediterranean Sea lapping the shores. It is here that the turtles come on land in November to lay their eggs. The beach is protected and tourists are not allowed to use certain areas just in case they damage the precious turtle eggs. Patara is also the site of a Lycian archaeological site (700bc) with it’s own amphitheatre and several other structures still under excavation.

With this in mind Alan and his friend and business partner, Ugur Guler, set about finding a suitable piece of land for Alan’s dream home in an idyllic position with views of Turtle Bay. In 2006 the intrepid entrepreneurs found 10,000 sq mtrs of land with views to die for. It was just the perfect location for Alan’s dream house.

Alan returned to the UK and left Ugur to buy the land and set about getting the planning permission in place. Ugur, with an eye to business, suggested to Alan that this should not just be for one private villa but for 10 villas, each with it’s own privacy, whilst sharing the communal gardens and tennis court. Alan agreed and Ugur continued to present the details to the town hall at Antalya. Alan was insistent that every piece of planning permission should be in place before the project would begin

Alan decided that if he was going to build 10 designer homes, each one would have the same high specifications as his own, whilst still allowing for any changes or ideas from the new owners where possible.

The prominent Turkish Architect Bulent Atak and the award winning Scottish architect Ewan Dryburgh were brought in to design the project, although Alan had very firm views about what he wanted in his ideal home. The villa had to embrace the view at every opportunity, whilst protecting the privacy of each owner. He imagined a ‘horse with blinkers on’ and then applied this to the design of the villa, each villa, looks out over the panoramic views and the next villa is ‘blinkered’ from view by the very clever design of the balconies. The design had to allow the natural light to flood the villa, but also provide areas of shade from the hot summer sun. The materials used to build the villa had to be of the highest quality and where possible should be from the surrounding area and sensitive to the environment.

The marble flooring throughout was selected from a local quarry by a specialist flown over from the USA. The limestone rock used in the exterior facing and garden walls was hand crafted by the skilled Turkish workers and the fully fitted kitchens and bathrooms have only the highest quality of fittings. The four bedrooms, all with fabulous designer en suite bathrooms, each have a balcony with the amazing panoramic views. The open plan living area and the contemporary lines of the design, make these very desirable properties indeed

The result is spectacular, the first designer home is finished and the first owner, a property developer from the UK will be taking possession shortly, five other villas will be finished in 2008 and the remaining four are due for completion in 2009.

Alan took us to view the properties and they are certainly breathtaking. After many years in the property business, we have not seen any property built to such a high standard of design, quality of materials either in the UK or anywhere abroad, all this in a stunning location. If these properties were in the UK or Spain they would easily sell for over £1,000,000, but in Turkey as the land, materials and labour are much less expensive, these villas are being sold from just £399,000, wow! what an investment!, what a wonderful retreat from the hustle and bustle of modern day living.

 E-mail this page    Printer-friendly page