Cathy Hawker

Travelling is in my blood. My parents worked abroad and I grew up moving between New York, Central Africa and Indonesia. For the past fifteen years I have written about overseas holiday homes, getting to know firm favourites - Southern Spain for example – but also checking out more "off-radar" locations that might appeal to a new generation of buyers.

As well as regular reports for A Place in the Sun I write weekly in The London Evening Standard and contribute to several papers and magazines including Country Life International, International Prime Property, the Financial Times and The Times.

That means that most weeks I throw a notebook into my trusty backpack to spy out not only properties abroad but also the lifestyle on offer. The lure of a second home in the sun or in the snow-covered mountains is one that’s easy to understand.

My own top picks would include the Costa Brava for the beautiful coastline, the Caribbean for the laid-back beach life and almost anywhere in Italy for the outstanding food and culture. But then there is also the Alps, the Algarve, the Balearics, Barcelona, Croatia, Florida…

A Place in the Sun - Zoe and Neil in the Lot et Garonne

Zoe Saunders-White and Neil are what Laura Hamilton dubbed a “DIY power couple’. In October 2021 they went out to film in southwest France looking for ‘genuine help and not TV fame’ to find project. With Zoe so determined to bag property number five in Duras that they didn’t even ‘sleep on it’ and ended up paying the asking price of £250,000 to take it off the market. Has it turned out to be a good move?

31 October 2023

A Place in the Sun Revisited - Carrie and Alex in Mallorca

Carrie Farram and Alex Langford from Tonbridge in Kent got together seven years after meeting on a dating app. In September 2021 they flew out to Mallorca with Ben Hillman looking for an apartment with £220k. The show concluded with them having their counter offer of £237k accepted on property number five…

30 October 2023

From visiting A Place in the Sun Live exhibition to moving to Spain - in just five months

Suzanne and Musa have found the perfect home in Spain for their family, with help from the experts at A Place in the Sun Live Manchester!

18 October 2023

A Place in the Sun Live Property Showcase Dublin 2023 - The highlights!

Rounding off a fantastic year of live exhibitions, we flew to Dublin to help thousands of house hunters find their dream overseas property!

16 October 2023

What does the rest of 2023 hold for exchange rates?

What's going to happen to the exchange rate for the rest of the year? And how might it affect your property purchase plans? We take a look...

16 October 2023

Case Study | “The Dublin show gave us all the information we needed for our move to Spain”

Marcella and Jade made their dream of moving to Spain a reality after attending our exhibition in Dublin last year! Here's the story of how they found their dream property

4 October 2023

Case Study | "Our journey to Spain started at A Place in the Sun in Dublin a year ago"

Paula and Rob Clarke bought their dream Spanish property after attending A Place in the Sun's property showcase in Dublin last year

2 October 2023

What happened next? Jenny in Kefalonia

It seemed Jenny had missed out on her dream property in a recent episode A Place in the Sun, but her story didn't end when the cameras stopped rolling...

28 September 2023

What happened next? Dave and Fiona

26 September 2023