| By :
Jackie De Burca
Home to one of the world's largest natural harbours, Poole has been labelled by some as the UK's answer to St. Tropez. Located in Dorset, only 5 miles west of Bournemouth, Poole is packed with appeal and is well known for striking, award winning sandy beaches. The harbour port is both a huge attraction for water sports and sailing fanatics, whilst also working away as a commercial port. Poole has enjoyed a healthy growth in both employment and population figures over the past few years and is a very desirable place to live. Back in 2001 there were newspaper articles which predicted the transformation of Poole into a UK competitor of St. Tropez. Of course there is one small detail which is the not so reliable British weather! Promoters were happily joining in and pushing this image of Poole as the new St. Tropez. That said there is a more Mediterranean feeling lifestyle there than you will find in many other UK locations. Investment has spread throughout harbour areas such as Canford Cliffs, Sandbanks and Lilliput. Sandbanks boasts some of the highest property values in the world and residents living in million-pound plus homes there have included entertainment stars, jet ski set and footballers. The writer John Le Carre was born there as well as the English naturalist and dental surgeon Thomas Bell. In Poole there are both new developments and older traditional houses which can be found in areas such as Parkstone, Whitecliff, Poole Park and Ashley Cross. Parkstone for example is a residential area which was built in the later Victorian period and early 20th century. There it is possible to find a diverse range of designs and sizes of properties. There are three primary schools and a middle school in the Parkstone area, and in Poole there is a range of secondary schools. So it is not only the St. Tropez set who can afford to live in Poole-as there are other property choices apart from Sandbanks! It is also affordable to eat out depending on which of the plentiful restaurants you choose from, plus Poole boasts a couple of great fish and chip shops. Apart from water sports and beaches, Poole also has a good sized leisure complex which has a 10 screen cinema, as well as there being many other entertainment venues dotted around the town. According to a BBC calculator tool, the property prices in Poole have increased by 4.7% in the first quarter of 2010. The average prices are as follows: Detached £376,663 Semi-detached £213,257 Terrace £227,774 Flat £237,655 However these are averages based on only 404 house sales of the first quarter of 2010 and there are some good prices out there at the moment, which could make the difference to whether you could afford to move to Poole or not.
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