Spanish Property Press and TV

Justin says: "We have designed all kinds of homes for the show, including an ice hotel one year, but this year´s challenge was certainly the most unusual." With its up-to-the-minute gadgetry and utlra-modern design, the boys´cave is hardly Stone Age.  
The house is built on to an artificial rock face which has been constructed within the Earls Court main arena and provides a staggering eyecatching centre piece to this show. Colin says: "We took our inspiration from the hillside cave houses of Sarlat in the Dordogne region of France and the Pueblos Blancos of Spain. Despite what people might think there's not a lot of Fred Flintsone about it." The boys have used natural materials to blend with the hillside but in a modern contemporary way. Justin explains: "The bathroom floor for example is covered with crushed white rock set into clear glass resin and the hi-tech shower system is set into a natural rock cabinet."

To soften the craggy corners of the cave the designers have aded plenty of low-slung seating, heaps of ushions and lengths of luxurious fabric. Colin adds: "Lots of caves all over Europe had been abandoned and now are being reinhabited again. In the past poorer people lived in caves buy now they are real des res´s. And with the temperature inside at a year-round 18C even in the height of summer, cave dwelling is literally a really cool way to live."

 Ever since the days of Fred Flintstone, people have lived in caves. But today’s cave homes are a far cry from the Stone Age holes in the wall you explored on school trips. These homes in some of the prettiest parts of Europe offer tranquility and style â€�€� and are part of a growing trend of underground living. 

In some cases, the caves are thousands of years old but offer all the convenience of modern living. Cave homes feature for the first time at this year’s Ideal Home Show at Earl’s Court in London. Homes and Holidays’ property experts Justin Ryan and Colin McAllister have created a “show cave”, carved out of a giant artificial rock, for visitors to learn all about the joys of an underground dwelling. Karen Rocket meets couples living as cave dwellers in England and no, they aren’t called Fred and Wilma...
 
ANDALUCIA

Bill and Shuni Edmondson are part of a growing army of British ex-pats in Spain livingt as 21st Century cave dwellers. The couple, originally from Chatham in Kent, moved to Galeria in Andalusia last Aprial after buying a two-bedroomed cave for Â�£39,000.  

The previously deserted hamlet of Galera has now a population of 1,300, with one in three families moving to the area choosing to buy a cave over a conventional property. Shuni, 35, a former marketing manager who now works in an estate agency in Spain, said “Bill and I saw a programme about cave dwelling on the TV and thought it looked really interesting.
 
We were planning to move to Spain anyway so we decided to come out here on holiday and stay in a cave to see if we liked it. Family and friends thought we were nuts when we decided to sell our gadget-filled home in exchange for the rural charm of a cave. But people always think that until they actually see our cave. It has all the modern conveniences â€�€� running water, sewerage and electricity.” Shuni and Bill, 34, an installation engineer, even brought all their modern furniture and two cats with them. Shuni says: “We have a wood-burning stove and it heats the whole cave. Because we only have small windows the heat stays in and our fuel bills are a fraction of what they were in the UK. And in the summer when it gets up to 45C here, the cave is refreshingly cool. The stone forms its own air-conditioning so it really is a very comfortable way to live.” She adds: “For us, a cave is a very cosy and comforting place to live. It just makes me feel so safe and secure.”
 
STAFFS