Spring’s here – have you put your runners in yet? If you’re a fan of growing fruit and veg, just think what you could achieve living somewhere warm with a long growing season! Here are a few properties that offer more than just a kitchen garden…

Olive groves, vineyards or orchards – many homes in the Mediterranean come with harvestable land and mature fruit trees, making them ideal for Brits leaving the UK in search of the ‘Good Life’. And thanks to low prices and the weak euro, that dreamy rustic existence is achievable for many of us in 2015.

“Here in the Puglian countryside in southern Italy you can buy a villa with a few acres of olive groves for the price of a flat in the south-east of England,” said Angela Lyons, the expat author of ItalyBuyingGuide.com. “Growing olives or grapes is a way of life here and you’ll get lots of help at harvest time from the locals if you need it.”

Italy – live for the olives!
Eighty-eight olive trees, some of them hundreds of years old, come with this charming property, situated in the Puglian countryside 12 kilometres from Ostuni. Living accommodation is split between a modern, two-bedroom, two-bathroom villa and a beautifully restored trullo, which includes a bedroom, study, kitchen and bathroom. Green credentials are high here and include a solar panel system – which produces an income, as well as an artesian well and water cistern. For more details, click here.

Spain – it’s all about the almonds!
Whether you like almonds or not, the 11,000 square metres of almond groves that come with this property would mean stunning views when the trees are all in blossom, which is a soothing pink. Situated in the Jalon Valley in the northern Costa Blanca, an area known for its rolling almond groves, this property is set down a private lane and includes a five-bedroom main house and one-bedroom independent annexe. While you’re not harvesting the nuts, there’s a swimming pool to wallow in. For more details, click here.

France – grape expectations
Wine-lovers will feel right at home at one property we’ve found in Narbonne, in the south-west region of Languedoc-Rousillon. Not only is it a former wine-maker’s home, but it comes with 9,000 square metres of vines, Syrah grapes to be precise. The pretty renovated two-bedroom house, which sits on the edge of a village, was built in the 19th Century, so oozes character. Besides the vineyard, it has a mature garden with a swimming pool and the property’s own borehole for water. To see pictures and find out more, click here.

Portugal – a real corker!
A mixed cork and eucalyptus plantation comes with this property, set within its own 17-acre valley, which includes two lakes, in the Beja area of the Alentejo region. The harvesting of the trees even brings in a small income every 10 years or so. Meanwhile, the garden of the house includes orange, plum, lemon, nectarine and fig trees, not forgetting the pool with its natutal skin-friendly salt system and borehole for water. Built in 2006 with a modern interior, the house boasts three bedrooms and three bathrooms. The large veranda is ideal for sun-downers, watching over your plantation… For more details, click here.

More info
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