Here comes the Sun!

I suspect most of us feel our hearts lift with the lighter nights and warmer weather and I’m no exception, I love the seasons and while I love to play in the snow I am always very happy to see the sun peeking out from behind our clouds and the flowers bloom.

Last week was really good fun for me and I met some inspirational business associates. At Sunsplash we don’t believe in competitors but collaborators and so with that in mind I have been busy meeting with and signing up some excellent collaborators.

First, I met Lisa, a woman of amazing energy and focus. Lisa is the founder and Managing Director of Boodles Ltd, am award winning book-keeper service also offering training and software. Lisa was full of ideas and business opportunities and it was a privilege to spend time with her before she headed off to a photoshoot for yet another award she and her business had won!

After this meeting I met Kiran Singh Kiran is an interior designer, event planner and TV producer. She is one of those creative types who is quite literally brimming over with ideas. We had already decided that Kiran shall start to play a pivotal role within Sunsplash Media and TV but the purpose of our meeting was to plan ways in which she and I could work together. I left the meeting with a long ‘To Do’ list which included preparing advertising material for TV and radio, planning an event on 9th July and to start to write a monthly column for her online magazine ‘Vivacious’. I’ll keep you all posted on how these things ventures progress but it’s certainly an exciting time and I suspect Kiran and her huge energy and enthusiasm will keep me very busy over the coming months.

Next on the list was to review some properties which had recently become available in the Algarve and the Silver Coast of Portugal. I was very excited to hear that a list of stock was being made available to me via a new contact, most of which was being sold below market value. I wanted to check it out and make sure it was all that it seemed so arranged a meeting with the Company who had sourced the stock. I’m a great fan of Portugal and would love to live there one day. In fact we were out there in February and are planning a trip in July. For me it has an abundance of pros’ which include;

1. close enough to the UK to commute back and forth,
2. has great all year round weather,
3. has a strong sense of its own culture and identity,
4. is safe,
5. is economical (you get a lot of property for your euro)
6. has sound secure rentability
7. is a ‘half way house’ between Europe and Brazil.

I could go on but in essence there think there are some great deals to be had and thanks to this meeting I now have a bank of great deals; villas starting from €200,000. Please contact me for further details on these Portugese bargains.

The week drew to a close with a Sunsplash Dinner party for colleagues, clients and friends. Every quarter we get together for a social where we enjoy some good food and wine. The weekend passed by in a whirl with me helping Marcus in his garden, it’s funny cos gardening always reminds me of the days as a kid when my Mum used to make me and my sisters sit for hours on end picking out weeds or collecting berries from the trees in the garden. As a child I hated it and thought it was the most boring thing ever to do in my spare time (imagine sulky child face complaining loudly!) Now I’m getting older (ahem) I realise I quite like gardening and living in my urban flat in central London I really miss the green space.

With that in mind I took some time out yesterday to view some lovely little garden cottages in High Barnet, still close enough to get into London in 30 minutes but more room for me and my cats to make a mess in and I even get my own bit of garden at the rear! Bliss!

I called a letting agent to let my own place out in North London and much to my amazement all day today prospective tenants were quite literally queuing up to view it. Before my flat had even been advertised for let the agent had found a tenant and it seems I am moving to greener parts in a few weeks. Much thanks have to go to Angels Worldwide, my letting agent for looking after me so well.

Now I REALLY can’t wait till the sun comes – let’s just hope it decides to stay this time!

Best wishes and great week to all, I’m off to find some packing boxes!

Laura