Carol Peett of West Wales Property Finders recommends nipping down to the local boozer if you want to find out what’s really available: “In areas such as West Wales, particularly Pembrokeshire, where really special houses are few and far between but demand is high particularly for coastal properties and large country houses, the cream of the crop rarely goes on the open market.
“If a client is looking for something and we do not know of anything to suit their requirements at the time, we get in touch with all our contacts who include farmers, land agents, builders, estate agents, solicitors, developers, architects, surveyors, postmen, shopkeepers and local residents to see what is available. We approach owners of suitable properties to see if they may be interested in selling, undertake targeted leafleting and even pay a visit to the village pub and post office to talk to the locals who are often a fount of information. Of course we also check everything that is on the market but, in most cases, our clients have already done this themselves.”
