Marrakech is unlikely to be the first destination that pops into your head when you are considering possible locations for your dream holiday property. It sounds far too exotic for sensible buyers: too full of hippies, tummy bugs and sand. But the reality is rather different.

These days, you are more likely to meet an interior designer than a hippy, and it would be perfectly possible to spend an entire holiday eating at McDonald’s and drinking manhattans, launch of the exclusive oceanfront if you so desired. Hard to escape the sand, though. Nonetheless, Marrakech is a far cry from Benidorm. Despite the longstanding French influence (Morocco was a French colony until 1956), a recent surge of European tourists and an epidemic of construction work around the old town, it remains an excitingly un-European city. The main square at sunset is heaving with locals and tourists meandering among snake charmers, Berber musicians and unfathomable street shows, or sitting at the open air cafe stalls eating shish kebabs and sheep’s heads. Head into the old souks and you could emerge with a hookah, a carpet or a live chicken; after some pretty impressive haggling, I scored three pairs of pointy Moroccan leather slippers and a gram of saffron.

With the magnificent snow capped mountains of the High Atlas as a backdrop and surrounded by palm and olive groves, as well as the trim verdant greens of the golf course, the Atlas Golf Resort in Marrakech is truly a development to exceed anything that has gone before in Morocco.

This upscale development is exceptionally low density with 1813 residential units spread over 174 hectares - PHASE 1 ON SALE NOW

There is a mixture of apartments, penthouses, townhouses and riad villas available - all properties have been designed to remain faithful to the traditions and inspirations of Marrakech with a distinctly Moroccan influence on the architecture. The luxury villas and riads for example use inner courtyards and openings to provide light and shade, just as in a traditional riad.

The development is being constructed by one of the foremost development companies in Morocco who has extensive experience of large scale resort construction and golf course development.

Marrakech is a fantastic, vibrant and exciting city. The only problem is that for many people the centre of a city, especially Marrakech, is too busy and too noisy for everyday life, which is why the suburbs of many cities are the most desirable places to live.

In these out of town locations what’s really required to make a property desirable (and therefore) more valuable, is a combination of peace and quiet with easy access to the centre of town when you need it.

Apple Gardens is ideally situated to meet these investment criteria. Located in an area surrounded by open fields on one side and a historic site to the other, it stands on the site of an existing guesthouse/retreat. Yet from this site it’s only a short journey to either the upmarket Palmeraie area or 15 minutes into the centre of town. Indeed it’s such a promising area that a nearby plot has been identified by Mandarin Oriental as the site of their next (and most luxurious) hotel in Marrakech.