Property: International properties/ three to view and why buy now

L'Aubade - "Dawn Chorus"- is the highest house above Franschhoek, in the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. In private woodland with two small vineyards, the Dutch-style house was build in 1986. There is a study, library, games room, swimming pool, five bedrooms and two cottages. The vineyard Price pounds 875,000, through Knight Frank (0171 629 8171).

In Normandy, around pounds 78,000 will buy a stone-built house and barn in quarter of an acre on the edge of a tiny village near Pre-en-Pail. Water and electricity are close. The barn and stable is one large room with a wood partition. There is a good slate roof, the attic is floored and could make three or four bedrooms. Splendid Isolation (00 33 2 43 03 09 21).

For pounds 85,000 comes an old stone house in Kato Elounda, on Crete, in a village used as a location for the film Shirley Valentine. The renovated two-bedroom, two-bathroom house has a sitting room with fireplace, courtyard garden and roof terrace. Geraniums tangle over the front wall and it is a short walk to the beach. Crete Property Consultants (0171 3281829).