We returned yesterday evening from our visit to Murcia- thoroughly enjoyed it. Met up with Alan and Lyn- thanks for the coffee and I hope we can meet up again before too long.
Dont think we picked up too much more information than others who have been able to visit recently but I hope people will find these few lines useful.
We were very impressed with the show apartments, everything is set out very well and Jardines 12 doesnt appear too big or too cramped, so hopefully this will be reflected throughout the Jardines. They hope to have 12 show apartments there before too long. The pool area is bigger than expected and the landscaping looks very good, plenty of mature shrubs.
The front terrace of three bed apartments looks bigger in real life than on some of the photo's availabe and with a canopy on the pergola and stairs either side will be quite private. The show apartments have a 3 seater settee and a table and chairs but a couple of two seaters and maybe a drop leaf table could be possible. The kitchen is well set out and has space for a dishwasher because the washing machine sits in a corner beneath the 2nd bedroom window (out in the back terrace and concealed behind a low wall). We measured the fridge freezer here and it was a 6ft freezer. The cupboards are a light wood effect- looks fine with the chrome hob and extractor. Bedrooms are fine- the master is a reasonable size and the two others are compact but adequate and all have the fitted wardrobes. We were disappointed that there are no drawers in the wardrobes as we had been led to believe there would be, but there wont. TV points and sockets in bedroom 1 and 2 (sorry we didnt check bedroom 3) Bedroom 3 wasnt as tiny as I expected. Bathroom is good, tiles are quite nice but, as has already been reported, no shower screen, mirror or shelving other than the base cupboard below the sink will be provided. Our guide couldnt help us with how the colour of the bathroom cupboard is selected and I told her we thought they could be either, wood, white or green although the one we were looking at was red at which point she said 'But they have red too!' so not too much help there. The recess for patio doors on the front living room and rear bedroom are approx 7ft high by 7ft wide (we had to measure these real quick as the rest of the guide party was waiting for us, but Polaris had hung the curtain from at least a foot above the patio window recess's rather than along the top of the recess-) They have a three bed ground floor apartment altered to show it as a two bed by taking away the interior wall of the 3rd bedroom- it looked good and clearly provided better living and dining space, but this is only an option for El Mirador.
The two bed balcony terrace will manage a small table and chairs and has a full length glazed window is next to the front door- certainly allows a lot of light into the room. There is room for a compact table and four chairs and the second apartment we were shown had a rectangle table and four chairs which took up less space then the glass round one in first apartment ( which also had large whicker chairs around it reducing space even more) plus it could partially be in the aclove under the stairs when not in use. However, this alcove is quite deep and could be boxed in providing useful lockable storage. The lounge space is compact but manageable- the window recess is 82 inches wide and 41 deep. So a slimline 3 seater is possible provided you dont put a radiiator on the wall right next to it (we found a decent setteee in Polaris Homestyle that was 79 inches long). However you could put a three or a two seater or two chairs along the breakfast bar- so there are options despite the size. The distance between the window and the breakfast bar is 10ft 4 inches. The kitchen is similar to the 3 bed, white wall tiles and light wooden units, except that there will be plumbing and space for a washing machine under the breakfast bar and a dishwasher under the sink. I asked about the worktops because some pictures show wood and some grey- I'm afraid our guide thought the grey was merely a paint effect to show what we could do to vary the colour scheme in the apartments. I know thats not what other people have been told- so again not much help there. The solarium is terrific, a great size with loads of potential, a real outdoor living space- our guide said people had been asking about having seating built along one or other of the walls that can also be used for storage, but that would be up to individual owners. The canopy looks excellent up here and curtaining will create some privacy.
There is no heating or lighting provided and although aircon is pre-installation all units need to be provided by us.
We were happy to see the security provided- elelectric gates for each Jardines- so you could leave a vehicle there eventually or a golf buggy maybe.
The BBQ area isnt likely to happen now in each Jardines concerns have been raised about safety and policing of who uses these areas so small children's play areas are more likely eventually.
Our guide told us Polaris expect to start releases in 4 or 5 months and there are only approx 80 Jardines de Alhama left. She hadnt heard anything new about Los Isla, she thought dates where still as advertised but that Naranjos penthouses were coming on well.
One point if anyone else is going over -the show houses are shut on a Monday which we didnt know so we had to make an appointment and return on Tuesday. You do have to go with a guide but I believe if you turn up on a day other than Monday you may be able to join a group already going over. The guide showed us all the locations for the properties already released and identified where the Medical centre is expected to be and the school and also a fire station. Doing this showed us just how huge this resort is going to be.
You must take any measurements I have given as approximate as there maybe slight fluctuations but I thought they would serve as an indication- and we felt under a bit of pressure as the rest of our party had been around once before and merely wanted to check out the 3 to 2 bed groundfloor apartment pending their decision. Unfortunately although our guide was very pleasant she wasnt the most knowledgeable or maybe just less experienced. Anyway I hope people will find useful bits in all this. We have some pics which we will post later today.