”I’ve seen a lot of the social scene in my time,” says Susy d’Epinoy, as
a factotum dressed in a white kaftan serves us a lunch of almond pastilla
beside the pool at her home in Tangier. “It’s possible to lead a harmonious
life here, away from razzmatazz and consumerism.”
The statuesque former model has certainly had her share of razzmatazz. She was
only 26 when, in 1974, she married the Formula One racing driver James Hunt
- a kind of 1970s David Beckham, only with a cut-glass accent and a
rebellious streak. Three years later, she left him for the actor Richard
Burton, whom she met on a skiing holiday in Switzerland.
For Susy, Tangier, which lies on the northernmost tip of Morocco, is something
of a sanctuary from those heady days. She and her third husband, Marc, 50, a
retired restaurateur, have lovingly renovated Villa Zahra, the former
Italian consulate in La Marshan, an exclusive colonial quarter on a hill
above the city. It is a stone’s throw from the sea and 15 minutes’ walk from
the bustling souks of the medina.
As Europe’s gateway to Africa - just 10 miles from southern Spain across the
Strait of Gibraltar - the white city was once one of the Mediterranean’s
most stylish resorts. In the first half of the 20th century, it was ruled as
an international zone by the French, Spanish, British and Italians, with
loose tax laws and looser morals. Its permissive spirit and rich colours
attracted artists and writers from Matisse to the Beat author Jack Kerouac,
and even the Rolling Stones - although it never lost its reputation as a
haven for hustlers, brothel-creepers and spies.
Today, Tangier retains its cosmopolitan flavour: the tumbledown York Castle
and the 19th-century church of Saint Andrew, which lie amid the needle’s-eye
alleyways and whitewashed mosques, are reminders of British influence.
French pâtisseriessit side by side with shisha cafes, and
you’re as likely to hear Spanish pop music as you are the muezzin call to
prayer. For years, Marrakesh has had the fashionable edge, but King Mohammed
VI, who spends the scorching summer in Tangier, is keen to restore its
cachet. As part of Vision 2010, a £7.2 billion investment project launched
in 2001 to attract 10m tourists a year to Morocco, he aims to develop and
promote Tangier and the surrounding area. Now British property buyers are
discovering the wild sweeping beaches, lively bars and hilltop serenity.
“We were staying with friends when we drove past the house and fell in love
with it,” says Susy, 60. “We knocked on the door to ask if it was for sale,
and a little old lady answered. She invited us in for a cup of tea. Six
months of arduous negotiations later, it was ours.”
The couple bought the four-storey, five-bedroom villa for £300,000 in 2001.
The property, built in 1898, had suffered years of neglect; they spent six
years and about £1m restoring every room. “The bones of the house were
there,” Susy says. “There were wonderful thick walls, but the interior -
except for the antique tiles and marble staircase - had to be completely
brought down and restructured.”
Thirty tradesman worked six days a week; one plasterer came every day for
three years. For the first four years, the couple lived in a wooden shack in
the garden near what is now their guesthouse and staff apartment. “We never
dreamt we would be in there that long,” Susy recalls. “We coped by sometimes
spending three months of the winter in Mexico, but a couple of years we were
in Tangier all the time, catching the torrents of winter rain with saucepans
and buckets.”
Almost every property in Tangier is steeped in the city’s colourful past:
Tennessee Williams wrote Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Sun Beach bar; Truman
Capote drank mint tea at Café Hafa. Villa Zahra is no exception. Walk across
the hand-painted tiles of the graciously proportioned entrance hallway into
the conservatory, and you’ll find a fully equipped bar the couple salvaged
from the Hôtel Villa de France, where Matisse used to stay. “We bought it
from Madame Guitta, whose family ran the restaurant,” Marc says. “The hotel
was known as a meeting place for spies during the second world war - if only
this bar could talk.”
Behind the bar are latticed wood panels originally crafted for York Castle -
an old fortress in the kasbah now sadly crumbling into the sea - that lead
to the American-style kitchen, with a 10ft by 4ft central workstation made
from a single slab of turquoise Guatemalan marble.
Also on the ground floor are a library, an office or guest-room with ensuite
bathroom and rain shower, a main salon with windows to the garden, a dining
room with a hand-carved fireplace and a music room featuring a built-in
cabinet with decorative doors rescued from a palace in Tétouan, southeast of
Tangier. “If a building was being torn down, we would go and talk to the
guardian to see if there was anything to salvage,” says Marc.
The original sweeping marble staircase leads to the master suite, with a
marble bathroom and a walk-in closet. The Arabic-themed second bedroom and a
traditional Moroccan bedroom both have ensuite bathrooms. At the top of the
villa is a “bird’s nest” from which the Italian occupants used to spy on
ships coming into the Strait. It is now the couple’s gym. “When my niece is
coming over from Spain, I come up here to see where the boat is before I
drive to the port to pick her up,” Susy says.
Villa Zahra is flanked by a building that houses the king’s offices and the
Palais Mendoub, where he entertains visiting dignitaries. It is the
monarch’s fondness for Tangier that has driven the city’s renaissance. He
has installed Mohammed Hassed, the wali, or mayor, responsible for
Marrakesh’s makeover, and expanded the airport. He is also behind the £500m
Tanger-Med project: a new industrial port outside the city that will allow
for a passenger-only marina in the centre. “In the past four years, the city
has become cleaner and safer,” says Philip Arnott, director of Moroccan
Properties. “It has a new sewage system and street lighting.” He adds that
the number of British buyers has risen by 20% over the same period.
You’ll pay at least £800,000 for a colonial house in La Marshan, where
neighbours include the Emir of Qatar, or the Old Mountain, home to the
king’s summer residence. “These properties are rarely on the market, as they
tend to be handed down through generations of Moroccan families,” Arnott
says. “Those that do come up for sale need a lot of work. Renovations are
likely to cost more than £200,000.” On the upside, the buying process, run
on French lines, is straightforward. Costs are typically 5%-7%, and you can
get up to 70% mortgages with Moroccan banks if you can provide proof of
income.
Those unwilling to take on a restoration job can buy a fully restored riad
in the kasbah. Savills International recently sold a fourbed riad with
two sun terraces for £207,000. There are drawbacks, though. “The kasbah is
on the hill, which gives great views, but you may have to drag your luggage
or shopping for 15 minutes through narrow passages to get to your front
door,” Arnott says. It is also rare to find a house with a footprint of more
than 70 square metres. For those who find the bustle of Tangier’s street
life too intense, modern villas and beachside flats sell for £225,000 and
up.
Susy and Marc, who worked full-time on restoring their villa, are selling up
in order to pursue another project: building a house on a plot of land they
have bought in Mexico, a country Susy has loved since Burton gave her a
house there as a Valentine’s Day gift. Although she was still married to
Hunt when she met the actor, who was more than 20 years her senior, she says
it was a “ coup de foudre”.
Her relationship with the 1976 Formula One champion had been difficult. “He
was charming and exciting,” she recalls, “but fame came so fast, it was hard
to keep a sense of balance. We didn’t have a chance. There would be girls
popping out from everywhere, stealing the keys from the maid to get into
your room, photographers trying to photograph you in private moments. I
found it overwhelming.”
Burton, by contrast, brought her real happiness. When they met on a ski lift
in Gstaad, he was married, for the second time, to Elizabeth Taylor. “It was
more of a Hollywood story,” Susy says. “Both our marriages were doomed.”
They were married for six years, during which time Burton showered her with
gifts and love notes. As well as the villa in Mexico - since sold and now a
hotel - he gave her a grand piano, one of her most treasured possessions.
“Every day we were together, Richard would get up earlier than me and leave
a note hidden somewhere in the house, telling me what he had been doing at
the theatre the day before,” she says.
Though it will be a wrench to leave Tangier, Susy and Marc are selling Villa
Zahra with everything in it. “I’m not attached to things,” she says. “Just
my books. And my piano.”
Villa Zahra is on sale for £3.95m with Moroccan Properties in association
with Savills International; www.moroccanproperties.com
Tangier we go
La Marshan:In the colonial quarter, this three-storey, fourbed room villa has
three large terraces and staff accommodation. For sale for £1m through
Moroccan Properties; 00 212 39 333286, www.moroccanproperties.com
Medina:Just below the walls of the kasbah, this three-bedroom riadin
the old town has sea views and a spacious living area. For sale for
£127,000 through Darmedina Property; 00 212 72 431378, www.darmedina.com
Kasbah:This two-bedroom riad has a traditional fireplace in the
sitting room and a sun terrace with a bar and sea views. For sale for
£336,000 through Moroccan Properties; 00 212 39 333286, www.moroccanproperties.com
Tinja:Ten miles south of Tangier, on the Atlantic coast, this luxury resort
will have shops, bars and a sports club when completed in 2012. Prices
start at £192,000 through Hamptons International; 00 212 22 361212, www.hamptons-international.com
