A sleepy, sandy cove where locals greet you with a smile from checked-clothed restaurant tables was, Jim Platt felt, the ideal place for a holiday home in the sun.

However, his dream took a while to realise. Much of mainland Spain was too built up and busy for his taste. Then he touched down on verdant, cove-dotted Menorca in the Balearics and was bowled over. “It’s a marvellous place,” says Platt, who runs a transport company in Huddersfield. “It’s very quiet, very protected and you can go to the beach and not have anyone sit near you. I just fell in love with the place.”