Whether you like it or not, as soon as the Sun comes out and no matter where you are located, there arrives a time of the year when the pull of the garden overtakes the comfort of your house.

Spring has Sprung & Decisions need to be made!

Although we may not yet be into the Barbecue season, many of us will be thinking about mowing lawns, sculpting foliage and cutting back areas which we like to see nice and tidy so we can relax outside surrounded by trim greenery peppered with splashes of natural colours brushed by Fauna and Flora. Sounds idyllic doesn’t it?

Can You Afford To Relax In Your Garden?

However.. Be warned, the neater your garden looks, the higher your expectations will rise as to the style and nature of your Garden Furniture. So before  you let nature take it’s course and you celebrate giving birth to a massive credit card statement, just consider exactly what type of environment you are trying to create in your out-door Living area.

Cleaning up your Furniture won’t clean out your account.

Without getting too hung-up on our garden areas, ask yourself just a couple of questions. Do you really need to replace the one-season old patio set? It may look tired after one third of the year under cover or storage in the garage, but a good scrub down and re-staining (if wooden of course) should make it look as good as new again.

Don't let Your BBQ turn into a Bird Table

Does the Barbecue need throwing out (just because you had too much to drink to remember to empty it the last time it saw daylight.. and then it rained every day since).. I doubt it. All you really need to do here is give it a good old clean (possibly applying a considerable amount of elbow grease) ..maybe a coat of Hammerite if your design allows.. and again, you’ll be one proud owner of a functional and good looking out-door cooking Kit.

Yes, I’m afraid the answer to most of your Garden Furniture problems will not lie in your wallet, but more in your attitude.

Now you may treat yourself?

So having now saved you anywhere between 300€ and 2000€ depending on the extent of your extravagance, (or the spending power of your neighbours), what could you now possibly treat yourself to with some of the savings you have now made and yet still end up without a baby barclaycard or visa statement?

Decisions Decisions..

There are many things you could buy, such as lighting, ornamental trappings, extra sun-loungers etc etc. However, maybe you should re-wind and think about your original objective.. to make your garden a more relaxing place. It doesn’t need to look like the Vegas Strip or be accessorised to look like the hanging Gardens of Babylon. It just needs to be comfortable.

Putting your questions to bed

Think about comfort, think about relaxation, think about peace and quiet and the natural conclusion to your probing should discover the concept of the bed. Not that a bed needs to send you to sleep. We watch television whilst in bed, we read in bed, we enjoy our beds probably more than any other vehicle or resting place for our bodies. So why not think about adding a day bed to your fine portfolio of Patio furniture. Not only will a day bed provide shade and a safe place for your children to play, but when your kids are out of sight, playing, or in the pool, then the day bed in your garden will come into it’s own and become a blissful refuge. You could of course always buy a hammock.. that is if you  don’t get sea-sick and like being rocked to sleep?

Putting all notions of Hammocks Firmly to Bed

• Day Beds
• The Art Of Beds
• Bed Prices
• Size Your Bed

Chances are, unless you live on the island that this thought has not crossed your mind? If however you are looking for a bed with your own identity stamped well and truly all over it.. and in fact..no matter where you are based in Europe.. Then The Art of Beds are here to help you!

Not only can we design and build the bed of your choice to your very personalised specification, but we can also make sure it reaches you in A1 condition OR we will return your deposit. (Transit charges need to be insured).

Beds delivered to your door.

The Art of Beds is here to serve you.. and being based in Arta, Mallorca we are on hand to personally attend a consultation should you so desire, providing you live on the Island or are based in Barcelona. As long as traveling expenses are covered we are prepared to spend time with you designing your perfect Sleeping machine.

We’d love to hear from you, so don’t hesitate to contact us now!

The Art of Beds – Mallorca

“What price a luxurious nights sleep?”

Not only are there many well priced townhouse and Villas on sale in the Balearics, but you will also find a wide range of studio, apartment and penthouse properties available at great prices.

then why not take a look at this..

Fantastic townhouse property  for Sale in Arta Mallorca!

FILL OUT THE FORM TO ENQUIRE NOW! ———————>

This property is now up for sale at a knock-down price – Negotiate your deal with the onwer right now by filling out the form today. Don’t delay!

"Buy a Bargain Property in Mallorca"

view more details of this Arta property here and buy a discount property in Mallorca today! –  Arta Townhouse – Distressed Sale

balearicislandproperty.com have provided a number of pages to enable visitors to the island of Mallorca (who may or may nor be searching for properties) to find some of the best places to eat out at on Mallorca.

Whilst you are on the Island why not let us guide you to some of the best eating houses to found. Enjoy some of the finest local cooking and cuisine to be found on the menus of our hand selected restaurants. Choose from a range of prices and styles of cooking, and find a place to eat which suits the ambience needed for your dining occasion.

our restaurant pages offer you a select choice of restaurants and provide you with menu types and full contact details should you want to book or reserve a table in advance and avoid the queues.

These pages also give you some information about the towns and provide details for useful shops in the area.

The latest towns added to our restaurant guide  can be found at:

Eating out in Cala d’Or
and
Restaurants in Puerto Pollensa

please feel free to browse our other restaurant pages and don’t hesitate to return to check for newly added towns and restaurants!

Now that the World cup is over and the local hero from Manacor has regained the greatest prize in sport (as far as tennis goes).. then mainland Spain, or indeed  Mallorca, should welcome you and your family with open arms.

The Spanish Celebrate Sporting Success in 2010

Rafa wins Wimbledon and the Spanish deservedly become ‘Campeones’ at The World Cup 2010

Consider the goodwill and reap it’s benefits.. the spanish must be the happiest people on this earth at this present moment in time. Even Seve Ballesteros, who is raising money with various campaigns for Cancer Research in the UK, is all over the media now that the British Open at St. Andrews begins, and so he should be. The man is truly not just one of Spain’s or Europes’s sporting legends, but one of the World’s.

There is so much empathy as a nation that we could share with the Spanish, besides great crowds at Wimbledon or Galleries at the home of Golf..yet the reality is that we are really good at giving support but they at this moment have the teams and the sporting celebrities to admire.

Share in Spanish Success!

So, when you take your seat for Tapas or sit down for paella in Pollensa, why not engage the restaurant staff in polite conversations around their Nations successes in 2010. You will no doubt receive excellent service and enjoy your dining experience a lot more.

Spain, Mallorca, indeed everywhere in the balearics, should provide the warmest welcome wherever you land. Enjoy your trip, enjoy your stay ..and try and enjoy the banter. It will soften the blow of a disappointing sumer of sport for the Brits, but will make those around you who want you to feel good about your time in their company, feel a whole lot better.

Take a look at some of the best places to eat out at in Mallorca. Visit our Restaurant pages on Balearicislandproperty.com/news today.

just some of our pages:

restaurants in Cala d’Or

restaurants in Puerto Pollensa

Buy tickets for The Ashes series -

The ultimate cricket challenge between Australia and England!

What are the experts saying about the Ashes?

if you are an ex-pat living in Spain, Australia or wherever you are – Take heart. Whilst supporters of Nadal, or Spanish football (and they do deserve those accolades), are basking in glory.. we as Englishmen everywhere, wait with baited breath for the next chance to throw ourselves behind a team from England. well, as the story goes, we don’t have that long to wait..

Are the Aussies running Scared of the 2010 / 2011 Ashes Series?

Ricky Pontin fears that should Australia lose the Winter Ashes series his career as Australian Captain will be all but over.

With the dubious honour of being the only Aussie Captain in the last century to lose 3 Ashes series to the English awaiting him this winter, the 35 year old team Skipper understands his responsibility to make amends for the losses of 2005 and 2009, or else suffer an obvious embarrassment which will stay with him forever.

The Aussie Skipper is not unaware of the task that lies ahead:

“I’d probably be looking for a new job if we lose again,” he observed,  “It’s as simple as that.

The next few months for Pontin, will define his character as a true captain:

“I have got the biggest 8 months of my career coming up”

The Tasmanian born Skipper can’t be accused of shirking his responsibility or to not realistically assessing the odds:

“It doesn’t get any bigger than that”, he said, referring to the forthcoming Ashes series, the now live Pakistan Test and the eventual participation in a World Cup,  “and everything I do between now and April will be geared at getting the most out of myself and, more importantly, the group.”

Ever the optimist, Pontin finished his analysis of the challenges facing him with an up-beat statement to the effect that if they can pull through this period, then the Aussie side which emerges in tact after April, will be a force to be reckoned with.

In typical fashion, Pontin played down the fact that given recent history, he might be feeling a little extra pressure to take back the coveted urn this time around. No point in showing any weakness to compound what the recent cricket between these two great competitors is already telling?

“I’m just thinking about being the best player I can be and having a significant impact on the Ashes series as a batsman and as a leader.” Stated Pontin, “That’s all I can control” he concluded

Pontin claims he knows what it takes to be a good player in a big series and what it will also mean for the rest of his team to follow suit.

“If we keep working on the little things every day I think you’ll see some great performances in the Ashes.”

Having comfortably avoided a NatWest Series whitewash, Ponting, who passed 13,000 ODI runs at the Oval, did however concede that England were fully deserving of the series win.

Speaking directly to the Daily Mail he admitted: “England are worthy winners of this series, they outplayed us in the first three games.”

The Ashes series, now just a short time away, is a mouth-watering prospect for all cricket fans.. and with the balance of cricket power or power-cricket so fragile at the moment and particularly as far as the Australians are concerned, I wouldn’t be surprised to  hear more philosophical takes from the Aussie Camp on the run in what we all expect will be a fiercly contested series.

So are the Aussies showing signs of weakness already?

Serial antagonist of the English test side, Shane Warne has already made certain ‘cloaked’ concessions in recent comments made to the press: “I don’t think that either team, (England or Australia), is dominant right now. In years gone by, you used to think Australia would win, but that England might have a chance if they played really well. Warne admitted,  “Now you think that England can win, but both sides are really even.”

In my opinion, for what it’s worth I feel that England have their best ever chance of winning back to back Ashes, although to make history in this way on Australian soil would ultimately be very very special.

Warne even  goes on to admit that England are currently in better shape than Australia in all forms of the game… a statement which I feel is made in a timely fasion in order to excuse a potential chink in the brash Aussie armour.

England, and I quote: ‘have a better coach than the Australians and Andy Flower is arguably or will turn out to be England’s best coach in recent history.”

Warne also doesn’t reckon that his namesake Tait will figure in the Ashes, and that Australia may decide to take two spinners into the contest?

Already on record claiming this winters Ashes series to be one of the most competitive tests in recent history, Warne believes that England could be over-burdened by the history and records for the taking which he feels may take its toll on a team  searching to “become only the second team in two decades to win a Test series in Australia.” – I, however,  think that may be something the England team will face with more relish than a Big Mac gone large?

The bragging rights undoubtedly earned by England in the 3-0 series win over Australia, though tempered by two final and comprehensive victories by an Australian team who had lost, are still largely in tact despite Warne’s optimistic slant on the eventual 3-2 result. His claims to an Australian resurgence are somewhat drowned out by the beautiful song of the Fat ladies final requiem. She had been going for some time. Poor thing.

When England last toured Australia, in 2006-07, the chasm between the two sides was massive. The Warne and Glenn McGrath swan-song of Test cricket was embarrassingly sealed with a Five -  to Nothing white-wash at the final game in Sydney. Langer, then also playing his last match, together with Gilchrist and Hayden in retiring in more recent times, means that Australia’s ‘golden generation’ is now long gone. This leaves one Ricky Ponting, the only survivor of this old generation, to now carry the quite considerable ‘can’.

Warne out??

Warne goes on almost to retract his sentiments with citations from the past and the .. no , not the present.. simply the past. Whatever transpires we are in for a colossal meeting of two great forces in World cricket, and we can all only hope that the competition now lives up to it’s hype. Bring on the Ashes, that’s what I say!

Where can you buy tickets for the Ashes?

In Australia: cricket.com australia

In the UK: The English Cricket Board

Ticket Sale Dates for the 2010/2011 Vodafone Ashes Series:

TRAVEL PACKAGES AVAILABLE FROM THE CRICKET AUSTRALIA TRAVEL OFFICE –

TICKET ONLY Packages:

Australian Cricket Family – from Wednesday 14 July 2010.

Or available to the Public in General – Tuesday 20 July

Dates and release of tickets over the ACF ‘priority period’ are to be phased over 3 publicised days:

• Tickets for matches in Queensland & South Australia 14 – 19 July
• Tickets for matches in N.S Wales and Tasmania 15 – 19 July
• Tickets for matches in W Australia and Victoria 16 – 19 July

Non Domicile ACF members will be able to purchase Ashes 2010/2011 series tickets when they become available for sale to the General Public starting Tuesday 20 July.

Availability of Tickets on sale to the General Public will also be phased over three days which have been advertised as:

• 20/07/2010 – For matches in Queensland or S Australia
• 21/07/2010 – For matches played in NS Wales and Tasmania
• 22 /07/2010 – For matches held in Victoria or W. Australia.

Spain become World Cup Champions in 2010

Yes! At last, justice is done. Spain, who have undoubtedly played the most attractive, if not the most productive football of this 2010 World Cup tournament, are finally holders of both European and World honours.

The Dutch team failed to impress their total football ethic on a Spanish side who were at times ’spoiled’ by their oppositions Nether-Netherland anti-football tactics.

As much as we would have all liked this final to have been a great spectacle, it was not. Holland, who throughout the tournament have looked  and oftentimes played like the ‘dirty dozen’, were at the very least reminiscent of ‘The Good the Bad and the Ugly’..setting out to confound the beautiful game and trying desperately to asphyxiate the singlemost globally awaited match of the last four years, they looked second class. Shame on the boys in Orange, with the exception of a great goal-keeping display by Stekelenburg , the indefatiguable qualities of Dirk Küyt and the singular brilliance of a frustrated and subjugated Arjen Robben, to a man they contrived to win at any cost.

Thank goodness then for Iniesta, our saviour, and banisher of the penalty shoot out, who with just minutes of added time remaining, grasping the mantle of Clint, delivered (and with such great aplomb), the only ‘Good’ of the game, as he shot the Dutch side to pieces with a perfectly rifled World Cup winning half volley. The ‘bad’ and the ‘ugly’ protested he may have been offside..or for some earlier infringement.. But by this time ..they were already filled full of lead.

Spain are once more.. both true and deserving Campeones.

Well done Spain!

Don’t  bother cooking tomorrow.. give yourself time to celebrate.. try our Restaurants in Cala d’Or or any other locations in mallorca.

Not sure where the best restaurants in Mallorca are located?  Look no further!

The balearic Island Property  Guide to Restuarants in Mallorca is now live and provides useful information about restaurants and dining in mallorca. Where you can find the type of cuisine you are looking for, the price range, full contact details, links to restaurant websites, facebook sites and full contact details so you can call and make a reservation on the spot.

If you feel like contributing to our pages then please feel free to add your comments below and if they are suitable we will publish your review or comments on the relevant restaurant pages of our site.

Our directory of restaurants in Mallorca is growing steadily by the day, so please don’t forget to come back and see our updates.  In the meantime, if you are currently local to any of the towns listed below and would like to plan your meal out in advance then don’t hesitate to make use of our up to the minute information below..and enjoy your meal

Bon apetite! .. Bon apetito! and Bon Appetit!

Restaurants in Mallorca

English Restaurant Directory:

Restaurants in Arta Mallorca

Restaurants in Cala d’Or Mallorca

Restaurants in Cala Ratjada Mallorca

Restaurants in Port Pollensa Mallorca

Restaurants in Son Servera Mallorca

Spanish Restaurant Directory:

Restaurantes en Arta Mallorca

Restaurants en Cala d’Or Mallorca

Restaurants en Cala Ratjada Mallorca

Restaurants en Son Servera Mallorca

German Restaurant Directory:

Restaurants in Arta Mallorca

Restaurants in Cala d’Or Mallorca

Restaurants in Cala Ratjada Mallorca

Restaurants in Son Servera Mallorca

If you are, like me, unimpressed with this world cup so far, then you may be wondering why you are still watching games where there are very few chances, very few goals and really poor performances from some of the top ranking teams in the tournament?

Anybody who loves the ‘beautiful game’ will have made  some form of sacrifice so they can enjoy as much of this feast of football as possible. Those who have travelled the thousands of miles to South Africa, to watch the tournament have of course made the biggest sacrifice of all, so when I make my dash home after work in order to catch the last televised game of the day and moan and gripe about having to sit down with a TV dinner.. I should really count my blessings.

Is this ball spoiling World Cup 2010?

Any tournament of this stature will come with it’s ups and its downs, its controversies and its dull moments, but I have to say that so far there are not too many stories yet to dine out on.

What has turned World Cup Fever into a slow creeping Malaise?

First, we moaned about the vuvuzela’s spoiling our enjoyment of the coverage.. and then it was the cautious approach adopted by virtually all of the teams in their first round games. But, as the tournament has progressed, I am absolutely convinced that the one major factor which has had a massive negative impact on the World Cup 2010, is the ball.

If the likes of Spain, who at their worst play attractive football, fail to net at least one goal over 90 minutes against such unfancied opposition as  switzerland, then what hope is there for the likes of England?  Having thought about this at some length as I have been tucking into my microwave meals watching stale deadlocked performances, I initially thought the poor displays by top ranking teams must be something to do with the anecdotal idiom ‘there are no easy games in the world cup’?.. But can that really be true? Surely not?  I convinced myself, watching the North Korea game versus Brazil, that here was a team who have used technology, the media, and good old fashioned discipline to set themselves up to spoil a Brazilian Party.

If you think about some of the World Cup tournaments since the emergence of the Internet, DVD’s, and even as far back as the VCR, they have progressively got tighter and less predictable, turning up more and more  ’shock’ results than ever before. So my theory, which I would say is partly responsible for some of the inanely contested games I have watched so far, is that teams are now able to study their opposition for longer and in more detail. Couple this readily available intelligence and ability to plan well in advance with a disciplined unit and you can at least now protect against cricket scores? Every side if they choose can, if you like, set themselves up like Mourinho might? (yawn).

What evidence is there then to support not just my claims, but loads of other and more well informed pundits, that this ball is a real shocker?

If you go back to World Cup 1982 and take a look at the group games when there were only 24 teams in the tournament.. there were exactly 100 goals netted in 36 round 1 matches. An average of 2.77 goals per game. In this years tournament, so far we have seen only 44 goals in 21 games which equates to just over 2 goals per game. Even though we are not quite half way through the group stages yet, I would say that there is still a chance that the 1982 tournament, where only 36 games were played.. could end up producing more goals than this years 48 group games.  And.. there is not a chance of seeing any results like Hungary 10 El Salvador 1.

This ball has robbed many skillful players of time and touch. What I mean by that, is even some of the best players in the world are finding extreme difficulty controlling the ball even if it is just slightly off the ground. When you next watch a game, see just how often a player when receiving the ball (other than one touch passing in midfield) takes two or even 3 touches to get the thing under control or down on the ground. Even the faintest touch on this ball will send it ballooning up in the air..and when it eventually comes down it bounces off a shin or an ankle in which ever direction it decides.  Count the amount of cross-field passes which have massively over-shot their target and sped in to touch.  The midfield exchanges in many games I have seen when the ball refuses to come down are nothing if not farcical.. the ball bounces so high and so many times before it sits down that even the poorest of sides can close down a move with an arial pass involved.

Although it’s the same for all involved, this ball has spoiled the tournament for me. Watching these players trying to get this thing under control as it bobbles about under their feet and in between their ankles is just not pretty. Hopefully as the tournament progresses and the players become more accustomed to it’s ‘beach-ball’ properties, we’ll see some better football? But for now I’m afraid, it’s like watching footballers playing on ice or something?

If you have an opinion to share then let’s hear from you, but if you are listening Mr FIFA.. then I have just one message for you.. “Can we have our ball back please?”