 For many, the search for a dream home begins at private property. The website boasts a wide variety of estate property, including sought-after options in Hillcrest. Just 30 minutes from Durbin's city centre, the area has a great sense of community and a mix of country and cosmopolitan lifestyles. Nestled in the valley of a thousand hills, this neighbourhood with its learning and leisure-orientated way of life has been a top choice for many. I'm Heather Hamilton, now Mostyt. I've lived in Hillcrest most of my life and I feel quite privileged to have done so. It's the most amazing environment to live and to grow. We have two beautiful children and I'm fortunate enough to spend most of my weekends riding my horses with my kids and just asking about enjoying this family-orientated lifestyle that we enjoy here. We are amazingly fortunate to live in Hillcrest because not only is it an amazing lifestyle but it certainly is, it lends itself to that with all the private schools that are in the immediate vicinity of Hillcrest. I would say that some of the top private schools are all within maybe an hour's drive of where we live here, which is incredible and we're super spoiled for that. There's plenty to do on the weekends and whether it's to keep your friends entertained or just your family entertained, we certainly love going to the Peerzulu cultural village. It's really great. The kids can go and see all the animals, the reptiles, the crocodiles. Another great outing is the Thousand Hills Arts and Craft Village. We love going there, looking at the pottery, having a great morning after our family, having a breakfast, coffee and overlooking those magnificent views of the valley of Thousand Hills. They're endless and just a privileged, beautiful way to start the day. For the more sporty outdoors weekends, we really love going trail running or mountain biking. There's amazing single track mountain biking in the area, which we have great fun on with our kids, jumping stuff and just having a great fun morning out. Just five kilometres from the centre of Hillcrest is Cotswold Downs, a golf and lifestyle estate consisting of eight villages and close to 700 homes. The estate is an outdoor lover's dream as the Nooto River flows through it and its top notch golf course has hosted the annual World Amateur Golf Championship. My name is Wayne Cranbeck. I'm a resident at Cotswold Downs. My family and I moved on about nine months ago into the estate and I must say we're absolutely loving the lifestyle. My kids are just in a little piece of heaven here, playing on the parks, making new friends. And the best of it all is parents. We just know how much fun this is for them and they're in such a safe environment and we don't have to worry about that. And that's just, for us it's just a really great feeling. We've been fortunate enough to have lived on other golf estates in South Africa and as such, I've come to realise how unique Cotswold Downs is in its actual makeup. Developers normally develop the housing estate first and then get a designer to come in and do a golf course there after. However, at Cotswold, Peter Makovich was given the design first and then they got the design team to come and put the housing in, giving it a really great feel on this estate. The houses fitting into the topography and the houses are not that imposing on the golf course at all. And that also really blends well with the natural forest lines and also the grassland that make up this beautiful estate that we live on. Although Cotswold Downs is referred to as a golfing estate and me being a PGA professional or a golfer myself and enjoying the game, it's actually so much more than that. And that's what we really love about this estate is that it's not just centered around golf. There's so many other activities that our family enjoy and we're a very active family. So my kids are very outdoor orientated. We often go for walks in the forest line here, spotting all the natural wildlife, which is at Cotswold. We've got the daikas here, which are naturally here. We've got the crowned eagle, which we don't always see all the time, but when we do, it's a real privilege to see it and then all the dusties and normal wildlife that you'd get in any forest and the other bird life. It really is a privilege to be able to do that. As a family, what we really enjoy about the Lifestyle Centre is the way that it was actually designed. It doesn't feel like just a golf clubhouse, which you find on many of these golfing estates, but it's so much more than that. It's almost like it's been designed in a sense that everything amalgamates and mixes in the middle. So you've got your, you do have a golfing aspect to it, obviously with your locker rooms and your pub. But the pub is also there for the home owners to come and enjoy sundowners or just to have a pub lunch or a pub evening meal with family and friends. The restaurant on the other side, which has been called The Kitchen itself, is very family orientated in its makeup. The cuisine that we actually have is magnificent. As I say, family orientated, but it's great quality food. And all of that mixes in the middle where you can sit inside or outside and enjoy these magnificent views down the 18th hole and into the forest. My name is Miles Wakefield. I'm the CEO of Wakefields Real Estate. We've been selling property here at Cotswold Downs pretty much since inception back in 2004 when this was just a sugarcane farm. So it's been an absolute honor to sit and watch this development grow to what it is today. I'm also been a resident here for about seven years and absolutely love living here. One of the big selling points of Cotswold Downs is the fantastic security we have on offer here. There's an unbelievable perimeter fence which is completely electrified as well as stakes that go underneath the ground, completely accessed, controlled with your fingerprints. But on top of that, when people get inside here, there's this sense of country and it's made up with a beautiful golf course. These lovely wetlands as well as the beautiful forest that Cotswold Downs has. The three main types of properties on offer here at Cotswold Downs are vacant land, starting at about 900,000 rand. Then we've got three bedroom semi-detached duplexes at about 2.5 million rand. And then the fully completed freestanding houses on freehold property and those you're looking at a price at an entry level of about 3.7 million rand. Inside the development, there are no plans to extend Cotswold Downs any further. We're about 70% completed so there's a last 30% to go. Outside, a lot of the infrastructure has already taken place. A lot of the roads have been widened already which has helped ease traffic congestion. For those of you wanting a relaxed country life, sit in the rolling hills and Hillcrest is the place to be. It's near all the amenities you might need and with all these picturesque views, it really is the place to be. Secure your place in the sun and enjoy the fresh air lifestyle at Cotswold Downs by finding your dream home on privateproperty.co.za. There's a home for everyone on private property.