A Place In The Sun host Sara Damergi's shares update on 'incredibly stressful' project

Fans used to watching TV’s Sara Damergi find househunters dream homes abroad on A Place in the Sun will be surprised by the location of her own building project.

A regular presenter of the Channel 4 show for 12 years, instead of picking a Mediterranean hotspot like the Spanish costas, she is building 55 flats and 14 shops in war-torn Lebanon.

Together with her brothers Aboudi and Malek, she is finishing the project started more than 20 years ago by her Lebanese born father, Issam, who bought back family land for the build, but died from cancer in May 2022, aged 67, before it was completed.

“We are so proud of him and we want to do this, but it’s been very emotional and incredibly stressful,” says Sara, 45.

On top of project managing from afar, she has faced an economic crisis and a war - turning her dad’s dream into a nightmare at times.

Concerned about her brothers and her extended family’s safety in the region, Sara says: “I’ve worried about them all the time. You constantly have this background hum of fear. ”

But she and her brothers remain determined to see their dad’s legacy completed on land that was in the family for many generations, but was split up after the building on it deteriorated following her great, great grandfather’s death.

She continues: “Dad demolished everything and started again.

“By the time he died, 80% of the renovation had been completed. Now my brothers and I are finishing it for him as his legacy.”

Even when work began nine years ago, the project faced enormous problems.

Sara says: “In 2019 we were hit by the worst economic crisis since the 1800s, when the Lebanese Lira was worth nothing and the banks took everyone’s money. That was stage one of the stress.

“A year later, the Beirut Port exploded and all the windows in our building were smashed and the shutters all buckled.

“Then the war started.”

The day before the November 27 ceasefire, people in the area around the renovation were evacuated - leaving her terrified firstly for her family’s safety and secondly for the safety of the building.

“The night before the ceasefire, residents were told they would be targeting people and buildings where ours was,” she reveals. “Everyone was told to evacuate and there was no way of knowing what was happening.

“I stayed up all night, constantly trying to get on the ground information. I was terrified. You always have that fear in the region anyway, but this was a little too much.”

Luckily, her family and the property were safe.

“I pray the ceasefire holds now,” she says. “I also pray for peace for the whole region. It’s been emotional overseeing this project because it was my dad’s dream.

“Dad had a great love of Lebanon, and there is so much love for the country. I think a part of that is because people have been forced to leave the country so many times.”

She has not been able to oversee the work in person for months.

“This year was the first summer we did not go to Lebanon,” she explains. “We normally spend the summer there. It was too risky to visit, but we all really missed it.”

She hopes to return when the site is completed next year.

“We will rent out the apartments,” she says, disclosing that they are undecided whether to keep the retail element as 14 units, or to make it one big store.

“We need to see what happens to the economy first,” she adds.

“Right at the front, we’ve built a water fountain. There is no clean drinking water from the taps in Lebanon and you have to buy water. This is a way to give something back. People can fill up their water bottles with clean, fresh water, and we’ve named it after Dad. It’s in his honour and if people want to offer a prayer to him, they can.”

While Sara has no plans to relocate to Lebanon with her Swedish husband and their two sons, Oliver, six, and Elliott, four, she loves the country, where she lived as a small child - even then witnessing bombings.

“I was born in London, but when I was a baby, we moved out there,” she recalls. “There was a bomb that went off in front of a car and lots of different stressful things going on in that part of the world. It’s a troubled region, sadly, and we had to move back to the UK.

“But I hope, one day, Lebanon will return to its heyday when it was amazing.

“It’s a very tolerant place with a real mix of people. You’ve got the beach and the mountains with many different religions. We hope for those days again – and of course just for peace.”

Her family’s build is very different to those on A Place in the Sun, a new series of which starts on January 2, in a new 6pm slot.

Sara says: “We have realistic budgets and everyone can live that dream.

“People love to watch the programme for escapism and I love the fact that our show is something people can do. A Place in the Sun is so accessible for everyone.

“I love hearing people’s different stories and helping them change their lives forever.”

The first couple she will be seen helping in the new series are Jaazzmina and Mark, who are after a permanent move to Spain on a £100K budget and want to start a wellness retreat.

“Without giving too much away, we did hit a few stumbling blocks!” laughs Sara.

Now she hopes in 2025 her own place in the sun will be completed, adding: “It’s been stressful doing this renovation but, touch wood, it has turned out all right.”

• A Place in the Sun returns with new episodes on January 2 and will broadcast daily at 6pm on Channel 4.