'My flat near Wenceslas Square'

Conference organiser Mike Bryan, 46, has been holidaying in Prague for years but 12 months ago he went a step further and bought a second home there. His two-bedroom, twobathroom 140sq m flat is in a renovated 19th century block 30 yards from Wenceslas Square.

He bought through Hanex and found the necessary process of setting up a limited company, which ever foreigner needs to do to buy Czech property, quite painless: "It's very simple, just a number of forms to fill in, I did it through my lawyer."

Bryan doesn't speak Czech, but he was anxious to work with Czech people, so Frank Hanecak found him a bilingual Czech lawyer who, in turn, found him a local architect. The three have since become good friends. The flat has been completely refurbished to "a very smart modern Italian design because I'm a finicky sort of bloke. The flat cost about £212,000 and the same again for its renovation. Now it really looks the business."

Bristol-based Bryan flies to Prague for £20 each way on one of three daily budget flights from Bristol. He has never thought of letting his flat when he's not there. "It's my little home," he says. "I've got all my things there. I'm not doing this as an investment. I'm doing it because I love being in the Czech Republic."