My Place in Sun? Beirut

TV star Sara wants to honour dad's Lebanon dream

- CHRISTINE SMITH

PROPERTY show presenter Sara Damergi has found her own Place in the Sun - in war-torn Beirut.

The long-time host of Channel 4's A Place in the Sun, which helps house-hunters find their dream home abroad, is building a block of flats in Lebanon, her family's country.

Sara's father Issam started a project to construct 55 flats and 14 shops on family land some 20 years ago.

He died from cancer aged 67 in 2022, and now Sara and her brothers Aboudi and Malek are determined to complete his dream.

But the project is fraught with danger.

Before the recent ceasefire, 13 months of fighting between Israel and the Lebanese political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah left nearly 4,000 people dead and forced more than a million to flee their homes, UN figures show.

Sara, 45, says: "We are so proud of [our dad] and we want to do this, but it's been very emotional and incredibly stressful. You constantly have this background hum of fear."

TERRIFIED