Villa tal-Larinġ, Lija

Lija is one of the three villages, and the gardens are why. This one runs to nine hundred square metres behind a wall high enough that the house cannot be seen from it, or it from the house.

Sixty orange trees, give or take — the count depends on whether one includes the four that are mostly ambition. They are irrigated from a reservoir under the yard, which is original and still sound.

It was bought under the asking price, which we mention only because it is rare and because the reason was structural: a survey found work needed to the roof terrace, and the figure was deducted rather than argued about.