n Going green: wherever you live in Lanarkshire you're in easy reach of open spaces including Strathclyde Park.

INTEREST in Lanarkshire is so great these days that no fewer than 24 major housebuilders are currently working on developments in the area, offering a huge range of properties; everything from town centre flats at under #40,000 to luxury near rural villas for well over #100,000.

Miller Homes have announced the release of the final phase at its Kittoch Field development in East Kilbride situated in the grounds of Kittoch School off West Mains Road. The houses released are a selection of detached villas ranging from #94,000 for three bedrooms with walk-through lounge and dining room, downstairs cloakroom, master bedroom with

en suite shower room and garage, to #151,000 for four bedrooms. Miller's Lindsayfield development in East Kilbride is five minutes drive from Scotland's largest indoor shopping centre. Six different styles of detached home are available, all with downstairs cloakroom, en suite shower room in the master bedroom and garage as standard. Prices start at #89,500 for three bedrooms, and #92,500 for four bedrooms.

Lynch Homes are offering only large detached homes at their seven Lanarkshire sites starting from three bedroom villas and bungalows to four and five bedroom luxury villas. Prices at their Chapelton Heights site in Chapelton village, near Strathaven, start at #103,495. Just 10 minutes drive from Chapelton at Lindsayfield in East Kilbride, Lynch are soon to launch a third site of 40 detached properties based on the success of their existing sites, Monument Gate and Lindsay View, both of which sell three, four and five-bedroom detached villas starting from #85,995.

At Fairholm View in Larkhall there has been great demand for three bedroom bungalows and larger detached villas. Still available in this first phase are four-bedroom detached homes from #89,995.

And the latest offering is at Crossford in the Clyde Valley. On offer is a choice of 15 spacious detached villas, all with four or five double bedrooms, some with nine or 10 apartments measuring almost 2000 square feet, priced from #142,000.

Wimpey Homes have four established Lanarkshire developments in Carluke, Chapelhall, East Kilbride and Strathaven, all of which offer a wide choice of house styles. Situated next to the small village of Chapelhall, the Kestrel Grange development offers two and three-bedroom family homes from #58,995 which are proving popular with young professionals where commuting to Edinburgh and Glasgow is a priority.

Ryecroft Park in East Kilbride offers a choice of three and four-bedroom family homes with prices starting from #69,995. For golf lovers, Overton Park in the conservation village of Strathaven overlooks the local course and also boasts excellent rugby, bowling and shopping facilities. There are only three, three-bedroom semi-detached houses remaining, priced from #69,995. Showhomes have opened at one of Wimpey's newest Lanarkshire developments, Hayward Park in Carluke. Commenting on the Lanarkshire housing market, an estate agent who lives and works locally said: ''This is an increasingly busy area for us with lots of people moving into Lanarkshire for the first time - some of whom are renting - and others buying and selling locally. It's certainly difficult not to be tempted by all the new properties that are being built throughout the county, with much of the current activity centring on

the Larkhall district.

''I think we have the Lanarkshire Development Agency to thank for much of the 'new blood' that is coming into the area because they've been very successful in getting companies to start up or relocate here due to the grants and other incentives that have been available.''

She said it was difficult to say which areas were attracting the most attention from househunters. Airdrie now has properties for sale at offers over #100,000 - while some homes in posh Bothwell can currently be snapped up for less than that.

''Which just goes to show,'' she said, ''that every area is a mixture and hardly any can be written off as being either too dear or not good enough. In fact, although Bothwell is still very much at the luxury end of the market, prices seem to have stabilised there recently (with detached, six-

apartment, 2.5 bath bungalows going for under #200,000) and more people are looking for properties in the Clyde Valley with a couple of acres attached, often because they have several dogs or a child who has a pony.''

Deedee Cuddihy