PEREDELKINO - In idle moments the writer Boris Pasternak used to gaze across the valley at a vista of trees and golden domes, but this may be the last year when visitors to his country house, or dacha, can also appreciate the view. The valley's meadows, where the author of "Doctor Zhivago" strolled during the lonely years of Soviet persecution, could soon vanish beneath luxury dachas - the latest status symbols for Russia's new rich who like to call them "cottages". "What will I show visitors? There will just be rooftops. We won't be able to see the church where he is buried," said Natalya Pasternak, the daughter-in-law of the writer forced to refuse a Nobel Prize by the Soviet government in 1958.

The"Dom tvorchestva"--"House of Creativity" at Peredelkino pictured here was not in fact built until 1954, but it is indicative of the kind of pampered life officially sanctioned writers could live.

Since Russia threw off Soviet rule in 1991, Moscow's businessmen have poured millions into building lavish dachas.The traffic-choked roads along which Muscovites flee town on Friday nights are lined with billboards promising comfort in exclusive villages, their English names like "Falconers" or "Sherwood" adding an exotic touch. Estate agents charge sky-high prices for plots near Moscow.

Dachas are a way of life for Russians, though for most on a far more modest scale.During Soviet times, they were a perk for government officials, artists and writers, who were given houses in villages like Peredelkino.

For ordinary Soviet citizens, they were a refuge from cramped communal apartments, their vegetable gardens supplementing the meagre selection in state-run shops.

Dachas, albeit on small plots and made of wood which made them unusable in winter, were as near to private property allowed by Soviet ideology.

The new rich have taken the tradition to startling extremes. Muscovites swap stories about businessmen building houses to resemble yachts or castles, or investing millions in self-designed mansions which then fall down.