Sir Ian Botham found ‘the perfect retreat’ in the desert

Cricket ace Sir Ian Botham has found what he describes as “the perfect retreat” in Europe’s only desert.

The former England Test cricketer bought a four-bedroom country villa alongside the seventeenth fairway of Europe’s only championship desert golf course, The Indiana at Desert Springs, the award-winning luxury family resort in Almeria, south-east Spain.

Sir Ian Botham enjoys breakfast on the veranda of his home at Desert Springs

Warmest winter weather

“I love the peaceful atmosphere and the desert microclimate we enjoy in this corner of Spain,” says Sir Ian who was attracted by the region’s reputation for having the warmest winter weather on the continent.

Sir Ian’s Spanish Colonial style home, an air-conditioned ‘Arizona’ villa built by the Anglo-Spanish developer of Desert Springs, The Almanzora Bay Group, has been designed to capture the ambience of the old farmhouses, or cortijos, of the Almanzora region in which Desert Springs is located.

Set within a walled garden, the property features deep and shady colonnaded verandas with fans, spacious roof terraces and a private infinity pool ‘guarded’ by a 10 metre tiled crocodile at the bottom of it.

The villa’s internal finishes include hardwood joinery, stone fireplaces and marble and Porcelanosa tiled floors.

A real quality of lifestyle

A four-bedroom ‘Arizona’ villa

“This is our perfect family retreat and a real home from home for us because the resort offers everything I enjoy in life,” says Sir Ian, who is married to Kathy and has three children, Liam, Sarah and Becky. “We use our villa at every opportunity throughout the year, and so do family and friends.

“For them, Desert Springs offers such an amazing variety of sports and leisure facilities that there is always something for all of them to enjoy.”

A passionate golfer, Sir Ian was the first member of the Desert Springs Golf Club to play on its 18-hole golf course.

He says: “I enjoy meeting and playing with other members and guests of the club because they are there for the same reasons – to experience and benefit from a real quality of lifestyle which, in my view, has no equal in Europe.”

In addition to the 18-hole golf course, and a golf academy which caters for several international teams, the Botham family has access to an aerobics gymnasium, trim trail and jogging tracks as well as courts for tennis, paddle tennis and beach volley ball.  Other facilities in the resort range from an international size football pitch, cricket nets, a contra-current swimming pool and mountain bikes to a health and fitness club and spa.

Academy Practice Grounds

The coaching, activities and programmes available for adults and children include personal fitness training by Sir Ian Botham’s friend Daley Thompson, the double Olympic Gold medallist who also has a home at Desert Springs.

Leap of faith

Simon Coaker, director of golf at Desert Springs, says that when Ian decided to buy his property off-plan seven years ago it was “a huge leap of faith.”

“Before The Almanzora Bay Group bought the Desert Springs site it was occupied by a farm growing melons and tomatoes. When Sir Ian saw it for the first time, the development of a resort and its golf course was in its infancy,” says Simon.

Since then Sir Ian has watched the transformation of the site and seen substantial growth in the capital value of his property. Although the price he paid for it in 2001 has not been disclosed, the investment has more than doubled in value.

Sir Ian has bought a second holiday home at Desert Springs. The newest property has become home to Sir Ian’s daughter Sarah who has just fulfilled a long held ambition in Spain. She said: “After six years working with Sky Sports, and then helping to organise my father’s fundraising walks for Leukaemia Research, I was looking for an opportunity to open a wine bar.

Townhouses of the type which Sir Ian Botham has bought at Desert Springs

“There were few affordable ones in the area near my home in North Yorkshire but then, during a holiday at Desert Springs, I discovered that the Bar Restaurante los Pepes in the nearby town of Vera was for sale. I didn’t take me long to snap it up!”

Vera, which Sarah describes as “a charming and picturesque town with a flavour of Spain as it was,” is just a few minutes by car from Desert Springs where the family’s second second-home is a spacious Modesto style duplex. It has a floor area of 110 sq metres, a roof terrace of 37 sq metres, and views of both the Desert Springs Golf Academy and the sea.

For more information call The Almanzora Group on 01242 680299 or visit the website, www.almanzora.com