Ian Botham finds ‘the perfect retreat’ in the desert

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

The former England Test cricketer has 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.

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

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, Ian’s 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.

“This is our perfect family retreat and a real home from home for us because the resort offers everything I enjoy in life,” says 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, Ian was the first member of the Desert Springs Golf Club to play on its 18-hole golf course.

Says Ian: “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.

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

The Crocodile Club provides family fun at the heart of the resort with pools, equipped sand play areas and a games room as well as a jacuzzi, sun lawns and a pool bar.

A favourite with the Botham family is the club’s Croc Restaurant which offers a variety of speciality menus.

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 Ian saw it for the first time, the development of a resort and its golf course was in its infancy,” says Simon.

Since then 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. Today the prices of four-bedroom country villas at Desert Springs start at around €785,000.

A wide variety of properties at Desert Springs, at prices starting at £250,000 for an apartment, are sold in the UK by The Almanzora Group which also arranges inspection visits. For more information, visit almanzora.com.