These days, celeb Denise van Outen is as much at home on the fairway as Broadway and nowhere more so than in sunny Spain…
Lucky golfers at a top course in Spain will have spotted TV and West End star Denise van Outen teeing off during one of her recent trips to the Costa Blanca.
Dazzling Denise has made a handful of visits to the Las Colinas Golf and Country Club in Campoamor since May this year, staying in one of the resort’s smart front-line properties and relaxing at the club house between rounds. Over the summer she was there with partner Eddie and daughter Betsy.
Voted one of Europe’s Top 100 courses and a regular venue for qualifying stages of the European Tour, Las Colinas is the ideal place for Denise to improve her handicap. In fact, the Essex-born celebrity is determined that it’s where she plays her first round of golf in less than 100 shots.
A keen golfer since she turned 40, Denise is a fan of playing in sunny places. Her regular club in the UK is The Grove in Herts, but she’s also played in Dubai, Barbados and Sardinia. Unsurprisingly, Denise said she has considered buying a property at Las Colinas, “somewhere to come with Betsy and Eddie and in the months when the weather is too bad to play golf back at home”. She is also familiar with Quinta da Lago in Portugal’s Algarve, where friends of hers own homes.
An upmarket boutique resort in the southern Costa Blanca, Las Colinas sits in pretty countryside, 10 minutes’ drive from its own beach club. It offers quality new-build villas and apartments in peaceful, landscaped settings around the golf course.
For house-hunters who prefer to be outside of a resort and nearer the beach, the southern Costa Blanca offers plenty of choice. Sue and Paul Mainwaring are one British couple who chose a new property not far from Las Colinas. They received the keys to their three-bedroom villa in Villamartín in July 2016, a little over a year after choosing a plot and villa design through local estate agency HomeEspaña. The property cost them €260,000 (excluding fees and taxes).
“We found the plot back in April 2015,” said Sue. “We liked the modern design of the show home so chose the same as that, then chose our fittings.”
The couple were undeterred by the result of the EU Referendum just before they completed. Said Sue: “The prospect of Brexit never bothered us – if people really want a home in Spain, they should go for it. Fortunately, we bought our euros for the purchase last year and got a great exchange rate!”
The Mainwarings’ villa, which is in the Pau 8 area of Villamartín, includes lots of outside space, a private pool and solarium. As a second home, they hope to spend six months there next year and expect their children will enjoy holidays there too.
Added Laura Richards, Spain specialist at PropertyGuides.com: “Villamartín is popular for its proximity to beaches, all amenities and three golf courses at Villamartín Golf, Campoamor Golf and Las Ramblas Golf. Being near the La Zenia Boulevard shopping centre, which has international designer outlets, is a further attraction of the area.”
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