When the present owners bought this property from me I was delighted for them because I have a property very close by and I knew it was special but it needed a lot of love and investment, both time and money.

I hadn´t seen the love and investment until yesterday and, to be honest, I was speechless. Anyone who knows me will be saying “now that I´d love to witness”, but honestly, it is amazing.

What we call “the bones”, the structure, was always there; it was a very well-built house, but it lacked love, and now love pours out of it.

Very cleverly, the owners have used their abilities to ensure that it is a house that can appeal to everyone; it´s neutral in a way but full of character and every modern convenience, from remotely controlled canopies to Air Conditioning in every room.

The access is outstanding, and the property can be reached from the town of Sax in different ways, but all are by tarmac roads, and they lead to remotely controlled gates and then a long driveway past the olive grove to a parking area where there is an option for cover if required.

The property is entered via the long conservatory, which is the room you will spend the most time in when not outside, as it has spectacular views over to the mountains and to the amazing pool and poolside lounge and bar areas. Yes, this is a house for entertaining as well as being tranquil, private and far from remote. There are neighbours but everything is secluded; couldn´t be more perfect in my opinion.

So, the conservatory can be entered from the front or from the side, leading to an L-Shaped terrace where you can have sun or shade and then you can access the pool area using the few steps down and this area can be closed off if you have very young children and/or pets. More about that area later.

From the conservatory you enter an immaculate lounge/diner/kitchen with a feature log-burning fire with an open brick surround. The kitchen is spacious and has high-quality units.

There is a passageway to the bedrooms and one of the bathrooms. This is something I love because I always believe, when possible, to separate the sleeping areas from the living areas.

One of the bedrooms is a small single that possibly would be best used as a home office, as there is excellent Internet in the area.

The second bedroom is a Double and the Principal Bedroom has a beautiful en-suite bathroom. All the bedrooms are light and airy.

A second new, modern bathroom and a Utility Room are off the far end of the lounge/diner.

All the bedrooms have A/C, as has the lounge/diner and all the units are inverters so can be used as a relatively economical way of heating in winter.

Have I saved the best until last? I´m not sure as both interior space and exterior space are fabulous but I guess the new swimming pool are with a stunning lounge and bar is breathtaking.

Just to top things off, there is a decorative toilet for guest use and a pump room and loads of terracing, but I imagine the lounge must be one of the most relaxing areas I have seen at a country property. It´s superb and have a look at the photos taken in the evening with all the lighting.

Why Sax?

There are no traffic lights, it has a 13th-century castle, one of seven on the castle route but ours is the best and there are no traffic lights, parking meters and hardly enough crime to even mention due to the town having full employment. What? That isn´t enough?

Sax is so popular because it is far enough inland to be “inland” yet it is only 30 minutes to Alicante Airport and 35 minutes to the beach.  Access is by the A31 Dual Carriageway Alicante to Madrid Autovia (Motorway to you) which runs just outside of the town, by rail and coach from Alicante so you can go to the beach and not have to take your car, and we are only eight minutes’ drive away from the AVE station at Villena.

The AVE is the high-speed train from Alicante to Madrid which has only four stops. From boarding the train will have you in Madrid in 2hrs 9mins for as little as 9€ if you are lucky enough, but around 25€ if not.

Let us stick with the town of Sax for now rather than escaping to the beach or Madrid.

Sax is dominated by its 13th-century castle known as the Headlight and Guardian of The Border a landscape of history and rock. When driving back home to Sax after daylight the sight of the castle, fully lit, and seemingly floating in the air is one of the most welcoming sights I have ever experienced. It´s a sign we are almost home.

Commercially, it is the home of three major international businesses selling “persianas y toldos”, window blinds and sun canopies and a shoe industry that means if you recently bought a pair of shoes in a UK Department Store, for example, the chances are they could have been made in Sax or nearby Elda and we now supply 60% of the footwear used in all Spanish hospitals. It is an incredible feat. No pun intended.

Both Sax and the smaller town of Salinas just eight minutes drive away have close to full employment and lots of opportunity which means our crime statistics are very low and both towns are safe in a way that is hard to imagine if you have arrived from the UK or Holland. Walking around whatever time of day or night is a pleasure rather than something to fear.

Sax is small enough for everyone to know each other and a family who has a son or daughter who is a criminal brings shame on the family. I suppose it´s like when I was growing up in the North West during the 60´s.

Recently we have seen the opening of a Consum supermarket, the equivalent of a Waitrose or Marks & Spencer Food Hall whilst there has been a Hiperber and Dia, both excellent supermarkets for as long as I can remember, and if that isn´t enough there is a Carrefour (Think Tesco) eight minutes’ drive away within a shopping mall complex that has a cinema showing films in English with Spanish subtitles. There are also six gyms in Sax and a superb one in the shopping mall along with Ten Pin Bowling etc Sushi Restaurant and many others.

Sax is served wonderfully well with schools, our son was eight when we moved here and reluctantly, we put him into a state school, he always went to a private school in Manchester, and within six months he was fluent in two languages and following five years in a secondary school went on to study Pharmacy at Complutense in Madrid one of Spain´s most famous and prestigious universities.

However, he didn´t like the idea of going into pharmacy as a career so he is studying law and working as my business partner. He already has a diploma in Spanish Property Law.

For health, Sax and Spain, in general, is far superior to the UK. In the town, we have a new Health Centre with eight doctors, two nurses, a diabetes clinic and a 24/7 Emergency Walk/In Centre. We have three pharmacies, two of which have at least one person who speaks English and their advice is always excellent.

Ten minutes away in Elda is the remarkable award-winning University Hospital El Virgen De Salud where the surgeons are second to none and the food is atrocious, well it can’t all be good!! Newly opened is the Fibromyalgia centre offering support and therapies for those suffering from acute pain.

There are now three Language Schools in the town and the town hall ran a scheme for language swapping that may be run again. Learning Spanish is a lot less difficult than it may seem and there are new ways of learning that concentrate on conversational Spanish.

There are restaurants and bars aplenty with prices that are at first beyond belief and a three or four-course lunch of good quality can easily be found for 13€ or less. For a special occasion, there is Casa Mami and El Fuente restaurant at the hotel Fuente del Cura which are a little more expensive but great food experiences can be had.  Check out our Facebook page for restaurant reviews and other stuff.

Nearby Villena, ten minutes or so up the A31, has some excellent restaurants including the very fashionable Tita´s Gastrobar and the stunning, in my opinion, Condumio.

In Elda, ten minutes in the other direction there is Xambel, Xhagar, Fabrica, La Sirena and Tenaz, all very good restaurants and surprisingly inexpensive. In most bars and cafes, a coffee and toast for breakfast will cost no more than 2,50€ and the coffee is possibly the best in Europe.

Our biggest challenge these days is finding properties as opposed to selling them as Sax and Salinas as both have become incredibly popular as there are very few building permits left in either of the towns and yet they are growing. So, come look around and enjoy.