Villa for sale in Sax, Alicante

Incredible villa in an excellent location just 30 minutes drive to Alicante Airport and five minutes into town.

Possibly the best construction we have ever seen in inland Spain, this is like a fortress, and, although not lived in for a good while there are no signs of damp which may be a first for a property standing that long.

Although, when built, the interior was extremely stylish and traditional it is now tired, very tired, almost yawning but nothing that three fresh coats of white paint wouldn´t dramatically change.

Remote controlled gates open to a driveway leading up to the impressive building and to the right you get your first glimpse of the large 12 x 5 metre swimming pool and the tennis court and the immaculate gardens.

Behind the tennis court are the three garages, one of which is massive and could easily be turned into a guest apartment as it already has electricity and water connected.

The house can be entered by the lovely covered terrace at what appears to be the front but is actually the side of the house and the front is to the left side.

There is a lovely hallway with amazing stained-glass feature windows. A hallway leads to a guest bathroom and then to the kitchen which is typically Spanish, as in not big because the Spanish use the BBQ for almost everything, however, it is hardly small and can be used as a dining area as well.

The lounge/diner is a very impressive large/long room with loads of natural light and a feature log burning fireplace at the far end. From here you can access the L-shaped covered patio that has loads of space for outdoor dining.

A staircase takes you down to a small bodega and a massive summer kitchen with its fabulous BBQ. The family and extended family used to eat here at the weekends and have in excess of 20 people around the dining table. It is an extraordinary space and it keeps relatively cool in summer. There are two superb original wooden doors that lead out to the right hand side of the property and to the stairs that go up to the stunning roof terrace and attic space.

The upper level, only a few steps, has three double bedrooms and a bathroom. All the bedrooms have built in wardrobes and lots of natural light.

The roof terrace offers outstanding views across to the mountains and there is a large attic space with an angled roof that allows standing at one side but lessens to kneeling room at the other side. The oil tanks for the central heating system are stored here.

The house has not been properly used for 15 years yet is in remarkable condition due to the quality of the build. The owner, whilst having decided to sell is not in a hurry but he has made it clear he is open to offers to take into consideration the modernisation that would ideally need to take place.

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 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 now 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.

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, 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 Spain´s hospitals. It is an incredible feat.

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.

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 eight minutes’ drive away within a shopping mall complex that has a cinemas which shows 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 clinics 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.

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.