“We love the summer in Lanzarote as it doesn’t get as scorching as the Med”
Sam and Brian Little have just booked a three-week trip to their new villa in Lanzarote for this summer. The Canary Islands are often thought of as an affordable and easy to reach winter sun destination, but are actually great all year round.
In June, the average temperature is 25 degrees, which is the same as they experienced during February half term this year. Says Sam, 52, from Cardiff: “Being in the Atlantic it doesn’t get as humid as southern Europe. We’ve visited every month since we’ve owned the property.” Their daughter, Emily Rose, now in a graduate job, will also visit this summer.
The “Lanzarote Littles”, as the couple now style themselves, bought a three-bedroom villa with a private pool in Yaiza after some help from Lee Juggurnauth and A Place in the Sun TV team in December 2022. Read more about their episode here. They bagged the lovely property near Playa Blanca for £250,000 and since then have done quite a lot to the property since the purchase was completed in March 2023.
“We’ve painted the whole place, re-done the bathrooms, put in new floor tiles and sorted out the courtyard,” says Brain, 55, who works in the mental health sector. He explains a minor hiccup sorted out by their lawyer was the fact there were two illegal roofs – on the utility area and the pergola.
“We had to remove them, which was no big deal, and then apply for a licence of first occupation so that the property was completely legal. It didn’t take too long to sort.”
The couple met Barry, an expat on the island who was interviewed on their show, who’s been ‘extremely helpful’ in introducing the couple to good local tradesmen and have become friends. Brian has also got used to driving a hire car again which has been helpful in sourcing bits for the house, but also exploring the island. Their villa is located close to Marina Rubicon and the lovely Papagayo beaches on the island’s south coast.
They’ve done a great job on the villa, which is also helping them attract holiday rentals when they are not using it themselves. “We’ve just started renting it out, and have five bookings already,” says Sam. It’s listed on Lanzarote Lakes and also Airbnb, booking.com, from €979 per week (sleeps six).
“We love having the property so much,” says Sam, for whom a family inheritance enabled them to purchase their Spanish home. “Maybe we’ll even buy another property and live on the island when we retire,” she adds. “But for now we really make the most of the many times we go there.”
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