How cool is your pool?
- Swimming is England’s favourite sport (Sport England)
- Year-on-year triathlon day licences increased over 19% (2012 – 2013)
- A Surrey swimming pool that looks like you are in Spain (Knight Frank Surrey)
More than 2.9 million people go swimming at least once a week in the UK, according to Sport England’s 2013/2014 data. The figure positions swimming as the top sport in the UK by a significant margin, though in recent years the number of people getting involved in sport has also risen substantially.
Playing in team sports might be fun but in today’s busy world it is a simpler proposition to do your own thing. Many individuals look to combine the two, exercising and training on their own but turning to organised events such as triathlons in order to share their participation with others. In fact, the triathlon, which includes swimming, cycling and running, has seen huge rise in the number of contestants taking part, with the day licences to race increasing 19.12% from 2012 to 2013.
Both cycling and running are instant sports: very little thought needs to go into planning for a hill sprint or a 5k jog. Find yourself with a spare 45 minutes and off you go. Swimming however is a different matter. Packing your kit, driving to the leisure centre and paddling around in the water with a whole host of strangers loses much appeal after a hard day in the office. This is one of the reasons that open swimming is such a growth sport in the UK, along with the fact that it hit the headlines after the International Olympic Committee listed a 10km race as one of the events for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
While more and more people are heading to the great outdoors to unearth the swimming adrenalin buzz, those who can afford it far prefer to own their own swimming pool. The ease of slipping into your costume and just strolling into your garden for the ultimate de-stress is hard to beat.
Jonathan Cranley, Sales and Marketing Director for Millgate, who have been building a select range of homes with stunning swimming pools so far in 2014, commented:
“When we are designing plots for luxury homes, if there is ample space, then we will often try to incorporate a swimming pool. Nobody wants a pool that takes up the entire garden and we are aware that buyers are often thinking ‘safety first’ when buying a house, particularly if they have young children. Thus we endeavour to keep pools in an area that can be cordoned off if need be.
“Our latest houses to include pools were outside Oxted in Surrey on Trevereux Hill. The stepped gardens we created from being on the side of a hill made perfect locations to include wonderful pools with views that stretches between 20 and 30 miles on a clear day.”
Two of the homes with swimming pools have already been sold, snapped up by families who fell in love with the incredible view and wanted a way for the kids to keep fit in the garden!
Ashley Mason, Head of Sales for Knight Frank, Surrey who are selling the development said:
“There are pools and there are pools. Buyers are put off by dirty, run down swimming pools that look like they will cost a fortune to repair. The pools at Trevereux are a million miles from this! They are utterly gorgeous. Prospective buyers have been astonished when they see them – you could easily imagine you are in Spain rather than deepest Surrey!”
For more details on buying homes with luxury swimming pools, contact Millgate on 0118 934 3344 or visit www.millgatehomes.co.uk.