Where rocker Rick finds
the perfect notes

Keyboard veteran Rick Wakeman tells Angela West why he loves Tenerife, and the villa he bought there.

Known as the island of eternal spring, Tenerife is a firm favourite for the rich and famous. One celebrity – musician Rick Wakeman – was so inspired by its climate, landscapes and golf courses that he made it his second home.

The veteran rocker’s love affair with Tenerife started during the 1980s, following a family recommendation.

“My parents used to visit Tenerife regularly in the 1970s and they always raved about the island,” Rick explains. “I first came here for a couple of days in the mid-80s to play in a golf tournament. I loved what I saw and vowed to come back, which I did a few months later.”

After that, he just kept on returning.

“It had everything I wanted – great weather, great golf, great food and, even more importantly, a phenomenal diversity, meaning that the island could be anything you wanted it to be at any given time.”

'If I have a Sunday free, I go for a barbecue in the hills'

With year-round sunshine and average winter temperatures of around 22C, the largest of the Canary Islands is rich in natural beauty – and it’s an island with two faces: the north part is greener, cooler and more fertile than the sunnier south, which is protected from rainfall by a high mountain range.

Rick’s house – on the south coast – is a four-bedroom, three-storey villa.

“It’s on a beautiful complex,” he says, “literally one minute’s walk from the seafront.”

It sounds idyllic, although there is a downside to living in a part of the island that’s a bit of a tourist magnet: “My only nightmare is trying to park during the height of the season!”