FORMER Wootton Rivers poultry farmers Barry and Eileen Lovelock who left England 18 months ago for a new life in the sun say they have no plans to move back.

Mr and Mrs Lovelock have spent Christmas and the New Year with relatives in Marlborough, but said they could not wait to get back to their new home in Spain.

The Lovelock family can be traced back in Wootton Rivers to the 1600s.

But fed up with taxation and growing red tape in England the couple decided to look for a home elsewhere.

After 18 months of laid-back living in a village called El Vergel 25 miles north of Barcelona the couple, both in their mid 60s, said they had no plans to return to England to live.

Mr Lovelock said: "We live just a ten minute walk from a beach and our home is surrounded by orange groves."

His wife said: "We can almost reach out of the window and pick lemons."

Mr Lovelock said his daily routine started with switching on the coffee machine and then going for a dip in his own swimming pool, even at this time of year.

He said: "We had daytime temperatures of 23-24 degrees Celsius in December before we left to visit our family in England.

"On December 4, the day before we left to come to England, we were both swimming although the pool is not heated."

Mr Lovelock, who had numerous planning battles before winning permission to develop land in Wootton Rivers, said there was far less red tape in Spain and a more relaxed way of life.

"Diesel is 55p a litre, a bottle of rum costs between £5 and £6 and parking is free everywhere," he said.

"Why should be want to move back to England when we have it so good."

Mrs Lovelock said a meal in a Spanish restaurant of tapas, paella and a cold dessert costs about £8 for the two of them.

She added: "We don't have to pay to watch TV because there is no TV licence in Spain and we can watch all our favourite English programmes on Sky."

The couple love walking and they occasionally play tennis.

It's almost true about the rain in Spain, Mr Lovelock said: "Between April 28 and October 28 we had less than four hours of rain in total."

Mr and Mrs Lovelock have spent the Christmas and New Year break visiting their sons Roger and Ian and daughter Kay in Marlborough and Chiseldon. Their children and grandchildren have all been to El Vergel for holidays.