When their business went bust, it didn’t take long for Build a New Life in the Country stars Nick and Lesley Vallance to write down their dreams and make them come true. Article by Bob Morrison.

The ancient town of Velez-Malaga is only three miles inland from the resort of Torre del Mar on the Costa del Sol, yet few holidaymakers step out of that quarter-mile-deep comfort zone of the beach area to discover this bit of authentic Andalucia. With archaeological remains in the area dating back to Phoenician times, and both Roman and Moorish influences still visible in the layout and architecture, Velez is one of those interesting gems that has somehow managed to remain out of sight despite being in full view.

Architect Nick Vallance and his designer wife Lesley stumbled on the town almost by chance, when looking to start up a select small business in Southern Spain, and they instantly spotted its potential. The result is Palacio Blanco, an eight-room, upmarket establishment converted from an Eighteenth Century bishop’s palace, although getting there has not been plain sailing.

Palacio Blanco first came to public attention when it featured as the opening programme of the 2008 season of Build A New Life In the Country. Viewers were captivated by Nick and Lesley’s battle to turn a dream into reality. Nick had his own London architectural practice, at one stage employing over forty staff, but after twelve years a 2004 downturn in his specialist retail shopping centre and pub markets ended up with the business going into voluntary liquidation.

With a large portion of the company’s debts secured against their house, the Vallance family had little option but to sell up and hopefully use what was left to create another business. “That episode basically created a point in my life where I needed to make a decision whether to carry on with the architecture or to do something different,” said Nick, as he sipped a glass of Palacio Blanco vino tinto in the central courtyard of the hotel.

The pressure of commercial architecture and the rewards the family was supposedly getting didn’t really correspond to the amount of work Nick was actually doing, so the couple initially decided to look for a project in the Southwest that would use Nick’s architectural and Lesley’s design skills. “We sat down one day and wrote out what Lesley calls our ‘happy list’, what makes us happy,” continued Nick. “When you’re in a bad situation it gives you an opportunity to really think about your life and what you’re doing with it.”

Read the full article in our August 2008 edition.