According to InsiderMedia.com, former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Kenneth "K.K." Downing has teamed up with property development finance provider Regentsmead to build luxury holiday cabins on his golf course in Shropshire, England.Downing, who owns 18- and nine-hole golf courses on his property at Astbury Hall and holiday homes at the golf course, has plans to develop a spa, a hotel and restaurant on the. He has also enlisted championship golfer Darren Clarke to act as a global ambassador for the golf course."We've got an awful lot of things in the pipeline," Downing said. "For example, we've got a fantastic spa facility which is being worked on at the moment. It's going to quite possibly be the biggest, best and most futuristic in the country."The aspirations are for the Astbury to become a destination not just nationally but internationally as well, so it's all about 'watch this space.'"Video footage of the press conference announcing Downing's partnership with Regentsmead can be seen below.In a 2009 interview with Shopshire Magazine, Downing admitted that it could be odd coming back to sleepy Shropshire after touring the world with JUDAS PRIEST."It is weird," he said. "I've been going and coming from this place all my life and every time it's like it's reinventing itself. I have to reintroduce myself to everything. I go to the cupboard and say, I'm sure I bought some sugar where is it?'"Regarding his decision to buy a house not too far from his Midlands roots, he said, "It became common sense to buy a property of your own and a few of us acquired homes in the south of Spain. I came here in 1985 a long time. It was the house really that I liked. Before I came here I had a tiny semi in Bloxwich as my first house, but the deal was that there was bus stop outside it, and when we started doing 'Top Of The Pops' in the late '70s, people used to get off the bus and walk up the garden path for an autograph."Downing in 2011 shot down as "inaccurate" reports that he left JUDAS PRIEST because he chose to concentrate on running the 18- and nine-hole golf courses on his property.Downing, who is a founding member of the British heavy metal legends and was part of the group since 1969, announced his retirement from PRIEST in April 2011. He has since been replaced by Richie Faulkner, most recently guitarist in the backing band for Lauren Harris (daughter of IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris).
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