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A ridiculously picturesque villa set in splendid isolation in the hills outside Kardamyli in the southern Peloponnese, Villa Antti is the owner’s passion project – and it shows. This minimalist haven has been so well designed and so beautifully thought through in every aspect that you immediately feel at home. As well as providing the perfect base for exploring the wonderful sweep of the Peloponnesian coast and its craggy, vine-strewn hinterland, it provides the ultimate location for a week or two of bone-deep relaxation and fun with your family. You can take the entire space for yourself, or invite another family to join you – it sleeps up to ten – and split the cost. There are two separate living areas and two kitchens so you can have your own spaces to retreat to before joining together around the pool.
Why stay at Villa Antti?
This is the place to come when you want all of the luxury of a five-star hotel but without the inconvenience of other guests, with their ill-disguised disapproval of your kids’ bellyflopping practice and their well-honed tactics for monopolising the best sunbeds. Here the villa, built from honey-coloured stone, is constructed around a 15m by 4.3m infinity pool that is yours, all yours – and you’d be forgiven for spending your entire break here, chain-reading potboilers on the sundeck as your kids splash about happily.
Indeed, given the wonderful home comforts – including a ping pong table in the basement that can keep children occupied for hours – you might well decide never to leave this hideaway during your trip. But it would be a shame not to venture out, as there are terrific things to see and do in the area.
What are the rooms like at Villa Antti?
Simple, whitewashed, high-ceilinged and filled with light, with views over Messinian Bay that leave your soul soaring even before your first coffee of the day. In the main part of the villa they come with balconies that just call out for you to put your feet up and read a book, toy with a glass of wine or gaze out over the glinting ocean. Three of the four bedrooms have en suite bathrooms with monsoon showers, and three more guest bathrooms are liberally scattered through the villa.
The main living space, meanwhile, is a huge room with a vaulted ceiling and picture windows spanning the entire length, offering comfy sofas, a big screen TV and direct access to the terrace. In the evening, when you’ve taken your final dip in the uplit, turquoise-watered pool, it’s a perfect place to curl up and be cosy (there’s a fireplace if it gets nippy at night), or to crack open a family board game. There is high-speed Wi-Fi throughout the villa.
What’s the food like at Villa Antti?
All down to you, with brilliantly well-equipped kitchens and the choice of eating at a big family dining table or in lovely, sunshaded spots on the pair of terraces. The team at Oliver’s Travels (www.oliverstravels.com), through which Villa Antti is booked, will contact you in the run-up to your stay to see whether you’d like any food waiting for you when you arrive, and will lay on a lovely hamper selection of fruits and snacks either way.
Local restaurants will deliver food, including the superb Palaia Kardamyli, which will happily send you a feast including the likes of handmade spinach pie, stuffed peppers and tomato fritters. However it’s far more rewarding to visit the restaurant itself, a tranquil spot just ten minutes’ drive away at the far end of the village of Kardamyli, on a vine-thatched terrace with exquisite views. Here the kids can make friends with the restaurant’s cat while you nurse a glass of rosé in the shade. The restaurant sits at the start of a tremendous hour-long hike up a hill to a summit housing an ancient church, too, so it’s an ideal place to reward yourself after stretching your legs.
Kardamyli is a rather chichi sort of place, dotted with gourmet ice cream joints, excellent coffee shops and a cafe in the main square that hosts regular live music, particularly during the annual jazz festival. Just on the outskirts of the village there’s the Dioskouri Taverna, where you’ll find kid-friendly service, a sun-dappled terrace overlooking the sea and just-caught barbecued fish.
What’s the service like at Villa Antti?
Attentive but unobtrusive, overseen by the friendly and welcoming Marialena, who will liaise with you about the best time to come in and clean each day so that when you arrive back you’ll find the entire place reset and squeaky clean. She’s also the best-connected person in the area, so whether you want local history tours, speedboat trips, walk recommendations or anything else she’ll make an introduction and sort you out.
What are the kids’ facilities like at Villa Antti?
The pool itself is enough to keep them happy for hours, but just down the road there are a series of terrific beaches. The nicest of the lot, just a four-minute drive away, is Foneas. Park up on the roadside, scramble down a stony path and you’ll arrive at this tucked-away gem, a bay with pebbled shoreline, clear waters and a couple of conveniently placed mini islands that you’ll all enjoy swimming round and diving off. For a proper beach-hopping bonanza, however, sign up for a half-day speedboat tour with one of the captains operating out of the tiny Kardamyli port. If you’re lucky, they’ll start by turning some high-speed doughnuts in the harbour to get the kids in the mood. After this adrenaline-laced kick-off, they’ll take you out to visit a series of the best swimming spots in the area before setting up a refreshing spread of watermelon slices and chilled fizzy drinks for you on board. It’s one of those irreplaceable holiday experiences your kids will be talking about for years.
What’s the area like around Villa Antti?
Quiet and unspoilt. You’ll need a car to get around, and this will allow you to explore spots like the brilliant Diros Caves, an 80-minute drive away, a vast network of stalagmite-filled caverns that you tour by boat. There are tremendous hikes to be taken through olive grove-speckled countryside, walks to be enjoyed along the beachfront at nearby Stoupa, mountaintop hamlets to be explored and fresh pastries to be devoured at roadside bakeries.
Why should you book a stay at Villa Antti?
Because even the most jaded teen will be bowled over by the magnificent elegance of the villa. Because the whole place is geared up to make every member of your party feel good about themselves and want to spend time together. And because it offers the sort of backdrop that lets you focus on the most important parts of a holiday – being outside, revelling in beautiful views and food, and relaxing without other holidaymakers to distract or annoy you.
DETAILS
Address: Belen Mah. Belen Cad. No:132 Kayaköy, Fethiye, Mugla, 48300
Price: From €8,302 a week.
Closest transport: One-hour drive from Kalamata International Airport