While you are here the house is entirely yours. We arrange your arrival, stay out of your way, and are on call if you need anything, from a cook for the evening to a boat for the day.
At a glance
| Bedrooms | 5, sleeping up to 12 |
| Bathrooms | Family bathroom with roll-top bath and shower; downstairs shower room; second shower room that can be en suite to the Thirties Room; a fourth shower downstairs for washing off |
| Comfort | Air-conditioned bedrooms, Wi-Fi throughout, satellite TV |
| Outside | Private freshwater pool with barbecue and outdoor seating, five acres of citrus and olive groves, gardens, the balcony |
| Service | Housekeeping twice a week (extra visits on request), linen changed weekly, towels twice weekly, welcome pack. Cook, boat, car hire and driver on request |
| Distances | Benitses village 15 minutes’ walk down (a steep 25 back up) · Achilleion 3 km · Corfu Old Town about 20 minutes · airport 25 minutes · port 30 minutes |
Ground floor
The front door opens into the grand saloni, running the full width of the house, with doors leading off to every room: a wonderful space for a party. The sitting room has satellite news and sport.
The dining room, hung with antique maps and prints, seats ten and displays a set of china given to the family by Sir Frederick Adam, the British Lord High Commissioner, who stayed at San Stefano while building the waterworks above Benitses. The library is mostly English, with a good shelf on Corfu and Greece, and a day bed for a guest who would rather not climb the stairs.
The farmhouse kitchen is the hub of the house: a table for informal meals, a sofa, a wood stove, gas hob, double oven, dishwasher and a second fridge in the utility room. A shower room downstairs is perfect after a day in the sun.
Upper floor
- The Venetian Room. A corner room with sea and garden views and a small double bed.
- The Village Room. Large, with a sea view, a double and a single bed.
- The Green Room. Sea view, two single beds.
- The Victorian Room. A single brass bedstead, looking over the garden.
- The Thirties Room. A walnut double bed with matching wardrobes; can be en suite with the adjoining shower room.
- The family bathroom. A cast-iron roll-top bath, modern shower and WC.
Outside
The pool, about forty metres from the house, is for guests alone, with shade around it and in the orange groves, a barbecue and outdoor seating for long lunches and evening meals, and sun loungers for the afternoon. Before the house stands the old chapel of St Stephen, which is private and used only by the family for family occasions; to one side, the old farm buildings.
Please note: the house is built on rock. There are long drops, the pool is not fenced, and this is the countryside, so lizards and the occasional snake are part of the scenery. Parents are responsible for young children at all times.
Location
Benitses, below the house, is a fishing village with a growing reputation for its restaurants, a marina beside the old harbour, a bakery, supermarkets, a pharmacy and an English-speaking doctor on call. The walk down through whitewashed lanes takes about fifteen minutes, with a steep climb back.
A tunnel at the bottom of the road leads to a well-kept beach with an excellent snack bar, and there are small shingle coves nearby you can have almost to yourselves, even in August.
Corfu Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Venice without the canals, is about twenty minutes away: the Liston and a ginger beer, music in the small squares, two fortresses and a daily farmers’ market. The Achilleion, the palace of the Empress Elisabeth, is 3 km away in the pretty village of Gastouri.
We can arrange airport and port transfers, a driver for the week, or a hire car, and we like to be there ourselves to welcome you.