A family, not a management company

Our family has lived in Apokoronas for as long as anyone can remember. Our grandparents kept olives and goats on the slopes above Almyrida; the stone house in Gavalochori belonged to my grandmother, and the vine in its courtyard is older than any of us.

When we began welcoming guests, we decided we would only do it the way we would want to be received ourselves. That meant no key boxes and no anonymous check-in. It meant meeting you at the door, raki on the table, and a bag of oranges from the garden in the kitchen.

It also meant building properly. The Family Villa took three years, with local stone and local craftsmen, because we intend our children to look after it after us. Anastasakis Stone Retreat was restored rather than rebuilt, so that its walls, beams and shade still belong to the village around them.

Cretan hospitality — filoxenia — is not a service standard. It is the belief that a guest arrives as a stranger and leaves as someone you expect to see again. That is the whole of our business plan.