VILLAS ZORBATHES  

For a relaxed and peaceful holiday

We are members of Guest Inn

The Villas:

The Farmhouse
(see availability)

The Barn
(see availability)

Special activity holiday
 

As a retreat
 

Out of the season

Zorbathes is a peaceful valley which is hidden close to the centre of Skiathos Island. It is green & fertile & surrounded by pine forests. Through the bottom of the valley run stream beds whose banks are covered by an abundance of wild flowers & ferns, & are shaded by massive plane trees. Our end of the island, which is closest to the Pelion Peninsular, receives a goodly amount of winter rain & the lushness of the valley & the surrounding pine forests reflect this.

It is just 7 minutes drive from the nearest sandy beaches.

The Barn

The Farmhouse

We (Lida & Geof Baldry) have lived here for over 40 years & have spent that time creating an environment which has all the creature comforts but still feels like the unspoiled Greece which we have come to love. We started with no road, no water & no house, but we dug our own well & carried the materials for our first (wooden) house by horse & donkey along the narrow track that eventually became our road. We now have 3 very solid houses built of stone & wood, bricks & mortar (see description of houses later), running water, electricity, telephone & even an internet connection, but we have a special appreciation of all these "normal" things by having had to struggle hard to achieve them. We have come to value the peace & quiet here, above everything else. One can find more than enough noise pollution & stress in this ever faster moving world of ours, but places where one can truly relax are becoming few & far between.

Although it has that "far from the madding crowd" feeling, Zorbathes is, in fact, only 7 minutes by car to the nearest shops, 7 minutes to the nearest beaches & 20 minutes to the town. To find Zorbathes, take the main road from Skiathos town in the direction of Koukounaries for approximately 10 kilometres & then take the right turn in the direction of Kounistra Monastery & Asselinos Beach. Here you will find supermarkets & many tavernas. Following the Asselinos road for 2 kilometres the road forks right to the Monastery & left to Asselinos. 20 meters before this fork, on the right, is the road to Zorbathes which is clearly marked with a blue sign. Follow this for 1 kilometre & you will arrive at our land.

Back to top

SOME MORE ABOUT THE HOUSES

We have endeavored to build our houses from as much native material as possible, with rock from Skiathos & pine & chestnut wood from Pelion. We have learned as we have gone along with many mistakes & frustrations (but isn't that what learning as all about?), & we feel that we have now achieved a fairly close harmony between nature's beauty & man's necessities. The kitchens are fully equipped with ovens, 4 cooking rings, coffee makers, electric kettles, etc. They both have washing machines. All of our buildings have open log fires which we love to sit in front of, with a glass of wine from our own grapes, on a cold winter's day. They are all insulated, with double glazing, to keep them warm in winter & cool in summer. We have planted fruit trees & flowering shrubs around them to complement & enhance the existing pine & olive trees. We also use grape vines for shade as they produce a wonderfully deep, but dappled shade in the summer & then allow the winter sun through after their leaves have dropped. They also provide us with the grapes from which we make our wine & we can understand how the ancient Greeks regarded the vine as a gift of the gods.
We try to be as "organic" as possible and have solar water heaters for hot water, and generate our electricity via photovoltaic electricity panels on the roofs of our houses. Our gardens are organic, using no artificial fertilizers or pesticides, and provide us with nearly all of our vegetables. Our chickens are moved on a regular basis to fresh grazing and reward us with delicious, natural eggs.

Back to top

SPECIAL ACTIVITY HOLIDAYS

Apart from renting our houses as straight accommodation, we are also happy to arrange special activity vacations. One example is a painting holiday where you can take advantage of the wonderful Greek light and also, if you wish, receive instruction from a qualified teacher. We can offer walking holidays where you will get to the places on Skiathos that most people do not reach and enjoy beautiful scenery on the way. Also possible are wildflower holidays, sailing holidays, tennis holidays, holidays partly on Skiathos and partly on Pelion or Mount Olympus, or combinations of all the above. If you have a special pursuit you would like to follow, email me and see if we can arrange something suitable.

geof@skiathosinfo.com

Back to top

ZORBATHES AS A RETREAT

It has been suggested to us that we have, in Zorbathes, an ideal set up for a retreat for various sort of workshops or "mini therapy center" or simply a place for groups that need a quiet environment to achieve particular goals that need minimal distractions. The suggestion was made by friends who are therapists & with whom we worked together at "Amethyst", which was a center set up on Skiathos for the treatment of drug, alcohol & other life-disturbing problems. Unfortunately "Amethyst" did not make sufficient money to continue, but we, & several other people living here, derived a lot of information about ourselves & our abilities to help people with problems, which was of immense value to us. This is not to say that we set ourselves up as therapists or counselors, but that we know how to create and work within an environment that would help people to grow in whatever way they had chosen.

With our 2 houses, we could house a group of up to 14. We would be willing to work in conjunction with the leaders, providing basic necessities for the smooth flow of work & perhaps providing an evening communal meal. We have e-mail & internet access, video playback facilities, & a willingness to work within any reasonable schedule that could be set up.

Skiathos itself has much to offer, even out of the normal May to October tourist season. There is an excellent tennis club, many beautiful walks, places of historic interest & trips to neighboring islands, to mention but a few possibilities.

ZORBATHES FOR THE OFF SEASON

Our villas are available from (roughly) October through April for a long term let. The Farmhouse has central heating, an open fireplace (which can be closed for safety) and is a fully equipped house with all mod. cons. from electric cooker to washing machine. The Barn is similar and has a heat circulating fireplace and efficient Air Conditioning units which also provide excellent heating.

We have WiFi for Internet access.

These are ideal houses for anyone wishing to experience autumn, winter and spring conditions in Skiathos. Perfect for writing that book or just for a truly relaxing long break. For more information contact Geof below.

We received this email from the couple who spent the 2004/2005 winter season in the Farmhouse:

Hi Geof and Lida,

Just a quick e-mail to thank you both for a very enjoyable stay at Zorbathes. The Farmhouse was a very comfortable place to spend the Winter, plenty of room and nice and warm thanks to the central heating and the wood burning stove.
Sitting out on the terrace early morning and evening gave us many opportunities to watch the wildlife, the highlights had to be the hares and the pheasants that came so close.
Only five minutes from the beach roads and all the noise and people, well worth the extra mile for the peace and quiet. The weather early in the winter was very kind to us and swimming in the pool last October was welcome relief from the heat of the Sun.
Last but not least, thanks both for being good neighbours, we hope we tenants didn't cause you too much hassle.

Regards Anne and Max.

Contact

email: geof@skiathosinfo.com

Farmhouse availability

Barn availability