Terrace Houses

Rooms

There are 3 houses at present, with a 4th in the pipeline:

OLIVE HOUSE
Sleeps 2-4 in 2 double bedrooms
This 2-storey cottage is next to the main terrace, which operates as a small-scale café during the summer months – very handy for breakfast and drinks, but not so private in high season. There's a cosy sitting room inside for you to retreat to, with thick stone walls, 3 sides of cushioned bench seating and a hearty fireplace; perfect for winter lounging. The well-equipped kitchen is used for the café in summer (guests get a fridge and tea/coffee equipment instead), but reverts to the Olive House in winter. Up the steep stairs are 2 double bedrooms. The first has a grand four-poster (softish but comfy mattress, lovely orange-silk bedspread, not quite mozzie-proof muslin drapes), a lovely marble-topped dresser, a venerable wardrobe and a scattering of rugs, pamphlets and pretty trinkets (vases, glass candleholders, a gorgeous Iznik-blue urn). The second bedroom is small – just enough space to get around the bed – but 2 windows over town keep it bright. You'll have to go downstairs for the bathroom, with its unexpected corner tub and lions-head spout (which we spurned because of a water shortage) and a limestone-faced wetroom (which more than made up for it). Overall we were very happy here as a couple in autumn, but for a longer stay as a family, or in midsummer, we would recommend one of the other houses.

FIG HOUSE
Sleeps 2-6 in 2 double rooms + sofabed

A stone's throw above the terrace café is a similar 2-storey cottage, also with whitewashed stone walls, tiled roof and 4 handsome shuttered windows looking out over the town. You enter via a private, fig-shaded terrace, set on 2 levels with sunbeds and a dining area; then walk into a lovely living-dining room on the ground floor. An old plough has been resurrected as a bar-style countertable with 4 stools; a free-standing kitchenette with sink, 2 electric rings, cafetiere and toaster provides the wherewithal; 4 red armchairs – one in each corner – offer a comfy but slightly less gemütlich sitting area beneath a smiling string of red peppers. The bathroom, leading off it, is a good size with a claw-footed tub and a beautiful marble basin; a washing machine and fridge are cleverly concealed under the stairs. Upstairs the landing, adorned with blue and white lanterns and a pretty lavender-framed mirror, has been turned into a double bedroom (not for the coy), with the option of an additional pull out double bed (though it would be very cramped for 4). Next door, the master bedroom has a stunning Art Deco bateau lit which once belonged to Omer's father; lovely touches include a glass-beaded chandelier, a wardrobe with inlaid meander-pattern tiles and an old studded chest. Wall-mounted air-con keeps you cool in the height of summer, and is superfluous the rest of the year. We'd recommend this during the summer months for a family on a short stay, or for a couple wanting more comfort.

GRAPEVINE HOUSE
Sleeps 4-6 in 1 double, 1 twin and 1 "kids' loft"

This secluded house, set 3 minutes' walk away on the facing slope, is reached via a suitably vine-shaded terrace overlooking a leafy terraced garden (tangerine, pomegranate, walnut, plum and apricot trees, plus a patio with table for 4). A covered walkway divides the sitting room – more exposed brickwork, wooden beams and bench seating – from the rest of the house. The highlight here is the vast bathroom, reminiscent of a hammam with its cushioned seating, widely spaced basins (no couple can need that much elbow room!) and cymbal-sized shower hanging from a retrieved door panel by a smooth wall of pencil-grained marble. The kitchen is the best equipped of the three, and cosy too: there's a table for 6, wood stove, dishwasher, gas rings, big fridge, convection oven, and plenty of pretty blue-rimmed plates and salad bowls. Upstairs the bright main bedroom evokes an Orthodox church, its panelled walls reminiscent of a wooden rood-screen, with pride of place going to a naïve hagiographic painting above the double bed. Across the way is a second bedroom with twin wrought-iron beds and a ladder up to a snug kids' lair (double mattress and not much headroom). Of all the houses, this is best suited to a family.