There are some big changes happening on Corfu regarding rubbish.  Rubbish removal has become a bit of an issue in recent times and it is fantastic that Corfu is now getting to grips with the problem and we at Villa Loukia are doing our bit to  help.   All the local bins have been removed from Kassiopi so that Kassiopi is now clean.  We have signed up to a recycling collection once per week from the villa and the new blue bin has just been installed for this purpose.  This removes all paper, cardboard, tin and hard plastic from the rubbish and also collected seperately, the glass.  The remaining dirty rubbish is removed by the cleaners every week or can be taken outside of Kassiopi to the green bins.  All good news!

We have spent 5 of the last 6 weeks in Corfu upgrading the whole of the downstairs to match the upstairs (refurbished in 2016 & 2015).  At last all is finished, although the process was incredibly hard work!   The results are fabulous and Villa Loukia is now completely re-tiled, all bedrooms and bathrooms are new and up-to-date and the kitchen has been re-modeled and now is a wonderful space to cook in, with all new appliances, lots of usable granite worktop and a 4-door American style fridge with filtered water and ice.   It really is a joy to work in so if you go on holiday and like to have time to cook - this is where to go!  Enjoy!  

Nick and I have just got back from a fabulous 3 week trip to Corfu and back - the long way down!

We rode the Harley 4164 miles through 10 countries: England, France, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Greece.

We have also twice in the past done the 'short route' via Italy.

If anyone ever wants any information or advice on how to plan such an adventure (in a car works too!), then we are happy to share our experience - just message me.  

Hope you are all enjoying the 2nd Series of the Durrells on a Sunday evening.  Corfu is being shown in all its beauty.  Think it is the finale this weekend.  Nick recently caught sight of Series 3 being filmed on a beautiful day in early May.  The 'Durrell House' is at Kontokali, just north of Corfu Town.

Hi Lucy,

Just a short message to let you know we have arrived safely at Villa Loukia :-) The house was easy to find, is just beautifull and the view... it seems almost unreal. Such a magnificent place. The kids jumped right into the pool, the sun is shining so we are just going to lie back and relax ;-)

Bye for now and all the best from all of us!!

Many greetings from Corfu

May has to be one of the best months on Corfu.  It is beautifully warm but not too hot.  The grass is green rather than baked brown.  The spring flowers are in flower!  There are lambs and goats grazing through the olive groves.  And best of all the fireflies twinkle like fairies in the olive grove after dark.   I do have some availability left for May if you want a last minute break.  Message me for a good price.

We have had a wonderful break at Villa Loukia over Easter.  The weather was great and just right for really enjoying this island.  Spring really is a brilliant time for walking up the mountain or along the coastal paths,  enjoying the spring flowers and the wildlife.  With wetsuits on we enjoyed the water too by paddle board.    Corfu has so much to offer at other times than Peak Season with the great advantage too that it is beautifully quiet and the flights are cheaper.   I do still have a couple of weeks available in May if you are tempted.....

I do hate having to disappoint people when their chosen weeks are already taken.  Booking early, particularly if you want high season, makes so much sense. My record to date is a guest who booked 23 months ahead to make sure she got the two weeks she wanted.   The ideal time is by the end of the previous summer as EasyJet release their flight schedules in September -November.  This means you are in a great position to pick up the best value flights.  Waiting until January (which is peak booking time) is risky and flights will be more.  If you are after a low season holiday in May or October then those weeks tend to book later.  Hope this helps!

This week (December 2016) we came to Villa Loukia to finish the Phase 2 of the upgrading work and to get the house all set up for 2017.  As ever in winter the lack of direct flights is a headache but the route via Thessaloniki is rather lovely.  A few days before we left home we heard that the seamen were all on strike for two days in Greece.  Not a problem, they would be back at work before we got there.  The day before we left they extended the strike by a further 2 days - ok a night in Igoumenitsa would be necessary.  Having flown on Monday to Thessaloniki we then drove the 200  miles across northern Greece to Igoumentisa but on arrival discovered that the strike had been extended to Friday!  We were flying home again on Saturday.....  So on the advice of a German friend, on Tuesday morning we drove to the Greek border, left our car, walked the 1/4 mile to the Albanian border, found a taxi and a wonderful Albanian called Mouzo, he drove us to Serande (seen in the photo across the water from Villa Loukia) and we then took the hydrofoil back to Corfu Town.  It worked despite many Greeks trying to tell us we couldn't do it.  The only hassle was going in and out of the EU with the consequent border checks and customs of course.  We managed to blag our way back into Greece without incurring some hefty import tariffs on the goods we were bringing to the house.  On Saturday we have to do the return trip.....

Phase 2 of the Villa Loukia upgrade is now complete.  All ready for season 2017.  The Blue Bedroom and its ensuite bathroom have been completely remodelled.  The layout was always wrong so we have moved the wall between the two rooms, giving a much bigger and better shaped ensuite shower room.  It really is luxurious; wet room style shower, loads of modern lighting, automatic night lights, heated mirror and magnified shaving mirror.  As with all our projects it was a  year in the planning and it is fantastic to see it at last take shape.  The bedroom itself is now laid out so that the beds are opposite the view and the floor is now the same wonderful tiles as in the master suite. 

So what will Phase 3 be.......  watch this space.

Villa Loukia was originally built in 2007 by the extremely charismatic Andreas  Vlachos.  However the upgrading work of 2016 and 2017 has been completed by Chris Giannoukas.  We can not speak more highly  of Chris and his team.  I have never seen men work so hard or listen more carefully to what the client wants.  He has to be one of the finest builders on the island.

Villa Loukia has been mainly furnished with hand-made items made by local craftsmen.  All the iron furniture in the bedrooms and some in the living room was made for us by the wonderful Kostas Mastrantonis.  His work  receives many compliments.  We have also recently discovered Corfu Glass and they have hand crafted all our wall lights - an example is above. 

When it comes to the art in Villa Loukia that has come from our village back in England.  Above the fire place is an Elizabeth Dalziel photo of a corn flower, taken in the olive grove at the villa.  A Tina Hunter painting hangs at the bottom of the stairs and the ponies at the top of the stairs were painted for me by our eldest son, Robbie.  I hope to add to this collection.

I am a cat lover - I have two gorgeous Bengals back in the UK.  But cats on Corfu are wild.  If they are fed through the summer then they suffer in the winter when all the guests (and food supply) are gone. The cats are also a big nuisance if they are hanging around villas  - they bring disease and fleas, sit on all the cushions leaving them dirty, etc.  And of course some of our guests might be cat intolerant. It only takes one guest to feed them for the cats to stay close to the villas.  So please please don't!  We don't generally have a problem at Villa Loukia because we do not encourage them.     If you want to help the  cats on Corfu then please leave them alone and help through one of the many charities such as agni-animal-welfare-fund.co.uk or corfuanimalwelfare.com.   Thank-you!

We love it when people choose Villa Loukia to celebrate a big life event.  So far we have had guests celebrate a 1st birthday, 18th, 40th, 50th and a 90th (and lots of smaller number in between)!  We have also had a 25th wedding anniversary and a 45th.    But we still haven't had a honeymoon.....   Easter and Christmas have however both been celebrated at Villa Loukia.  It is also not unusual for 3 generations of one family to choose Loukia.  And of course we have had lots of teenagers celebrating GCSE and A level results in August.    Do let me know if you are celebrating something important!

Villa Loukia is about to go into its 10th season.  Although most of our guests are from the UK we have also had guests from the USA, Russia, Holland, Germany, Ireland and France.   I hope this list continues to grow.  All nationalities are very welcome.

Villa Loukia is a 3 bed house sleeping 6.  However we can cater for infants, have a spare single bed in the master suite and a double sofa bed in the living room for adults.  So the accommodation is flexible!

As one of our guests commented this summer 'the bathroom is worthy of a 5* hotel in the Middle/Far East!'   That made us smile!

The best villa we have stayed in, everything about Villa Loukia says quality from the well maintained villa and gardens to the bed linen and towels, even the toaster is a Dualit! Lucy has thought about every possible need and is so helpful and thoughtful with help and information. The views across to Albania are breathtaking , watching the sunrise over the mountains or the moon come up in the evening, it would be easy to stay at the villa all day. We hired a car through Julia and although not essential I would recommend it. The road to the villa is quite steep and from the centre of Kassiopi probably a good 20 minutes or more climb ( quicker going down!) and at night it is very dark. We found a car made exploring, shopping and eating out much easier. Nicos supermarket at the bottom of the hill had everything we needed and were very friendly and helpful. We also loved Nicola's bakery in Kassiopi, delicious bread, pies and the largest doughnuts we have ever seen, word of warning get there by mid morning as they sell out quickly. Restaurants in Kassiopi that we enjoyed were Tavanakkis on the harbour , The Old School House and Little Italy, all were delicious and reasonably priced. Bar Limona on the opposite side of the harbour to Tavanakkis was fun for delicious sundaes. Out of town Harry's at Perithia is definitley worth a visit and Ice Dream just before the turning to Perithia is a great ice cream parlour, there is a play area for small children. Lawrence Durrells house, The White House at Kalami is in a beautiful spot and the food was very good. My teenagers enjoyed rock jumping from a beach between Kalami and Agni, we then walked to Agni for lunch and ate at Nikolas Taverna which I would also recommend. If you have children and they want a bit of pedelo fun we found a lovely little beach at Agios Spirodon where you can hire them, I would imagine this beach is busy in the summer months though. We made the journey up to Mount Pantokrator, it is a long twisty journey but the view is worth it. We also found an incredible cave just outside Perithia which we have found no mention of in any guide book, bit of a climb down into it but quite an amazing sight. This was our first visit to Corfu and we loved it, Villa Loukia has spoilt us for any other villa, I'm sure we will be back.

EasyJet have released their summer 2017 schedules up to 24th September.  Book early to grab a great price.

I knew from the reviews and the photos that Villa Loukia was going to be great, but it was even better than I could have imagined. The location and views, the outside areas and the interior could not be faulted. Everything was spotlessly clean, beautifully appointed and very well maintained. It is the best equipped holiday rental we have ever been to...a complete home from home and more! Lucy even arranged for a potty to be provided (little extras that mean so much) We stayed as a family of four adults and a 2 year old. Perfect for all ages and particularly impressed with the safety of the pool area which was gated, allowing my granddaughter the freedom of playing out on the veranda without worrying about her gaining access to the pool. I would honestly not wish for anything more from a holiday home....just perfect. We all want to return again and recommend it 100%.

The small town of Kassiopi, a 15 minute walk away, was lovely with lots of bars

and restaurants. We particularly enjoyed Petrino restaurant at the harbour....excellent food and service. We did walk back up the hill to the villa a couple of nights (torches provided) but a taxi costs only 5 euros which was well worth it.

• Review Submitted: Jun 20, 2015
• Date of Stay: May 2015
• Source: Owners Direct, from HomeAway

My husband Nick and I (Lucy) have been bringing our family to Corfu for many years. Once we discovered Corfu nowhere else seemed to match it as it worked for us as a perfect holiday destination - quiet, peaceful, beautiful views, secluded bays, good water sports, friendly people and plenty of sun. Even as the children got older, NE Corfu was still the perfect destination - it really does cater for everyone in the family.

In 2007 we happened upon Villa Loukia whilst on holiday; it was nearing completion but was sitting in a building site.  It was love at first sight but also we were at a point of children leaving home and perhaps needed a new project.  It was called just Michael's house after the Englishman who had had it built.  We therefore named in after me but in Greek of course - hence Villa Loukia was born.

We eventually completed on the purchase on 21st December 2007, our wedding anniversary.  The adventure then began.  In the months of January - April 2008 we had to build a swimming pool, the steps, the bbq area, tidy the garden, clean the villa of builders dirt from top to bottom and furnish it with everything from tea spoons to beds!   In hindsight we were mad but we were ready somehow for our first guests on May 5th!

This started the obsession and I now call Villa Loukia  our 5th child!   Each winter we have improved the facilities: building gates, surfacing the drive, extending the pool terrace, building the lower pergola, planting endless plants, building the outside kitchen, putting a roof on the terrace  upstairs, adding solar water, pvs panels - the list is endless!

In 2015 we started the upgrade to the villa itself.  The extension to the dining room and master suite has been a big success and the master suite really is now a 5* experience.  Phase 2 will start during winter 2016 with the upgrade to the blue bedroom and bathroom to the same standard as the master.  Hopefully over the next two winters we will be able to upgrade the terracotta bathroom  and then make some improvements to the kitchen.   At that point we hope to be able to rest a little!

We have used our many years of experience of renting villas (often very indifferent ones) on Corfu to ensure that our guests are not disappointed by their choice of villa and we will continue to make sure that Loukia  is always at its very best so that it can be the perfect holiday  home for all our guests