Beautiful private villa in quiet location, close to beaches and town

A wonderful week spent in this gorgeous villa! Our first holiday as part of a larger group so we were a little aprehensive how the holiday would pan out. We were all bowled over on arrival how lovely the house was, lots of space and well laid out. The garden was a wonderful asset beautifully landscaped with good size pool and pond with lots of wildlife.

We thought we would be out and about exploring more than we did, but to be honest we were so content with everything the villa had to offer us that we were reluctant to leave. The built in barbeque and the large outside table lends itself to wonderful lazy evenings spent relaxing with good food and wine.

The two beaches we did visit were fantastic, clean sands and not too busy.

We are already planning our return trip next year and hope to make it a regular holiday distination.

A stunning week spent with good friends in a beautiful property. The house is even more gorgeous then the photos and it was a perfect place to spend time with our family (young children) and friends. The layout was good, so that there was easily enough room for our two separate families within the main house and for each family to have space and privacy (they had a newborn baby with them that we didn't hear because of the house layout, which was a big bonus!). We should have taken advantage of the separate accomodation in the garden, which was really great and ideal if you were going with a nanny or with grandparents who want some privacy. We'll be back!

Situated a short distance down an unmade road, the villa is secluded but not isolated. The garden is not overlooked by the neighbouring villas so is wonderfully private. However, it's about 5 minutes' drive (or maybe a little more) from beaches, watersports, large supermarkets, restaurants and bars.

Watersports at nearby Luz include sailing, waterskiing, windsurfing, wakeboarding, ringo, banana boat, jetskiing etc. There are also boat trips to see wild dolphins from Luz and Lagos, a glass bottomed boat from Lagos and trips to see the coastal caves/grottos from Lagos.

The beautiful west coast beach of Amado, near Carapateira is about 35-40 minutes scenic drive from the villa and the attractive fishing village of Burgau is about 15 minutes away for day trips. There's lots to do in the area and the owner of the villa sent us a really useful magazine listing local attractions when we booked, which helped us plan our holiday.

The villa itself is really pretty. The master bedroom suite upstairs is enormous and there are a further three lovely downstairs bedrooms in the main villa. The main villa has a dining and sitting area open to the kitchen and a separate TV/sitting room with DVD and video. The villa is really well equipped with a fridge in the TV room (that we filled with beer and soft drinks), a large fridge in the larder and a further fridge in the kitchen. There's loads of cutlery and crockery and there's a washing machine and dishwasher so you don't need to spend your holiday scrubbing dishes and you can go home with a suitcase of clean clothes, which makes a big difference when you get home.

My parents stayed in the well equipped cottage, in which one could be self-sufficient, with kitchen etc. This also meant that they didn't have to get up at the same time as the kids every morning and they had some privacy and peace and quiet when they wanted it.

Outside in the garden there are lots of areas of shade and sun traps for the sun worshipper. There are lots of sun beds and parasols both round the pool and elsewhere. There's also a great outside dining area next to the villa and brick built BBQ.

Emma, the agent was really helpful and booked a taxi and restaurant for my parents' ruby wedding anniversary. Julia the maid was also fantastic, thorough, friendly and helpful. Stephen, the owner has also been excellent, helpful and straightforward.

This is a wonderful villa I'd recommend to anyone. Thanks for a fantastic holiday.