Safe and secret
patse
Jersey Channel Islands
Review Submitted: June 4, 2008
Date of Stay: May 2008
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Villa Martina, principally because the property was so secure for the children to play without worrying about them getting into mischief or disappearing. The pool was just the right size and depth for the children and even the torrential rain didn't stop them making the most of it.
One drawback we found was that the villa was further away from the shops than we thought - it advertised the distance as 500 metres to restaurant/shops, but this actually related to a bedroom furniture shop, a bar and a chinese restaurant! We spent some time trying to find out where the nearby food shops might be, but eventually had to ask at a tourist information centre. They turned out to be 1500 metres away by the beaches on either side of the hill our villa was on. This wasn't a problem provided we drove everywhere, but that really wasn't the plan to begin with.
The area is very unspoilt with lovely views, though we didn't manage to get to many attractions. We found the information leaflet of recommended restaurants very useful and had an excellent spanish meal at Casa Del Mac in the surrounding mountains. We did find though that the taxis we used went the long way round and were probably extortionate - the two drivers checked with each other both ways to make sure the fares were the same, but as a one off it was well worth it.
We spent a lot of time trying to find out where to shop for what we wanted. We found a pharmacy easily enough, but a guide to which shops are good for buying food would have been helpful - we wanted to go for local produce but the supermarkets all seemed pretty generic. Needing warmer clothes with the inhospitable weather, we spent a morning looking around what might have been the main street or just something laid on for tourists.
We were charmed by the villa, though it took us a while to work out which light switches did what. None of the locals had heard of the place, which is probably not surprising as there must be thousands of villas in the area, but ours was totally private, except for the cat from next door, which popped in from time to time. For our needs, we would have preferred to be closer to the main beach with shops, but that was our only complaint, although the children said they would have liked the owners to have left their dog for them to play with too!
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Helpful votes: 8/9
