House on Crete Villa For Sale

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This house is for sale in a small village, and has extensive garden at rear

We bought this traditionally stone built Cretan house in 2004 and have spent the past 13 years living here all year round enjoying a thoroughly relaxed way of life.

When we started looking for a permanent home here we wanted certain things: on the edge of a small village; within easy reach of shops, tavernas and the beach; a village house, not a new build and not a big renovation project. We wanted a house with character, a manageable garden and privacy but not isolation.

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This house ticked all the boxes for us. It is a stone built house, the ground floor was built over 100 years ago and the upper floor added in 1969. We know it was added then because the date is etched into the concrete on the roof terrace and in any case various villagers have told us when things were done to the house that they remember!

The house is fully legalised and registered. (This is now mandatory when selling property in Greece.)

We are selling the house at 195,000 Euros. As it would be a private sale without involving estate agents, both the seller and the buyer avoid the 2.5% fees and so we would be prepared to negotiate somewhat.

House for sale, Selliá, Apokoronas District, in Northwest Crete

We did not need to do much in the way of renovation, the walls, roof and general structure were very sound. We opened up the ground floor with a "traditional" archway between the rooms, French windows to the rear, a new door, turned the ground floor store room into a bathroom, updated the electrics and plumbing, tiled the floors, fitted a new kitchen, a fireplace and central heating and decorated throughout. We bought in June and were living in the house in October.

We are on the edge of the village of Sellia, 5km from the town of Vamos and 7km from the resort town of Georgioupolis with its many beaches. We can leave the house and be walking onto the nearest beach 10 minutes later. We are at 300m above sea level and from the Georgioupolis road you drive up 7 hairpin bends to the village; the views are fantastic across the valley to the White Mountains. At night as you drive up and look across you can imagine you are taking off in a plane seeing the lights of all the little villages in the valley and on the hill sides.

Selliá itself is a small traditional Cretan hill village. The people are very friendly and, even if they speak no English at all, try to communicate and they will make you feel welcomed. Next to the house is a small municipal building which is used very occasionally as a voting station, and once a year in August when we have our village festival. Outside there is a bronze bust of a noted general who fought in the Cretan war of independence against the Turks, and also in the 1st and 2nd World Wars. He was the grandfather of the man we bought the house from and his son still lives in the village at the back of us. It is not very usual for Greeks to sell their family houses; usually they are passed on down through the family for generations, so we were very lucky to find this one for sale.

We heard this story from the general's great-grandson. Apparently he was responsible for capturing the Turkish and Egyptian governors of the area who were, to say the least, not very pleasant to the locals. The governors were taken up into the mountains, but didn't come down. As the young man said, "There are a lot of deep sink holes up there!"

Another of our neighbours, Kostas, proudly told us that he served as a runner for the Andarte (the Resistance fighters) during WW2. He was not old enough to fight with them, but took messages to and fro - a dangerous job for a young teenager.

From our roof terrace we look over to the White Mountains. it is a perfect place to sit with a glass of wine and watch the sun go down There are spectacular sunsets at all times of the year, or if you are up early enough, equally spectacular sunrises when the rising sun makes the mountains look pink. On summer nights, because the light pollution is very slight, it is possible to see the Milky Way with the naked eye. In winter when the mountains are covered in snow, the scene is almost surreal against the light of a full moon. From the front of the house we can see over to the large Drapanos rock outcrop, and over to Souda Bay in the distance.

Information about the house:

 

Upstairs can be accessed via the indoor staircase.

However, there is also an outdoor staircase, which is handy if you are already in the garden and want to go up to the roof terrace.

It has 22" (55cm) thick walls on the lower floor. They make it lovely and cool indoors in the summer and also they retain the warmth in the winter months. There is oil-fired central heating, solar water heating and a log fire.

The ground floor is an open-plan design but with distinct separate areas for kitchen, dining and a study/office. An archway leads through to the living room at the back. This room has a particularly relaxing atmosphere and has French windows to the garden. Another archway leads through to the downstairs shower room/WC.

Upstairs are two double bedrooms and another bathroom. There is also a space with cupboards and a fridge. A door leads from the hallway out onto the roof terrace. The roof terrace can also be reached from the outside stairs at the side of the house.

Bedroom 1 at the back has floor to ceiling fitted wardrobes along one complete wall. The view from the window is of the White Mountains across the valley.

Bedroom 2 at the front has fitted wardrobes and drawer unit. The view from this room is across the countryside to Drapanos and Souda Bay. Both bedrooms have dual-purpose air conditioners for summer cooling and winter warming.

Leading off from the roof terrace is a purpose built professional artist's studio with fitted storage unit, light, power and water. It would be very simple to convert this to another bedroom/bedsit or an office or in fact for use you wanted.

There is a telephone and broadband connection to the house which it is possible to transfer to new owners at the time of sale. This is important as there is currently a waiting list for lines of up to two years.

Outside there is:

  • a utility room with plumbing for the washing machine.
  • a storage shed with shelving - originally the goat shed (no goats included!)
  • a separate boiler room with the oil storage tank and additional storage.
  • a wooden pergola above a stone tiled raised area which covers a sterna (well). A perfect place to dine on summer evenings - electric socket and lights fitted.
  • a stone tiled patio area with a very old olive tree to the side.
  • three orange trees, an ancient grape vine giving very sweet dessert grapes, a lemon tree and a separate vegetable growing area with a covered frame to give the plants protection from the summer heat.
  • also, various shrub and flower beds which have been planned to give colour and scent all through the year from wherever in the garden you happen to be.
  • an irrigation system on a timer for the garden.
  • a parking area at the front of the house for two cars.

PLEASE CONTACT ME DIRECTLY if you are really interested in purchasing the property or want more information.

 

More Photos & Information

Cupboards in bedroom one.

Fireplace - lovely in winter!

The kitchen.

The villa is centrally placed in the Apokoronas District between the main villages of Armeni, Douliana, Drapanos, Fres, Gavalahori, Kalamitis, Kalyves, Kambia, Kefalas, Kokkino Horio, Plaka, Tsivaras, Vryses, Vamos and many other villages besides.

Georgioupoli, the very popular fishing village and seaside resort, is only 10 minutes drive, with Kavros resort and the famous Kournas Lake, both just ten minutes more. Rethymno town can be reached in 40 minutes and Chania town in 35 minutes. The kitchen.

The vegetable plot.

Winter view of the White Mountains from the terrace.

The pergola.

We love our garden and we shall miss it dearly but the time has come to return to England to be with our family.

Sitting room.

In summer you can leave the sitting room doors open and enjoy the sounds and scents of the garden.

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