www.villasbarcelona.com: Villa rentals in Barcelona and Costa Brava

  • independent self-catering farmhouse on large property shared with very nice owners
  • sleeps up to 12 in 6 rooms, 3 baths
  • central heating. TV, DVD, CD, dishwasher, washer, outdoor BBQ sitting area, vegetable garden, etc...
  • altitude: 650mtrs, 90kms to sea
  • 5 km from town (Puig Reig)
  • large pool (12x6 mtrs) set in lovely lawn and garden
  • Friday to Friday rentals in high-season, 2010 rental rates: low: 1380, mid-season (4/6-9/7 & 20/8-17/9): 1900, high-season (9/7-20/8): 2125 Euros/week
Click here for comments on this house from past visitors

Click here for travel information on this area


Cal Mas Vilanova is on a large agricultural property (far from any agricultural smells - donīt worry!) outside of the town of Puig Reig, a few kms south from Gironella, where a lot of the other houses for this area are located. This house has won a number of local awards for local guest houses and is very popular with Barcelonan weekenders and is almost always booked far in advance. This success due to the excellent price-quality of the accommodations, the large (6x12m) swimming pool and surrounding lawn, the vegetable garden which guests are welcome to take from, and the natural country eggs and wine - no additives - that the owners sell. The ownerīs live in the magnificent 15th-century masia with the arched loggia next door, and the pool and grounds are shared with them. But they are the most pleasant owners you are likely to ever come across, and most of their kids have grown up and moved away, so they arenīt likely to be using the pool very much, and you should have it mostly to yourselves.

The photos provided give you a pretty good idea of this house, but I will try to describe the layout, which is a bit tricky.

Just outside the main entrance to the house there is the new BBQ area overlooking the pool and garden. This is a perfect little nook for prepared outdoor meals, with wooden bench seating, a tiled counter and a sink for food prep, the barbecue, and of course lighting for night time meals. There is only one picture of this new BBQ area, and it doesnīt show in the older exterior shots of the house above. There are a couple of stone steps up to the main entrance, and all the house is on this one level, with a floor plan shaped a bit like the letter "X". Upon entering there is a small vestibule, with the kitchen to your left, the main salon and dining room to your right, and a long hallway in front leading three rooms.

Letīs start with the kitchen - my favorite room in any house (and when you come to think of it, the only room a human being can survive in for some time if necessary). Aside from all the usual stuff you find in kitchens (electric over, gas stove, large fridge, toaster, mixer, expresso, tea kettle, elec. juicer, etc) there is also a nice double oval-shaped sink, and on the other side of a countertop, a breakfast table and beyond that a pantry with a large collection of pots and pans and cutlery, and plenty of room to store your food.

Across the vestibule from the kitchen is the living/dining room, measuring about 40m2, with a long wooden table with seating for about 12, a sofa and some lazy chairs facing the TV (and DVD player and radio/CD/cassette player) and the fireplace. The thick cross beams overhead in this room are quite attractive. At the far end of the living room is a hallway leading to a good-sized room with double bed, and a bathroom in the hallway with shower. This room is a kind suite set aside from the rest of the bedrooms on the other side of the house.

Now, back at the vestibule and the main entrance, we pass the entrance to the living room and there is a hallway bathroom with full bath, and next door, a wash room with washing machine and a sink for hand wash. Beyond this washroom, there is a right turn and another hallway with leads to another well-appointed bedroom with double bed, closet, and writing table.

Back to the main hallway (which you can see in a photo below), if you were to go straight, you would pass two bedrooms on your left, one with double bed and the other with two singles, with a bathroom in between with shower. Across from these rooms is the large room with four single beds thought of as a sort of slumber party room for the tots.

The house has lots of nice details and it is a villa with a lot of character... but really for me at least, the outdoors is the main attraction at Cal Mas Vilanova. The pool area is nicely landscaped with some parts shaded under a large elm. The immediate area around the large pool is tiled with anti-slip rugged terra cotta tiles, and I counted 14 recliners piled along side one of the many flower beds here. Beyond is the vegetable garden, enclosed by a low wall of stone. There is also a ping-pong room and a basketball hoop fastened to one of the out buildings, and the entire farm for you to enjoy, with chicken coops, cows and pigs - at a safe distance.


The views are fantastic, especially to the north where the first abrupt row of the mighty Pyreneess shoot up over 1000 meters behind the town of Berga, the regional capital 15 kms up the road. At night Bergaīs multi-coloured lights twinkle in the distance against the black backdrop of the mountains, much darker than the moonlit star-studded sky. f I had a wish-list for Cal Mas Vilanova, I would wish for the owners to put in at least another bathroom. In any case, I wish I had dozens more villas like this one to offer you, especially at the current rates!

  • free firewood
  • vegetable garden and farm animals
  • 15 km to tennis club, 30 to skiing
  • 20 km to large lake with water sports
  • 7 km to river fishing
  • good restaurant nearby






    • Catalan Tourism Authorities

    This sign indicates that the Catalan Tourism Authorities regularly inspect and license the property. We have also visited and recommend all the properties we have selected for our listings.