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Casadevall Villa
One of the nicest pool & gardens on the Costa Brava, this is the private independent villa of a local architect, this 6 bedroom property just outside of Sils, 15 kms inland from the southern Costa Brava beaches has a gorgeous garden and pool area with a very nice outdoor BBQ dining area, as weel as a sauna and exercise room. Modern, practical, efficient, and close to town and commuter train into Barcelona, this house was a huge hit when I brought some friends here in July 2009.
Click here for emails sent in from past guests at Casadevall
Click here for travel information on this area
Location: this house is just outside of Sils, a town 15 kms inland from Blanes and Lloret de Mar and the southern resorts of the Costa Brava, just off the N-2 and AP-7 motorways, an hour by car from Barcelona (though I would recommend you leave the car in the free parking at Sils station and make your way around by commuter train: 55 minutes into Barcelona, 15 to Girona, 30 to Figueres, etc.. The Sils train station is about 1.2 kilometers from the house, a 20 minute walk! and train´s are every hour from 7 am to 11 pm. I won´t spend much time on the description of the area here. I offer so many villas in this area (Can Cunill, Can Brugues, Can Girones, Cal Micos) that this ground has been covered. In short, Sils is not such an attactive village but very practical for its excellent location vis a vis the main sights, and plenty of shopping, restaurants, markets, PGA golf, tenis, spas, etc,....
The house: Villa Casadevall was built by a well-known local architect about 15 years ago. The layout is quite logical. The building itself consists of a two one-storey wings flanking a central two-storey oval-shaped livingroom/office, with the pool and garden in front, and the parking lot and driveway to the remote control gate behind. The north wing has five bedooms: at the end of the hall, bedroom 1) an en suite bedroom with a 150x200cm bed, private full bathroom with a separate toilet room, and access directly to the garden/pool area 2) another en suite bedroom with 150x200cm bed and private full bathroom and also direct access to the pool area, 3) and 4) two bedrooms with 135x180cm bedroom facing the driveway side of the house, and 5) a sort of kiddy bedroom with lots of toys and children´s decoration and two single 90x180cm beds, and direct access to the pool area - see the photo where you see the babyfoot table just outside the room. These three rooms share a full bathroom with bath and shower in the hallway.
On the south wing of the house there is bedroom 6) with two single 90x180cm beds and the bathroom across the hall has a shower stall and the 4-man sauna. This bedroom might have originally been intended as the maid´s room as it is over on the kitchen side of the house and doesn´t have nice built-in closets like the other bedrooms. Beyond that there is the gymnasium with weightlifting and static bicycles and other exercise equiptment, and then the 4-car garage. The caretaker has installed a electric counter to charge for the electicity you use for the sauna as an extra ever since some guests have left the sauna on for the entire two weeks of their stay...
The split-level living room is bright, spacious and comfortable, set around a large fireplace on one side and TV on wheels on the other. There are two large white sofas and two large poofs and a card table an other assorted chairs, all behind large window panes offering great views of the pool and pine forest. The lighting is especially nice at night time, with lots of halogen spotlights in the slanting ceiling as well as some free-standing lamps. There is also an old hifi system that still works and a curiously ecclectic collection of old cassettes that I really enjoyed exploring. The TV has local digital channels, many of them in original language broadcasting, so you can always find something in English, and some channels, like the Disney Channel, and always in English, 24 hours a day.
Between the living room and the kitchen is the dining table backed by some handsome cabinets where it seems the owners has decided to leave some of his better wine and cognac glasses, but when I stayed there in July 2009 we had all our meals in the BBQ dining area outdoors next to the kitchen, or for a quick snack, in the kitchen itself, where there is a table for 4 or so.
The kitchen area at Casadevall villa is divided into three rooms, the
kitchen, a pantry, and a washroom:
The kitchen, which measures about 20m2 or so, is relatively small for such a
large house, but has a nice foodprep island in the middle and a small table
with seating for four. You´ll find the usual double sink, a 4 burner
stovetop, oven and extractor, a normal sized dishwasher, a normal 1.8m sized
fridge, microwave, toaster, stick mixer, electric drip coffee-maker, stick
mixer, juicer, and tea kettle. We did most of our foodprep outdoors, and most of our cooking at the bbq..
In the pantry you´ll find a large top-loading freezer and plenty of shelving to store your shopping.
The washroom has a washing machine, a sink for hand washing, and an iron and ironing board.
Taken all together, this makes for around 40 or 45m2 of kitchen space, so maybe I shouldn´t complain about the size of the kitchen, especially given
the better than average covered BBQ dining area just across from the kitchen´s garden exit, where most guests will be having their meals from
Spring to Autumn.
Undoubtedly the nicest part of the house is the pool and garden area, including a nice covered poolside porch, and a covered BBQ area with a outdoor dining table and foodprep area and lights for night-time meals. The garden at the back of the house above average, and the illuminated pool at night makes for a very attractive ensemble.
So, while I personally might prefer restored old farmhouses, the question I always have to ask myself when visiting a new property is: "would I enjoy bringing my family and friends on holiday for a week or two to this house?" The answer to that was clear once I saw the pool and garden area. Yes, Casadevall Villa gets a good thumbs up from me, for it´s excellent central location and in a private woods near town, (see the Google Earth shot below), and for the very pleasant pool and garden area under pines.The house is also very well cared for by Miquel, the pleasant caretaker (who cleans the pool every day and offers to bring you fresh breakfast bread and croissants and even fix breakfast for you if you like).
If I had to knit-pick, I might mention that some of the decorations looks a bit dated, but quite frankly if you don´t like a given painting on the wall or scupture on a desk, you can just carefully take it down and store it somewhere safe until the end of your stay, or just ask Miquel to get rid of it.... In short, Casadevall will never be a renovated 17th C rustic stone villa (the kind of places that I usually go for) but then not everyone shares my enthusiasm for old stone houses, some of you might even make good use of the exercise room and sauna, and Casadevall certainly provides an attractive and comfortable retreat at a reasonable rental rate!
I brought friends here in July 2009 and they were absolutely enamoured with the house. Some of these friends have been with me to other houses bigger and fancier houses I offer in the website, but to my surprise this is the house they are most enthusiastic about and asking me to return as soon as possible. There is just no way to describe the attractiveness of the garden here, the fragrant pines shading the beautifully kept saline solution pool, the sound of cicadas and birdsong the only noise...
I took pictures of every bedroom and every bathroom while we were there. I will include these with embedded text below. I also took a very good AVI movie measuring about 6 MB where I walk through the front door to the pool area while filming all that is around me. I´d be happy to send you this very informative video if you like. Just let me know!
Why inland farmhouse rental?
Not only is it simply nicer to stay in an old restored farmhouse, but also …
- eco-tourism helps preserve traditional ways of life
- agro-tourism revitalizes depopulated villages
- sustainable tourism controls the environmental impact (of tourism)
- package tour operators leave little to nothing in local economy
- mass tourism is an abomination - just look at so much of our coasts!
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.
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Contact: Email: Charlie Williams
Call our Barcelona office: (+34) 93 268 2300 or my cell phone (+34) 656 364 960
