Villa Marista

The main drawback was the setting. The villa backs onto a busy road, with noise from early morning until late evening, and a recently built villa overlooks Marista’s pool. The local guests and children seemed to enjoy watching us swim from their higher vantage point. Although the garden looked well cared for at first glance, parts of the grounds were scruffy. The outdoor space on the veranda was good, and we ate there most days, but the hot tub area felt wasted. The tub wouldn’t heat up, so it was just a novelty and we didn’t use it. A stray cat had settled in the seating area and left the soft furnishings smelling bad. The BBQ was filthy, so after one look I avoided it. Guests are expected to clean it after use. The villa is detached, on a large plot with gardens and ample parking. Inside, the three bedrooms and three bathrooms are spacious and well appointed. The master bedroom has a double-height roof and balcony, but the beds in the other rooms were rock hard. The open-plan living, dining and kitchen area worked well. Having a utility room was excellent, and we got all our washing done before heading home. In my opinion, the property is dated and not well maintained. We lost power when we arrived, and the main breaker is outside, something the welcome pack didn’t mention. We thought the living-room air-conditioning unit might have caused it. Other electrics weren’t working either, and there were broken window locks, damaged sun loungers and no safe. The pool man and gardener came on our first full day and again on our third day. It didn’t feel like a very relaxing or private retreat when staff could turn up during our stay. Couldn’t this be done between guests? The pool is about 22 by 42 feet and gets deep quickly, reaching around 2.4 metres, so take care if children aren’t confident swimmers. This was our first villa holiday. We did enjoy the stay, but once we looked past our rose-tinted glasses, there were clear areas to improve. At £2500-3000 a week, I expected a better standard, though perhaps my expectations are too high.