Daphne

The Main House

• Bedroom 1: a suite with a double bed (180x200cm), sitting area, in-room bath tub and shower, en-suite WC, and private terrace
• Bedroom 2: double bed (160x200cm), en-suite shower room, private terrace
• Bedroom 3: double-twin beds (90/180x200cm), en-suite shower room

The Guesthouse

• Bedroom 4: double bed, 160x200), adjacent shower room
• Bedroom 5: single bed (90x200cm), sharing a shower room with Bedroom 6
• Bedroom 6: double bed (160x200cm), shared shower room
• Bedroom 7: double bed (160x200cm), en-suite shower room

The Guest Room

• Bedroom 8: double-twin beds (90/180x200cm), en-suite shower room

Inside the main house

• a double with en-suite shower room and access to a panoramic private terrace looking over the wooded hills of Spetses and the sea and also access to a sea-view terrace (also accessed from the first-floor landing) with steps down to the terrace below
• a double-twin with en-suite shower room and access to a sea-view terrace (also accessed from the first-floor landing) with steps down to the terrace below
• a generously proportioned suite with a centrally positioned double bed, a sitting area with a pair of armchairs and a fireplace, access to a private sea-view terrace (with steps down to the pool below), a luxurious in-room bathroom with walk-in shower and free-standing bathtub, and a separate WC. Also a working area with comfortable sitting and a desk with pool and sea views. This suite can be accessed from the double-twin bedroom, or externally from its own terrace.

Inside the guesthouse

• a single with access to the terrace off the living room
• a sea-view double
• a second sea-view double with en-suite shower room and its own access to the surrounding terraces

The guest bedroom

Outside

Daphne is situated on the tranquil west coast of Spetses, just a 5-minute walk from the idyllic pebbly beach of Aghii Anarghiri, which has a lido and water sports facilities.

Spetses Town, with its harbours, its fishing boats and pleasure craft, its cosmopolitan bars, cafés and restaurants, and its range of independent boutiques is about 25 minutes away. Two return-trip mini-van transfers from the villa to Spetses Town are included per week's stay. Alternatively, the town is reachable by taxi, private bus transfer or public transport - from June to September there's a bus every hour between around 10:00 and 19:00.

Diminutive Spetses measures just 7km by 4km and is a quiet, pine tree-carpeted island where private cars are not allowed. Transport is by bicycle, scooters, a few taxis, donkeys, quad bikes and, best of all, boat taxi. Hiring your own boat for the duration of your stay or for a few days is highly recommended, as the coast has many idyllic secluded bays that are most easily accessible from the water.

In recent times, Spetses's main claim to fame is as the setting for The Magus, John Fowles's great novel. Named Phraxos in the book, the island is described by the main protagonist, Nicholas Urfe as "Beautiful. There was no other adjective; it was not just pretty, picturesque, charming – it was simply and effortlessly beautiful. It took my breath away when I first saw it, floating under Venus like a majestic black whale in an amethyst evening sea, and it still takes my breath away when I shut my eyes now and remember it. Its beauty was rare even in the Aegean, because its hills were covered with pine trees, Mediterranean pines as light as greenfinch feathers. Nine-tenths of the island was uninhabited and uncultivated: nothing but pines, coves, silence, sea." Remarkably, Spetses has changed very little since John Fowles, who lived and worked there in the early1950s, wrote that passage.

The island's eponymous main town is full of interest, both historical and contemporary. Like neighbouring Hydra, Spetses had a thriving shipping industry and some local families became extremely rich. One such (though he made most of his money in the US) was Sotirios Anargyros, who built the impressive Poseidonion Hotel in the early 20th century. In the architectural style of the great hotels of the Côte d'Azur, it soon attracted wealthy Athenians and European aristocrats to the island, beginning a trend of affluent, small-scale tourism that continues today.

Spetses's pine-shady interior is crisscrossed by walking trails. From the top ridge, fabulous vistas take in the island, Hydra, vast tracts of the Aegean Sea and the Peloponnese, whose eastern most tip is just over 2km (or a 10-minute crossing) away. This proximity to the mainland makes day trips to Porto Heli and the archaeological site of Epidaurus eminently feasible.