La Bandita

The main house

• Bedroom 1: double bed (170x200cm), en-suite bathroom with tub, and garden room
• Bedroom 2: double bed (160x190cm), en-suite shower room
• Bedroom 3: double bed (160x190cm), en-suite shower room
• Bedroom 4: children's room with two sets of bunk beds (80x190cm), en-suite shower room, garden room

The guesthouse

• Bedroom 5: double bed (180x200cm), en-suite bathroom with tub and separate shower
• Bedroom 6: double bed (180x200cm), adjacent shower room shared with bedroom 7
• Bedroom 7: children's bunk-bed room (90x180cm), adjacent shower room shared with bedroom 6

Inside

accommodation at La Bandita is laid out over a main house on two floors and guesthouse, which is located about 50m away.

The main house

The entrance to the main house leads into a voluminous central hallway, which provides access to the two wings and a guest WC. The first wing hosts the communal areas, while the other is given over to sleeping quarters.

The focal point of the communal areas is a generously proportioned, open-concept space featuring cool terrazzo flooring, lofty beamed ceilings, light-giving skylights, and large glass doors opening outside. To one side, gathered around an impressive fireplace, are a pair of sofas, a couple of easy chairs and a coffee table. To the right is a large, square dining table and a second comfortably furnished sitting area. The room culminates with a triangular glass gable end rising above a wall of books, which envelopes a pair of glass doors opening out onto the main terrace.

A door near the dining table opens into the well-equipped kitchen, which features a large, centrally positioned, marble-topped prep table. Opposite the kitchen, accessed via a door from near the main sitting area, is a snug room with a day bed, the perfect spot for booklovers.

Heading back to the central hallway, a glass door opens into the second wing, whose roomy atrium, illuminated by skylights and enlivened by wine-red resin flooring, provides access to the main house’s four bedrooms:

• a spacious principal double bedroom with a skylight, an en-suite bathroom with tub and separate shower, and a glass garden room accessing a porticoed terrace
• two double bedrooms with en-suite shower rooms
• a quadruple with a skylight, two sets of bunk beds, an en-suite shower room, and a glass garden room accessing a porticoed terrace

Accommodation in the main house is completed by a lower ground floor, which is accessed via a staircase from the central hallway. Here there is a games room, a guest WC, and a super home cinema with a large screen and a huge, wall-to-wall, red-velvet sofa on two levels.

The guesthouse

The guesthouse has been designed, finished and furnished in a similar style to the main house and offers everything necessary for independent living.

Glass doors lead in from a shady terrace to a wide, open-plan communal area with wine-red resin flooring. At the centre is a comfortably cushioned built-in sitting area and a dining table with banquet seating. Four steps above the dining area is a small but well-equipped kitchen, while on the opposite side, just above the sitting area, is a little TV snug, furnished with a sofa.

Three steps between the living area and the dining table lead up to a central hallway, off which are the bedrooms, each one with cork flooring and lofty, beamed ceilings:

• a principal double bedroom with an en-suite bathroom with tub and separate shower
• a double bedroom
• a bunk-bed room with glass doors opening out into the surrounding gardens

The latter two bedrooms share a shower room

Outside

al fresco life at La Bandita is hard to beat, thanks not only to the sheers size of the beautifully landscaped gardens (which extend for around 2.5 acres of the property's 1,000 acres), but also to the total privacy and seclusion that the grounds afford.

Long, porticoed terraces, shaded by the extension of the sloping roof, extend down two sides of the main house. Dotted with sitting areas, they offer plenty of options for gazing out at the gardens, chatting over a coffee, or settling down with a good book.

The main house’s principal terrace, which is accessed from the open-plan communal hub, is a thing of beauty. Two long pergolas, topped with leafy vegetation and cane, have been furnished with an abundance of comfy outdoor sofas and chairs, as well as a pair of dining tables that can be joined together for larger groups.

Where the terraces end, the gardens begin, with wide-open swathes of immaculate lawn delimited by and dotted with an array of mature trees. Between the main house and the guesthouse, the lawn wraps around the beautiful azure pool, which is served by a typically ingenious, built-in lounge area that extends over several levels and incorporates plenty of mattresses and a retractable awning.

The guesthouse itself has its own extremely convivial, shaded terrace that’s furnished for both sitting and dining. A large construction to one end incorporates both a barbecue and a pizza oven, making this the spot for those who love al fresco cooking.

Other highlights of the grounds include: a fruit and vegetable garden with geometric beds criss-crossed by vine-covered walkways; a football pitch; and an expanse of olive groves.

Proud cypress trees line La Bandita’s private access road, and on the other side of that, the property’s woodland rises up into the hills, framing the whole in an emerald green canopy.

Please note that although La Bandita technically sleeps 16, the maximum occupancy is limited to 14, children included.

La Bandita is located within a working agricultural estate with olive groves and woodland. There is also a securely fenced area where a horse and a donkey are kept, as well as a chicken coop. On occasion, the owners’ dogs may also be present when they are on site. All the animals are gentle and pose no risk, but guests are asked not to feed them and to supervise children at all times when exploring the extensive grounds.