The Australian
Luxury Houseparty rentals
by Susan Kurosawa
October 14, 2007
MY husband is cooking breakfast, I am setting the table. Our friends are scooping up leaves from the swimming pool and rearranging the sun loungers. Their two sons are sweeping the terrace and practising their French.
"Alors!" shouts the 13-year-old. "C'est un mille-pattes!"
"Mon dieu!" we chorus as one.
There may be a centipede on the tiles but there are no flies in the ointment on this convivial day in Provence. We have rented a villa inland from the Riviera and are living out a reverie the adults have held close ever since Peter Mayle donned a beret and brought the Vaucluse to life in A Year in Provence.
Renting a villa (or farmhouse, windmill, castle, manor or beach house) is tourism's new black. In our time-poor lives, most of us have little opportunity to catch up with extended family and friends.
Enter the concept of houseparty tourism - or what I think of as "we-must-get-together holidays". But instead of hollow promises, this concept really does entail a proper party. Forget a backyard barbecue: the venue is somewhere far more exotic and glam than chez vous.
Explore Travel
Tourism NSW identified the trend last year as "compatriot holidays", which may be a clumsy term but points to the increase in top-drawer vacation home rentals, especially in coastal locations.
If an ultra-luxe property - with sweeping ocean views, infinity-edge pool and Italian kitchen appliances - carries a sky-high tag, then four couples can pitch in and make it an affordable option. It's the contemporary equivalent of the old-fashioned Aussie beach-shack holiday, minus the bunk beds and rattler of a fridge.
AUSTRALIA
There are plenty of high-end beach houses with bedrooms galore in Australia, from the Balinese-inspired Villa Empat Puluh Dua at Port Douglas or the feng shui-perfect Angkasa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, to LifeTime Private Retreats' trio of classy havens on Kangaroo Island, South Australia.
At Bar Point on the Hawkesbury River, just north of Sydney, the Oxley Boatshed, accessed only by water, is a chic conversion of an early 20th century working boatshed. "Bed, board and bait" was the lure in the early days; now it's more a matter of friends pitching in and playing at being river rats in an idyllic setting that couldn't be any closer to the river.
The Hawkesbury region has a plethora of houseparty rentals, as do the beach and bay settlements of Brisbane Water to its north. Also lovely options are Rockridge at Sydney's Palm Beach, several properties in the seaside Town of 1770 near Bundaberg in Queensland, and Wombarra Beach House south of Sydney.
Recommended: Villa Empat Puluh Dua, Port Douglas, Queensland; Angkasa, Coolum, Queensland; Alinghi, Town of 1770, Queensland; LifeTime Private Retreats, Kangaroo Island, SA; Oxley Boatshed, Hawkesbury River, NSW; Rockridge, Palm Beach, NSW; Wombarra Beach House, Wombarra, NSW.
BALI
We are abroad again, but there's no question of fixing our own breakfasts. Lalu, the butler, is in charge of serving drinks and plates of nasi goreng. We soon work out he has a team of under-butlers who actually do all the hard work while he barks orders behind the scenes.
We are disappointing in our needs; the proprietorial Lalu wants us to demand more complicated sightseeing excursions, produce more laundry. Perhaps a gamelan orchestra to accompany a poolside dinner?
We are at the Four Seasons Private Estates, an adjunct to the Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay in Bali. The Estates - a gated compound of nine residences, from two to four bedrooms - simply skyrockets off any star-rating scale. The enormous villas have open-sided living areas, garden pools, chic furnishings and such pretty details as Lombok pottery vases filled with sweet tuberose.
Villa rentals are big business in Bali. Many are owned by Australians, such as Sydney businessman Lewis Norman who runs Alu Bali at fashionable Seminyak. Sydney-based Contemporary Hotels operates Villa Sungai at Cepaka, between Kuta and Ubud, which it describes as "unmatched in the Bali luxury market". Villa Sungai features three king-sized bedrooms, terraced gardens overlooking the Ayung River and a 17m pool; guests have access to a personal driver and chef.
Unlike European equivalents, villas in Bali come staffed, with food, transport and housekeeping a finger's snap away. There will be a pool, garden or courtyard, ensuite bedrooms and a sense of tropical oasis.
Sukhavati, owned by Bruce Woodley of the Seekers, is designed "to accommodate large families and intimate groups of friends" with a staff of 15 on call. There are six suites, a spa and three saltwater pools, all sumptuously designed and detailed on an estate between Seminyak and Ubud.
About 20 minutes outside the hill-station of Ubud, the 8ha Como Shambhala estate (formerly Begawan Giri) features five capacious residences with infinity-edge private pools that can be rented for houseparties.
The land here is dramatically sloped and most of the residences overhang a ravine, surrounded by jungle; ours is the four-bedroom Sound of Fire and each evening the butler lights a fire-pit by the long, dark pool.
Recommended: Four Seasons Private Estates; Alu Bali; Villa Sungai; Sukhavati; Como Shambhala.
THAILAND
Thailand has been playing catch-up to the Bali villa boom. At the stellar Amanpuri resort in Phuket, guests who want a higher rung of independence and secrecy can stay at one of its 30 villas on a nearby headland. Each villa comes with two-to-six-bedroom pavilions, a live-in maid and cook, 24-hour security and fabulous levels of luxury.
On the island of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand, development is rampant and resorts are being superseded by clusters of terraced villas designed as temporary homes with kitchens, laundries, acres of living space, pools and clifftop views.
Karma Samui is typical of the mix. Its 36 pool villas are dotted over five terraces and each is a complete cocoon. While guests in one-bedroom villas treat their stay as a luxury resort experience, those in the two-, three- or four-bedroom configurations enjoy the feel of a holiday house with big living rooms, outdoor cushioned daybeds and a home theatre system.
The Karma concept, which also operates in Bali, has been developed by John Spence, who sees his product fitting a market niche for "luxurious and spacious villa accommodation within a resort infrastructure". In short, it's like having your own house surrounded by all the expected amenities of a five-star hotel.
Recommended: Amanpuri, Phuket; Karma Samui, Koh Samui.
ITALY
Ever since reading Elizabeth von Arnim's novel The Enchanted April, the notion of a house in Italy, however temporary, has been a dream.
The book's Mrs Wilkins and Mrs Arbuthnot, two sun-starved housewives from London's dreary Hampstead, note a tiny advertisement, addressed to those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine. A small medieval Italian castle was for let, it advised. On the shores of the Mediterranean, for the month of April. Necessary servants, of course, would remain.
To help with the rent, they advertised for two suitable companions. And so they were joined by Lady Caroline Dester, a society enchantress, and Mrs Fisher, an imperious widow given to living in the past.
"I suppose you realise, don't you, that we've got to heaven?" beamed Mrs Wilkins upon arrival, appreciative of the possibilities for total transformation in the clear, soft light of an Italian springtime.
My Italian houseparty rental is with a group of like-minded friends on the Cercignano estate in Colle di Val d'Elsa, in central Tuscany, set on a hill overlooking grapevines, olive trees and harvest-coloured fields of maize and barley. The windows are shuttered, the tiled floor cool to the touch of bare feet. There are loquat trees in the garden, terracotta pots of pink pelargoniums and a good pool.
But, alas, we have neighbours in the villa. Despite all our research, we have just half a house; through thin walls we hear our early-rising German neighbours arguing about maps and bicycle maintenance. They solemnly play Take Me Home, Country Roads on their guitars by the pool.
But our group laughs a lot and we take turns to cook in the villa's stone-floored kitchen with produce from the local supermercato and fruttivendolo. We slosh chianti into the pasta sauce and devour flat panforte cake studded with cinnamon and cloves. We make plans to drive not to Florence but Firenze, which we say with a curl of our lips and exaggerated gesturing. Like Mrs Wilkins, I become light-headed, and feel I could stay for ever.
In this Tuscan escapade, however, lies a lesson; be very sure the rental is for a whole house. In the old days, one sent away for a brochure and, in many cases, had to get out a magnifying glass to inspect blurry pictures of farmhouses in Chianti or Umbria.
Now there is a multitude of information online, but much of the pricing and marketing is aimed at British and European renters. Consider an Australian company for set prices in our currency and good communication and follow-up.
Contemporary Hotels handles the Amalfi Collection of stylish coastal villas, towers and apartments in Positano; all require a minimum of one-week's stay, which is often the norm in Europe, and the villas sleep at least eight.
The well-regarded Melbourne-based Cottages and Castles has a range of Italian properties on its books, including the nine-bedroom Villa Montecerconi, 30km from Siena. (Cottages and Castles also handles properties in France, Spain, Portugal, England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.)
Australian couple Leon and Jill Kammer have set up Italy Accom, a villa and apartment rental business with properties throughout Italy. For instance, the four-bedroom Granaio degli Acquisti, built in 1894 and thoroughly restored in 2003, is a spacious former barn on a farm set amid a wood of pines 6km north of Grosseto.
For an even grander option, the Kammers suggest Villa Palazzetto. At Barberino Val d'Elsa, a hilltop village between Florence and Siena, this is a Renaissance jewel with seven bedrooms, bags of space and style, and magisterial views of classic countryside.
Managed by Elegant Resorts, Casale Sodini at Vorno, Tuscany, is another gorgeous conversion with terracotta floors, rustic furnishings, pool, summerhouse and lawns. It sleeps 10 and has been heralded by Conde Nast Traveler magazine as among the 10 best Tuscan villas.
Recommended: Amalfi Collection; Cottages and Castles; Italy Accom; Casale Sodini, Tuscany.
CARIBBEAN AND SRI LANKA
Private islands present something even more beguiling than villas and grand houses: the possibility of utter seclusion. Vladi Private Islands is the key company: a Europe-based broker specialising in sales and rentals.
Vladi has a celebrity clientele, reflected in such properties on its books as Nygard Cay in the Bahamas where the likes of Sean Connery, Oprah Winfrey and Robert De Niro have bedded-down with friends and flunkies. Nygard Cay has 10 bedrooms, two pools and five whirlpools; your party's pleasure for $US35,000 a night.
It's generally acknowledged that Richard Branson's Caribbean bolthole, Necker Island (located, appropriately, in the British Virgin Islands), is among the world's top island rentals.
Up to 28 people can be accommodated and the nightly rate is a shiny $US46,000, encompassing all meals and drinks, 50 staff and all manner of luxuries, including one's own calypso band. (Branson has other exclusive properties in his Limited Edition portfolio, including a kasbah in Morocco and an African safari lodge.)
But for an ultimate houseparty rental such as Necker Island, cashed-up fellow travellers are mandatory. Even if people opt out, the tariff remains the same. The less ambitious option is to choose an island closer to home so airfares are not as expensive and replacement party-members should be easier to coax along.
Although the security situation in Sri Lanka must be monitored before booking, one of the world's most charming (and affordable) private islands is Taprobane in Weligama Bay, 30 minutes by road from World Heritage-listed Galle Fort on the island's southwest coast.
Taprobane is an utterly charming little isle commanded by a white octagonal villa with a sea-facing loggia perched on a granite rock. Taprobane looks like a subcontinental Mont Saint-Michel. Gazing over urns filled with flowering vines to the sea beyond, it feels faintly like being marooned on an Italian lake.
It's an indoor-outdoor house, an odd little temple devoted to the winds, which was built by the improbable Count de Mauny-Talvande in 1929 - apparently the count made his transfers to and from shore "carried shoulder-high, in an armchair". These days, guests wade over at low tide, but it's a magical prelude nonetheless. There are five ensuite bedrooms, pool, sloped gardens and five permanent staff.
Recommended: Vladi Private Islands portfolio; Necker Island, Caribbean; Taprobane, Sri Lanka.
SCOTLAND AND LOIRE
Beds and battlements?
Castles in Britain and Ireland are not of the theme-park variety but the real thing: draughty, eccentric, loaded with atmosphere and stuffed with suits of armour and the odd wafting ghost. There are many castles that have been turned into boutique hotels but an exclusive rental, complete with costumed guests and props, is better still.
There's a trend at the moment to hire a castle for significant birthday celebrations and ask guests to come in appropriate garb.
The Celtic Castles company specialises in such accommodation and there's no need to stint on the guest list. Its Ackergill Tower in Caithness, Scotland, sleeps 48 in a magnificent 15th-century seaside castle. More modest in scale is Amhuinnsuidhe Castle on the Isle of Harris, which sleeps 20, or the very affordable self-catering Ballynagowan Castle in County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, with space for up to eight guests.
If budget can be thrown to the breeze, Relais & Chateaux member Glenapp Castle at Ballantrae in Ayrshire, Scotland, can be rented as one booking for 17 suites.
Located 90 minutes from Glasgow by road, the 1870-built castle boasts a cargo of fine antiques, landscaped gardens, all-weather tennis court, croquet lawn and views of the Irish Sea. For exclusive-use bookings, management can provide traditional banquet fare, whisky and wine tastings, and highland dancing.
A chateau in the Loire Valley? Pourquoi pas? Chateau du Guerinet, surrounded by forest near Blois, is owned by an Australian family and features six large luxury suites.
According to the owners, the castle was constructed in 1797 for a Prussian prince specifically for the purpose of holding parties and for entertaining the wealthy and elite of France and Europe. So, a custom-built houseparty venue, then; no doubt the prince would approve of such contemporary luxuries as the four-person infra-red sauna with builtin CD player and flat-screen televisions in every suite.
Recommended: Celtic Castles collection; Glenapp Castle, Scotland; Chateau du Guerinet, Loire Valley.
GREECE AND PROVENCE
While Italian villas and French chateaux dance through our heads, don't overlook other European destinations.
In Greece, House on the Rocks on Corfu sleeps six in white-stone splendour. On Mykonos, Villa Peligoni accommodates up to 10; this is a high-end staffed villa with divine views of Korfos Bay. There's even a children's treehouse in the landscaped grounds and a separate cottage for overflow guests.
Away from pricey coastal locations in the south of France, La Taniere at Mougins (just inland from Cannes) is at the edge of a medieval village (never choose a rental that is far removed from shops and facilities), with rural views towards Grasse, mosaic-tiled pool, and gorgeous Provencal-chic interiors in white, lemon and baby blues styled by its interior-decorator owner.
Mougins has associations with such famous one-time residents as Pablo Picasso and Edith Piaf. If you don't feel like cooking, make a pilgrimage to Alain Llorca's feted Moulin de Mougins, housed in a 16th-century mill. There are four ensuite bedrooms at La Taniere in two wings, so there's no sense of overcrowding.
Recommended: House on the Rocks, Corfu; Villa Peligoni, Mykonos; La Taniere, Mougins.
NEW ZEALAND AND FIJI
To cater for the slant towards premium self-contained accommodation, New Zealander Rhys Arrowsmith has set up Black Label Retreats to market the best holiday houses in his homeland, Australia and the South Pacific. The ultra-chic Lodge at 199, at Lake Tarawera, near Rotorua, for example, features three double guestrooms and its own sheltered beach and jetty.
In some cases, the Black Label Retreats accommodation is in the style of a residence that adjoins a lodge, such as the Owner's Cottage at Huka Lodge near Lake Taupo in the North Island.
Other member properties stand alone, such as the delightful Myola Plantation Villa in Fiji, set in 5ha of tropical gardens 45 minutes by road from Nadi. With a pair of master suites (booked as one rental), this is a getaway option for two couples who want to hunker down and be pampered silly by 10 staff, including a private chef.
Back in New Zealand, overlooking glistening Lake Wanaka in the South Island, the Australian-owned Whare Kea Lodge, a member of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux group, takes 12 as a houseparty booking. The lodge has its own tiny alpine chalet located at 1700m in the Buchanan mountain range beside the Mount Aspiring National Park; guests are whisked up by helicopter for an optional night at the top of the world.
Recommended: The Owner's Cottage at Huka Lodge; Lodge At 199 at Lake Tarawera; Whare Kea Lodge, Lake Wanaka; Myola Plantation Villa, Fiji.
Susan Kurosawa is The Australian's travel editor.
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