THE ULTIMATE HOUSES TO HOLIDAY IN NEXT SUMMER
An historic Georgian masterpiece, a surreal Moroccan art house or a magnificent villa on the Cote d’Azur that’s been the scene of extraordinary parties since 1902…Whatever your style, Kerry Smith on the best homes away from home.
VILLA LA VIGIE, MONTE CARLO, MONACO
At the start of the 20th century, this magnificent villa was considered the most beautiful on the Riviera. The garden was full of tropical rarities, while eagles and condors lodged in an enormous bird house. Built for Sir William Ingram of London Illustrated News, it was the playground of high society on the French Riviera, renowned for the extraordinary parties held there. Come the 1980s, and enter Karl Lagerfeld, who restored the villa and called it home for over ten years. No doubt it witnessed a few wild nights then too.
The villa returned to the spotlight in 2021, when the Chanel spring/summer 2021 campaign starring Charlotte Casiraghi was shot entirely in the villa and surrounding Monaco.
This is a fabulous house to rent. A monumental entrance hall with a superb staircase, sets the tone: spacious, bright and prestigious. There are marble columns, fireplaces, parquet flooring, high ceilings and a vast terrace, which has spectacular views across the Mediterranean sea to Monte Carlo itself. The house has six bedrooms, but extra guests can check into the Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel next door, a fixture on Monaco's society scene for nearly as long as the villa. And both hotel and villa guests have access to the Monte-Carlo Beach Club.
DAR EL SADAKA, MARRAKECH, MOROCCO
In Marrakech’s Palmeraie, the cool palm-grove oasis ten minutes outside the medina walls, you’ll find the Dar El Sadaka villa, which translates as the ‘House of Friendship’. This fully-staffed villa is the home of Jean-François Fourtou, the French visual artist known for his unique sculptures of animals. Set within Fourtou’s invitation-only sculptural park, the property is surreal: part-fabulous villa, part-unconventional art gallery.
One of the first encounters you’ll have is with the giant sheep by the swimming pool. Then there’s the giraffe in the dining room, and the orangutans in the living room. In the evening, have sunset cocktails overlooking Fourtou’s ‘Maison Tombée Du Ciel’, or the ‘House Fallen From The Sky’ – a full size, upside-down house set in a field – before dining Under the Tree of 1001 Candles.
The nine suites and rooms are all themed: opt for the Donkey Suite with its private garden or the giraffe suite with its outdoor bath-tub. Given the back-drop, this is always going to be the most extraordinarily, unforgettable holiday. Providing the guests can stop Instagramming long enough to enjoy themselves.
NORTH LODGE BLENHEIM, THE COTSWOLD, UK
Set on the edge of the Cotswolds within the private grounds of Blenheim Palace – birthplace of Winston Churchill – sits North Lodge, a 300-year old architectural masterpiece with a rich history. Built as one of four park keeper’s lodges, the surrounding estate is a UNESCO World Heritage site: High Park was originally created in the 12th century by King Henry I as a royal deer park, and today this ancient woodland is home to many oaks over 800 years old.
Five-minutes drive from Oxford Airport, the gates open onto a spectacular gravel drive lined with trees. After falling into dereliction, the lodge was completely renovated in 2013. Spread over three floors, it’s light and bright with large windows overlooking the estate. There’s a whisky room, library, cinema and a professionally-equipped kitchen. Plus, seven bedrooms mean there is plenty of space for everyone. Head outside, and there's a salt water swimming pool and a hot tub, with the Pool House housing the games room, bar, sauna, gym and steam showers. It also has a large fire-pit and a golf range.
Available to rent for the first time via Luxury Cotswold Rentals, every booking includes their concierge service, which can introduce guests to a chef, find a masseuse or a florist, or even plan a party or trip from start to finish.
FRANK SINATRA TWIN PALMS ESTATE, PALM SPRINGS, USA
Palm Springs will always be linked with the Rat Pack, who introduced a splash of devilish glamour to the city in the mid-1950s. Frank Sinatra commissioned his first Palm Springs home from modernist trailblazer E Stewart Williams in 1947 (he originally wanted a faux-Georgian mansion, but Williams dissuaded him). Sinatra loved the desert community at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains, and Palm Springs was one of the most enduring passions of his passionate life — and a holiday in Sinatra’s former house will certainly be an affair to remember.
Built on the Alejo Road in the fashionable north section, the four bedrooms are all inescapably mid-century. Sinatra’s shadow looms large, naturally. Tall picture windows face a pleasingly piano-shaped pool and there is memorabilia throughout the house. Nearly seventy years after it was built, it remains stylishly iconic, and genuinely fascinating. After all, this is a place where modern mingles with the ghosts of Hollywood's golden past. And if luxuriating on Sinatra's legendary Twin Palms estate isn’t for you, there's always Elizabeth Taylor's former home (complete with Warhol portrait) or the chance to languish by a pool once owned by Lucille Ball.
ARTELIA, ZAKYNTHOS, GREECE
The Greek villa of Artelia is nothing if not unique. Of course, there are stunning views, the infinity pool that appears at one with the sea and surrounding scattered olive groves – but then it also comes complete with its own manège stabling rare horse breeds.
The villa is set on Zakynthos, the island made famous by Greek poet Homer in mythological tales the Iliad and the Odyssey. This is Greece’s greenest island and Artelia’s stark white walls and oversized windows frame vistas of emerald hills sliding into the electric blue Ionian. Set in the south-west of the island, much of the nearby coastline is a nature reserve: the Gulf of Laganda is the second most important breeding ground in the Mediterranean for endangered loggerhead turtles.
Occupying a secluding position high above the sea amongst the wooded hillsides, Aetheria inhabits a world all of its own. Sleeping ten across five bedrooms, the architecture nods to traditional island buildings with lofty beamed ceilings and exposed stone walls. There's the living area, whose sofas and armchairs are gathered around a fireplace– and huge sliding glass doors lessen the distinction between interior and exterior spaces. Al fresco life revolves around the panoramic pool terrace, which is magnificent: set right in the middle of the infinity pool is a seating area and sunken fire pit. From here, it’s a short walk to the pool bar. Beyond the terraces framed with stone walls, is the owner's estate which includes vineyards and the stables, which house the rare horses, including the golden Akhal-Teke from Turkmenistan (the oldest surviving equine breed and one of the rarest). The villa can arrange horse riding for guests. But just don’t expect the Akhal-Teke.