History and Background

Eremia was the manifestation of long gestation. Over the years, the owners had planned for a retirement home in the sun to which they could enjoy with their family. Through the years France, then Spain and Portugal and even the Caribbean had been under consideration.

The change from a dream to reality came soon after Greece joined the EU. Having seen the enhanced pace of change in the Iberian Peninsula funded by the EU; Greece as a Mediterranean sunshine belt country was attractive because of its relative under-development and scope for betterment.

The lead-in was idyllic holidays exploiting the Greek culture, then authentic in nature, mostly through cruising holidays, but the greener Corfu landscape and island culture proved an alluring draw and eventually, from around the Millennium, Greek holidays became exclusively Corfiot and based in the rural Northeast with its laid-back style and crystal-clear waters of the Corfu Channel.

Various possibilities arose mostly involving new development, given the lack of modern buildings in the area, but the owners, took time waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. The opportunity was in the form of an undeveloped hillside with no other property in sight, except a faux castle on the beach below. The first hurdle was to convince themselves that the plot was buildable being a slope of 45 degrees and the second was to imagine the views once the land was prepared for building. Both were soon determined; one by the land agent climbing an olive tree and declaring a magnificent panoramic seascape through 180 degrees all the way to the far end of Corfu and beyond with unimaginable water hues as the sea bed depth varied and the other by a local builder confirming that the slope was no obstacle to a JCB—years later he apologised for not at the time explaining that slopes were 50% more costly building sites, a fact that he had already established! Problems solved? but no—the owner disappeared off to Athens and was only rediscovered a year later by a chance encounter by our land agent with the landowner’s lawyer in Corfu Town. From then on, the pace was frenetic and a few months later the owners owned a few hectares of Corfiot hillside, accessed on a road to nowhere providing perfect seclusion, security and tranquillity, hence, Eremia—ancient Greek for tranquil—was about to become fact.

The owners had a building design in mind based on a Roman villa lay-out with a central courtyard they had experienced on one of their earlier holidays. Because of the slope which would have required most of the hillside being excavated to provide sufficient space for the building’s footprint, the courtyard became an open-upped square from the rear following the hillside with the back being the exposed bedrock opposite the villas front door, now a water feature, whilst the building followed the curve of hillside contributing to the 180-degree vista.

Building work soon started with a JCB literally climbing down the slope to create the foundations for two retaining walls above which the house began to materialise. The design sort of evolved with extra bedrooms and a tower room not to mention plant rooms being grafted on at the side. Later it was realised these were illegal but did provide more work for the builders which of course was the prime intention! Irrespective, they ended up with a traditional looking villa sleeping 12 which just about coped with their growing family—by now including children-in-laws and grandchildren.

Later the house was joined by staff-quarters built as a gatehouse which then gained its own pool and more recently an additional level, now providing with the house accommodation for a total of eighteen adults and the odd younger person.
The next stage is further terracing around the main pool area to provide a tennis court and room for wedding receptions!

After that—who knows!!