Vacation villas in Methoni, Greece

Planet

We provide our guests with re-useable cups and refillable water bottles. We ask that, wherever possible guests don't buy single-use plastic. Plastic use is a massive problem in Greece as most rubbish is burned. Plastic straws find their way into the sea and can cause injury or death to the beautiful Caretta caretta sea turtles who swim these waters. Plastic rubbish also causes problems for the African Chameleon, whose only European habitat in along Divari beach in Gialova, 20 minutes drive from Methoni.

In every way we try to address the environmental problems specific to our area and to lead by example. The cooking school sits in an olive grove of 100 organically grown trees, ( we provide all our guests with our own organic, extra-virgin olive oil )but we don't follow the same harvesting practices of burning the vast amount of branches that must be cut each harvest. We compost EVERYTHING, which is a mammoth task. We have developed a method of composting in situ around the olive grove. Please ask for more details or a demonstration if you're interested.

People

The joy of vacationing in Methoni is that everything is small and local and very very friendly.

We support and fundraise for our local dentist, Zoe - a true superwoman who single-handedly takes responsibility for the stray cat and dog problem in and around Methoni. It's unimaginably tough, exhausting, expensive and stressful. At any one time she has around 90 cats and is continuously trying to find adopters for puppies.

There is no employer in the area who pays local people anything close to the wages we do. We value all the members of our talented team - and there's only one way to demonstrate that . We like to think we can encourage - or shame other employers into doing the same - particularly the owners of the huge golf development, Costa Navarino owned and run by billionaires who pay their hard-working staff well below the EU minimum wage. Tourists are often led to believe their money trickles down to locals - it generally doesn't unless you're dealing directly with small local businesses, shops or stall-holders.