OBERON is one out of four (namely ARIEL,TITANIA and PUCK , all of them are listed herein and elsewhere) individual residences at IL GIARDINO SEGRETO DI PROSPERO (also listed herein and elsewhere).It is a sophisticated two bedroom-two bathroom (one in-suite to the bedroom), residence, with a large fully equipped indoors kitchen, along with an outdoor BBQ kitchen, a spacious living room, an indoors dining table for 5 persons and an outdoors one for 12 persons, and may accommodate 4 persons. Oberon’s bedrooms are offering two double beds, cast iron hand crafted in Corfu.Both bedrooms are equipped with handcrafted designer’s side tables.Large contemporary furnished open plan living room and kitchen. Direct access to balcony with stunning sea views and pool terrace. Comfortable seating area with fireplace. iPod docking station. Wireless Internet connection.
ΙL GIARDINO SEGRETO DI PROSPERO is an intriguing mix of tradition, elegance, finesse and comfort that offers a get away with a fairy-tale view of the most amazing Corfiot landscape, flora and fauna.
This new, large, traditional and artistic Corfiot country mansion, has carefully designed and architected living rooms, verandas and patios, to provide a large party the unique ability to enjoy their vacation all together in communal relaxing spaces, both in and outdoors, while at the same time not losing the potential of privacy for each individual residence.
The four residences are available individually or as one, accommodating up to 15 people in total.
The olive green main steel entrance with its’ twin Venetian lanterns, reminiscent of a long gone but not forgotten age and surrounded by deep red bougainvilla, leads you into the fairy-tale garden. There along with the ancient olive trees are tall cypresses, orange, lemon, almond, peach and cherry trees, as well as exquisite mint plants.
Wood, stone, pebbles, cement-mortar, traditionally used in the construction of Corfiot houses, are the sole building materials for this exceptional country mansion. It consists of four individual residences, all of them offering amazing views of the sea and Mount Pantokrator.
The walled entrance and fully fenced estate guarantee absolute protection of your privacy.
ΙL GIARDINO SEGRETO DI PROSPERO is located in the exact spot made immortal by Edward Lear’s painting, distancing 12 Kms from the old town of Corfu and within walking distance (1000 m) from the beach of Ipsos bay.
A lot of parking space in the estate.
Small port for motor boats & yachts in Ipsos Bay.
6 km to seaplane port.
Frequent city bus service to Corfu.
ACCESSIBILITY: The mansion is not suitable for wheelchair users as it is built on a rather steep hillside and on three levels. The swimming pool and living areas are all different levels. Access to the mansion is via a long, driveway while foot-access to all levels is via external spacious staircases.
Large swimming pool app.10 x 5 m. Deepest part of swimming pool is app. 1.8m.
Designer’s terrace with 10 sun loungers next to pool and 3 large tents.
Lounge style seating area under the olive trees with sofas and armchairs.
Edward Lear wrote to Emily, the wife of Lord Alfred Tennyson during his second long stay in Corfu, from the winter of 1861 till the end of Spring of 1962, about Corfu.
“The island is more beautiful than ever and I cannot imagine a more fairy-tale view or more perfect Greek landscape.Life here is completely different from the frenetic , annoying lightness of the city and I’m under the impression that here I’m rejuvenating a year every hour”.
Of a scene in Corfu Lear wrote, in February 1863, “Absolute glorious calm & clearness all day . . . the magnificent colour of these dells of orange & lemon trees, with the greyer olive & amethyst hills, are inimitable & wondrous”.
If you wish to rejuvenate yourself “a year every hour” , all you have to do is visit Prospero’s island , the queen of the Ionian sea , unique Corfu and spend your stay at Il Giardino Segreto di Prospero , hidden in the olive grove portraid by Edward Lear , simply thinking that everything happens for a reason «OMNIA CAUSA FIUNT».
Corfu's balmy climate, azure seas and beautiful mountain vistas -- along with a distinctive architectural and historical legacy -- have made the island a popular choice for northern European, and especially British, holiday makers since the second half of the 1980s.
Britain ended its administrative control here in the mid-19th century but the town's cricket pitch is still in use and ginger ale is served in local cafes.
Corfu surprises many first-time visitors.
Corfu just isn't the typical Greek island of the imagination, full of white buildings with blue shutters. It's much greener here, and the Venetian influence makes for a more ornate style, with terra cotta tiles and ochre predominating.
The effect is more like Amalfi than one of the Aegean islands such as Mykonos.
The island's strict regulations have protected its design aesthetic, other than the concrete construction of two or three hastily built tourist resorts. Some 640 square kilometers in size and with a permanent population of 107,000, Corfu is a sickle-shaped island in the Ionian Sea to the west of the Greek mainland, just a little more than 3 kilometers, or about 2 miles, from Albania at its closest point.
Estates in the northeastern corner of Corfu, facing the rugged, mountainous Albanian coast, are the most prized.
Several of Britain's wealthiest banking and retail clans -- including the Rothschild family -- have discreet compounds there. The concentration of wealthy British property owners in this corner of the island has earned it the nickname ''Kensington-on-Sea,'' after the prosperous London neighborhood.
Prince Charles is an occasional visitor.
Lawrence Durrell’s ‘Prospero’s Cell’
I’m back to an old hobby lately: reading and thinking about the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea, and in general all things Corfiot. A great little book I return to periodically is Lawrence Durrell’s ‘Prospero’s Cell’, first published in 1945 and reprinted several times since. It’s a little masterpiece of travel, history, culture and reflection all on its own. And it takes its name from one of the non-fictional characters who appears in it, a reclusive nobleman who lives in a dilapidated villa among vineyards and olive groves, and whose theory is that Corfu is actually Prospero’s island, that Shakespeare was inspired to use it as the setting for his play, ‘The Tempest’, and may even have visited it himself. Here’s a short quote from the book, typical of the kind of thing I like about it, and of Durrell’s style as travel writer and essayist:
‘The Count smokes his home-made cigarettes in a short bone holder, stained with nicotine. Relaxing and spreading out his hands against the moonlight as if to warm them at its white fire, he begins to talk. I have wasted all these words on describing the Count in the hope of isolating that quality in him which is so admirable and original, and when he begins to talk I grasp at once what it is. He is the possessor of a literary mind completely uncontaminated by the struggle to achieve a technique; he lacks the artifice of presentation, the corrupting demon of form. It is a mind with the pollen still fresh upon it.’
I don’t know about the Shakespeare theory. One thing in its favor, as Durrell points out in the book, is that the name of Caliban’s mother, the witch Sycorax, could well be an anagram for the ancient Greek name of the island which we call Corfu: Corcyra. But there are several other peculiarities of Corfiot life and manners which may find their reflections in Shakespeare’s play. I won’t spoil your own experience of reading Durrell’s book by enumerating them here, but his discussion of them is very entertaining. And perhaps the theory is not at all far-fetched. Elizabethan England may appear to have been very far removed from anything Ionian, but the island group of which Corfu is a part was at the center of a major trade route between Venice and points East in Shakespeare’s time. Like his fellow English contemporaries, he would have been used to Greek currants from the island of Zante, a staple in British holiday baking, for example. And Shakespeare is rumored to have been out of the country in 1611, when ‘The Tempest’ was written. I like to think of him sojourning on Corfu, pen in hand, and conjuring up his character Ariel, mysterious sprite of the air, while gazing upon the mists and storms which occasionally obscure the Corfiot coast. It’s all interesting to consider.
It is in Corfu that Hercules, just before embarking on his ten labours, slept with the Naiad Melite ; she bore him Hyllus, the leader of the Heraclids.
Corfu marks the Argonauts' refuge from the avenging Colchic fleet, after their seizure of the Golden Fleece. In the mythical sea adventure of Homer's Odyssey, Kerkyra is the island of the Phaeacians, (Phaiakes) wherein Odysseus (Ulysses) meets Nausica, the daughter of King Alkinoos. The bay of Palaiokastritsa is considered to be the place where Odysseus disembarked.
**Starting January 1, 2024, a new Greek tax was introduced which is called the "Climate Crisis Resilience Charge", requiring a fee of EUR1.5 per night. The amount needs to be paid in cash upon your arrival at the villa.
