We recently stayed at this villa for a fortnight across Aug/Sept 2014 with my wife and our 3 kiddies (ages 6-10). We loved it and highly recommend.

It was great from the start - queries about the place were answered very quickly and the owners were very flexible on start day, which was just what we were after - it also built confidence right from the beginning.

Instructions on how to get to the villa were spot on (a car is essential), and it is fully equipped (e.g. dishwasher, washing machine and all the plates, pots, pans and everything else in a very decent kitchen). We always take a few kitchen items with us, but we really didn't need them here.

The villa is very spacious and three bedrooms are lovely, the mattresses very comfy and clean, modern decor and bedding. The view of the sea and coastline from the upstairs balcony was a dream and we felt very relaxed after just 24-48 hrs. The large lawned area really is super green as in the pictures as it's auto-watered every evening!

The little touches are lovely - we took a portable speaker, but there is a Hi-Fi that works just fine. There's a large flat-screen TV with limited satellite channels, but we never needed to use that as there was always something to do locally. There's a DVD player and plenty of DVDs. There'a a huge box of games (which we did use!), a box upstairs packed full of kiddies books and downstairs there's a few bookcases full of novels, guide books and useful info. There's even an extension lead for all your UK 3-pin electrical items that plugs into an Italian socket! There's no WiFi, I roamed on Vodafone and easily got 3G in the villa to set up a hotspot for the kiddies devices.

The pool area is big, just a minute or so from the villa, has an attendant until 1pm each day and shared with a few other villas. We used it extensively. Unfortunately there was an issue with the pool in our second week, but I'm informed that was dealt with very swiftly.

Calabria in August is hot! We had to use the fans in each bedroom every night, and be prepared for mosquitoes! We find that the smoking spirals work quite well and these can be bought locally.

There are plenty of beaches nearby, but they do vary in quality, so it's worth doing a bit of research. We loved Diamante Sud which is nearby and Tropea - a good 2 hour drive is fantastic for both the town on a cliff and its magnificent beach. We went twice during our stay.

Lidl nearby in Cetraro.

We loved this place & are very likely to return!