Spacious country home, beautifully decorated with three bedrooms, living room, and fully equipped kitchen. Outdoor gardens, barbecue, patio with a large table for dining outside, breathtaking views all around. Authentic Crete!
The Space:
Our home in the countryside, Augusta Deres, is a newly renovated farmhouse on the top of the hill overlooking the rolling hills of Deres village and the sea below. Live the best of the authentic Cretan countryside in this comfortable 3-bedroom home with plenty of outdoor space (250 sm of patios and terraces and 4 acres of land) for dining, relaxing, barbecuing (outdoor grill), exercising, playing, and all-around enjoying nature.
Sparing no comfort, the 200 sm house has a fully equipped kitchen (oven, full refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, toaster, coffee maker, etc.), a large living area with sofa, TV (Satellite), and fireplace, dining area (indoors and out!), nook with office desk, three bedrooms (two with king-sized beds and one with a single), two terraces with furniture, and a large bathroom with plenty of light. It is furnished with high-quality traditional handmade furniture featuring teak wood and other natural materials. All windows look out onto the magnificent Cretan green of the mountains, and the house is truly a getaway, with no immediate neighbours to disturb your private paradise.
Should guests wish to do so, they may have the opportunity to participate in seasonal farm activities such as gathering oranges, grapes for the wine harvest, olives, etc.), and may use the fresh organic produce that grows in the garden.
Guest access:
The entire house and its grounds are for our guests to enjoy.
We also provide bicycles for your use free of charge; ask us!
Other things to note:
Upon your arrival, you will find stocked for you:
Water, fresh milk, cereal, margarine, bread, turkey ham and cheese, pasta and tomato sauce, coffee (Nescafe, Greek, tea, filter), cake, our produce wine and raki, oranges and lemons from our trees!
Whenever circumstances permit, we are open to early arrivals and late departures.
The neighborhood
Augusta farmhouse is set on a hilltop with 4000 acres of land surrounding it, filled with orange groves, avocado trees, olive groves, a river, goats and other farm animals, in the verdant semi-mountainous village of Deres in Platanias municipality with many springs and the source of the Tavronitis river. Located just 32 km from Chania (with its historic Old Town and famous Venetian port and lighthouse), it is minutes by car from the main village, where there is a café and tavern, and 13 km from the beach.
Deres is a peaceful little village set in a quiet natural agricultural area. The river runs through the village, lined with plane trees, wild mountains, and idyllic scenery. Stone houses and tiny churches dot the village. Deres is on the way to the southern beach resort of Sougia (40 km), and there are many excursions to be taken from here, including Paleohora, Elafonisi, Falasarna, Balos Beach and Lagoon.
For some cultures, the fortress Metochi is an impressive historical structure, a complex of Venetian buildings that still survive.
Another experience not to be missed is the traditional festivals and celebrations organized four times a year from early July to early September. Here, one can enjoy Cretan hospitality and taste local treats, namely honey, cheese, wine, xerotigana sweets and the famous raki, the traditional Cretan spirit.
The permanent residents of the village cultivate olives, oranges, chestnuts, and honey, and they also traditionally produce charcoal and farm sheep and goats.
The story of Deres has its roots in the period of the Venetian Rule, and later, according to the tradition, when the village passed under the command of Augusta Theodora, the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Theophilos, the village took the designation Augusta, in honour of the Emperor’s wife. In an ecclesiastical bronze tray dating from 1857, which is hosted in the church of the Savior, there is an inscription with the name “Augusta” and, in brackets, the later name of the village (Deres).
The designation Deres was attributed to the village by the Turks: “dere” in Turkish means ‘stream of water, ' which was attributed to the village because it is located on the banks of the Tavronitis River.
Getting around:
A car is necessary in this remote getaway location.
Distances from the Augusta Country House:
Chania Daskalogianni / Souda International Airport: 50km.
Nearest restaurant: Frosini’s Garden, a traditional restaurant, 9km
Cretan Brewery–Zounaki 6km
Grocery Deres village 2km
Lidl / Synka Supermarkets in Platanias: 18km
Shopping in Platanias: 18km
Omalos – Samaria gorge 30km
Zourva - Therisso villages: 34km
Limnoupolis Water Park: 31km
Agia Lake and playground: 25km
Famous beaches: Maleme 13km; Tavronitis, 14km; Platanias, 18km; Elafonisi, 68km
Chania Venetian harbour, 32km