Winter Newsletter

Well that’s it for 2017, the resort is now all closed and Samantha and I are well and truly settled back into the UK routine.

We have a busy winter ahead with work already started towards summer 2018. Bookings are going well and once again we are meeting our booking targets for 2018 with some periods already becoming fairly full and many other popular periods selling well.

There are exciting new flights with BA from Heathrow & some early bird special offers, further details on all this found below.

We have all the rooms sold for our popular reunion weekend 19th to 21st January and we are working hard to make this even better than last year!

Samantha, Mark and all the team at Vassaliki would like to wish you, your family and friends a great Christmas and a prosperous & healthy New Year.

Breaking News

 

We now have scheduled flights direct to EFL (Kefalonia) from London Heathrow with British Airways. They fly Tuesdays and Saturdays and at the time this newsletter went out they were £59 each way on the Tuesday flight!!!! Get booking now, there is still availability for the summer months for 2018!

Staff

We are really pleased to announce that Colin and Alex have agreed to join us again for next summer and will continue to offer their Pilates and Art classes which have been amazingly popular along with their never-ending energy.

We are sad to say that Nick the chef has decided to take next summer off. He has some other projects he wants to do next year and he will be missed by us all. But not to worry, we will still have our restaurant running as usual with many of Nicks ideas and recipes still being used. Nick has left a hard act to follow but I am looking forward to the challenge.

Little Sam (Tinklebell) has also agreed to return next summer and will once again be running the housekeeping side of the resort for us. Her laugh and energy are infectious and we look forward to having her back on the team next summer.

Do you fancy joining the team? We are considering getting another chef to work in our busy restaurant. Do you have the skills and want a summer in the sun? Have a look at the job on our website. https://www.viglanatura.com/join-the-team-in-2018

Discount for 2018

 

 

It’s a dogs life

Sheba

One of the things many of the guests love about Vassaliki is our four legged friends who have lived with us at the resort. We have had a dog on resort since we opened in 2007 when we brought Sheba with us from the UK. Our white and tan labrador/ collie cross was a big hit with guests and she became very much part of the team here. When she passed away in October 2012 Samantha and I decided we would take some time off having a dog but soon found we had a big part of our life missing and many guests commented on the fact it was nice having a dog on site.

Archie

In 2013 Simon and Sheryle joined our team and they brought along Archie, who soon settled into resort life. He is a little water baby, loved swimming in the sea and the guests splashing him from the pool.  He had his favourite guests (normally the ones who brought him treats) and the resort seemed to be back in balance again.

Dexter

We have now over the last 10 years rescued four dogs from Kefalonia. The first dog that came to us was Dexter in the summer of 2013.  A crazy ball of fluff who was about four months old when he was left with us. We had him all sorted with injections and a passport to bring him back to the UK with us, but there was an issue… Dexter was travel sick and with the lifestyle Samantha and I live we needed a dog who can travel and we weren’t really looking for a dog at this stage. We quickly found Dexter an amazing new home on the Isle of Wight with a young family. He was flown from Kefalonia to reduce travel time for him and was collected at Gatwick by his new family.  We still visit Dexter and he is doing amazing work with children who are finding life a little difficult, we are so proud of him.

 

Lucy

Samantha and I have always been lovers of animals, I even spent time working for the RSPCA in the UK. So when we took our collection money we made from our reunion raffle to the Kefalonia animal rescue centre we stupidly stopped at the puppy pen (Samantha’s fault) and we found Lucy Lou. She was about 8 weeks old covered in fleas but we just fell in love with her. She soon become a perfect resort dog, still to this day she loves meeting our guests and she even runs guided tours to the local mini market. She travels in the car with us back and forth between the UK and Greece each year, she copes with anything we put her through as she is just happy to be with us.

Wilf

Next was a rescue for some friends of ours who have a house near our resort. They found a spaniel-cross who they wanted to take back to the UK with them. They had to leave Kefalonia so left him with us at the resort while we prepared to return to the UK ourselves in our camper.  Wilf stayed on resort for about four weeks before joining Lucy and us on our four day trip back to the UK where we delivered him to his new family in Cambridge.

Olie

Our latest rescue was this year. While visiting the local olive press we came upon a small tan and white puppy who was about 8 months old. He was very friendly and in amazing condition. His coat was clean with only a small number of fleas, the press owner said he was dumped that morning by an old man. Our sailing trip hostess Leanne wanted to get a rescue dog so a few phone calls were made and the decision was to collect him and get him to the vets for a medical check up. He was in good health so all the necessary paperwork, injections and procedures were completed to allow the young dog to return to the UK. He stayed with us at the resort until he was ready to join us for the long trip back to the UK. After three throw ups in the first 11km (the Kefalonia roads are twisty) he settled down really well and seemed to take the trip in his stride.

Olie is now settled with his new family near the New Forest and we are lucky enough to see him most weekends when we all meet up for a forest walk where we seem to keep finding pubs on route!

All the dogs we rescue have been very lucky to find new homes and loving families. Samantha and I are proud of the small amount of work we have done to help these few individuals.