Well that was one very busy summer and the weather was amazing right to the end of the season ( and is still hot now!). Samantha and I have now returned to the UK. Elfie our young resort assistant has also returned to the UK for the winter. The rest of our amazing team Kerry, “Tinkerbell” Sam, Sheila and Shane live on the island so will spend the winter in Kefalonia. We are hoping all of them will join us again next summer.

This newsletter has some exciting news about our new online shop linked up with Marina’s Market, a review of Simon and Sheryle’s new naturist accommodation, an article about our fight against single use plastics and a reminder of the up and coming reunion weekend.

Hope you enjoy and we are always happy to hear your ideas for the resort or newsletters.

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New online shop replaces welcome hampers

This summer we have been working alongside Marina’s Mini Market (our local convenience shop) to build an online shopping service to allow our guests to have a fridge full of food and drinks already in their rooms when they arrive.

This new service will replace our welcome hampers. The hampers have worked well but many items get left in the fridge when guests leave, creating unnecessary waste. We all have different preferences when it comes to food and drinks, so we feel now the hampers are not suitable.

So it’s simple… before you are due to arrive (a few days is best) visit our online shop at http://www.viglanatura.com/marinas-market Just fill in your name, booking details and then follow through the five pages of products on offer and select what you would like in your room. 

The groceries will be in your room when you arrive and the cost of the items added to your room bill. The service can also be used during your stay to top up on things you may need. In both cases a small delivery charge of 3 euros will be added to you room bill. 

The service also offers a small number of branded toiletries and sun products, so for those who wish to travel light and avoid paying for luggage in the hold, you can order all your shampoos and sun creams before you arrive. 

We hope you like our new service. 

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Reunion Weekend

Now that the summer is officially over, we focus our efforts on the Reunion Weekend in Salisbury, UK on the 24th to 26th January 2020.

The 2020 Reunion is our fifth event and each year we have made the party bigger and better. We have moved to a new venue as we outgrew the last one and have found a great hotel only a short walk from the centre of Salisbury.

Salisbury is a medieval cathedral city in the south of Wiltshire. It’s 9 miles south of the iconic prehistoric stone circle at Stonehenge, which stands on the grassland of Salisbury Plain. The city’s ornate 13th-century cathedral has a 123m spire, a working 14th-century clock and an original copy of the Magna Carta (the Great Charter), a key document from 1215 A.D. This along with a bustling shopping / market city centre, there are many great things to see during your stay.

At the hotel you will receive breakfast both Saturday and Sunday morning. Friday night you will enjoy welcome drinks and a buffet dinner with live entertainment. You can visit the hotel’s Thermal Lounge with steam room, sauna and vitality pool throughout your stay but it is exclusively naturist for our guests all day on Saturday.

The Saturday night Gala Dinner is the highlight of the weekend with a three course meal, live entertainment throughout the night and a chance to dress to impress.

Mark and Samantha will be at the event throughout the weekend and we hope some of our staff past and present will join us for our Gala Dinner.

It really is a great way to wash away the winter blues and meet up again with your Vassaliki friends and reminisce about the blue skies and warm waters of Kefalonia.

We still have a few rooms available for an amazing price of £245 per person for the complete weekend. If you cannot make the full weekend then why not consider joining us for the Gala Dinner at only £45 per person.

Lets get the party started!

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The battle against single use plastics

We all now know we have a major issue on our planet with single use plastics. We have become so dependent on them that we now seem to be unable to exist without them.

We are producing over 300 million tons of plastic every year, 50% of which is for single-use purposes – More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year.

So who is to blame? Who needs to sort this out? Well it’s clear every single one of us needs to step up to the mark and make some very fast changes to how we live.

So what are we doing to make the change? Vassaliki is constantly looking for and implementing ways to reduce waste produced on resort.

This year all our rooms have had recycling bins installed – this allows us to separate and recycle glass, cans, plastic bottles and cardboard/ paper. All this waste is collected by us and taken to a local recycle bins.

Our pool bar and restaurant have been recycling glass, plastic bottles and cardboard/ paper now for several years. We also now have a strict no plastic straw policy and we don’t automatically offer straws with all our drinks. Plus we don’t use plastic decorations to our cocktails.

Our biggest plastic waste issue has been the water bottles – We have been working now for a few years to reduce the number of bottles we dispose of each year. The last two years we have been offering guests the opportunity to refill reusable Vassaliki water bottles at one of our cold water stations situated on resort for a small fee. This has proven very popular and has made a huge reduction to our plastic bottle waste. Our drinking water is delivered in 20 litre water barrels and attached to a cooling machine. The barrel when empty is then returned to the water company to be refilled. 

Our next stage to get rid of plastic bottles is to install a larger water filter and cooling system at the bar area. This we hope will allow guests to either fill their own reusable water bottles or one of our Vassaliki bottles. We will then serve chilled filtered water in reusable water bottles to the tables at meal times. With all our other drinks being sold in recyclable cans and glass bottles we hope to be free of single use plastic bottles by 2020.

So what other changes do we have in the pipeline? Well unfortunately we are fazing out our complementary shower gel, shampoo and body lotion bottles, but we are looking into replacing them with a refillable shower gel bottle in the shower and we already have hand soap in refillable pump bottles.

We are also stopping supplying washing up sponge and scourers in each room from 2020 but the washable dish cloth, tea towel and oven gloves will remain on offer in your room on arrival. 

The other issue to tackle is the bin bags in the bathrooms as we are unable to allow paper down the toilets, so we are now investigating into biodegradable bags.

We are starting to do our bit and are always looking for further ways to reduce our waste. So if you can think of anything else we can look into, please let us know as we are very keen to improve on reducing our waste.

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Naturist Break in Valencia, Spain with Simon and Sheryle – Written by Vicky B

Simon and Sheryle our 2013 – 2016 team members

This time last year we updated you about where Simon and Sheryle (2013-16 team members) have gone.  How they have moved to Spain and set up there own small holiday accommodation which is perfect for a naturist break. Our guests Andy and Vicky along with Jen and Pete (who they met at Vassaliki) took a trip to Simon and Sheryle’s villa in Villamarxant, 30 kilometres from Valencia, at the end of May and this is their report.

“Arriving at Valencia airport we hired a car and drove the short distance (15 minutes) to Villamarxant to meet up with Simon and Sheryle for our first Spanish lunch followed by a bit of shopping at the local supermarket. 

The villa is only a five minute drive from their local town in a beautiful rural setting amidst the orange groves. 

They have both worked immensely hard to create a superb 2 bedroomed accommodation with living area and kitchen on the ground floor. Simon and Sheryle have their own separate accommodation upstairs. 

Outside is a stunningly landscaped garden with swimming pool and sunbathing areas in sun and shade. Also there is a fire pit area and undercover seating area for dining and post dinner coffees and / or drinks. If required Sheryle will cook both breakfast and evening meals for a very reasonable cost. We had a delicious three course meal with them upstairs on our first night on the verandah overlooking the orange grove and countryside. The rest of the time we made use of the well equipped kitchen area and then one night the barbecue that is available. 

The villa is placed within easy reach of the metro to get into Valencia itself which we did for two days. Valencia has lots to offer for all with lots to see and do, we certainly feel we need a return visit. We also went to Xativa to explore an amazing castle high up in the Spanish countryside. Our last day together we went to El Palmar in the Albufera region where paella rice is grown. After a boat trip on the lagoon and canals we had a great paella lunch by the canal side. 

Simon and Sheryle are amazing hosts and made sure everything was available for a really comfortable stay and a great time. One evening Simon set up an outside cinema for a showing of The Greatest Showman. Hot dogs served by Sheryle at the end. The following night we had screenings of Live Aid and Mick Jagger, all with the aid of some extra heating from the fire pit area.

Our last day we took Jen and Pete back to the airport as they needed to get an early flight. We then spent some time with Simon and Sheryle  at a local Spanish market followed by coffee and then our last Spanish lunch. There was still time to doze in the sun for the afternoon before heading off to the airport for our late flight back. 

Many thanks Simon and Sheryle for an amazing stay, we will return for more!!”

If you would like to visit Simon and Sheryle then email them at lasco@btinternet.com

Well that’s it for another season at Vassaliki and what a great summer we had. The resort once again was busy, an amazing 86% of our rooms were sold throughout the summer. Our target is 75% so we are very pleased with this achievement. Next years rooms are now on sale and we have been inundated with return bookings.  So at the time of writing this newsletter, just under 50% of our rooms are tentatively booked for next summer so if you are planning a trip to us in 2019 then you will need to get something pencilled in soon.

We sadly say good bye to Colin and Alex at the end of this summer after working for two consecutive seasons. We really loved having them both on board with their energy and enthusiasm to the resort and we thank them for their hard work.

All the flights for the forthcoming summer are now launched, we are waiting for Kefalonia airport to update the flight lists for 2019 and we will send you these details as soon as we have them. 

We have two articles in this newsletter for you. One by an amazing girl from Chicago, USA, who came to Vassaliki to do some voluntary work for us.

Secondly, as we get asked a lot at the resort about Simon and Sheryle and what they are up to, so we feature an update from them. 

We hope you enjoy the news and we look forward to seeing you soon.

New team members

We are now looking for new team members to join us in Kefalonia for the 2019 season. Details of all the jobs are available on our website at http://www.viglanatura.com/jobs So if you or someone you know is looking for a great way to spend next summer and are willing to work hard, get in touch.  

Early bird discounts

Well as the weather is now feeling very wet and cold we have decided to give you a special discount for bookings made before 31st January 2019. If you book for a stay with us between 1st May and 22nd May 2019 for minimum of 14 nights we will give you a massive 50% off our rates.

Hurry… this is a limited offer and we have only a limited number of rooms still available!

Check Availability

 

What happened to Simon and Sheryle?

Thanks to so many of you returning to Vassiliki and asking what we are doing now that we have retired. Samantha and Mark thought it would be nice if we told you ourselves. 

After two years hard labour we have now accomplished the major part of what we set out to do, although we still have a ”to do” list. Many of you will be aware that for four years we spent our winters in Spain, having bought a house 20 km west of Valencia City and then our summers at Vassiliki.

We then retired officially from Vassaliki and we have since spent two incredibly enjoyable summers in Spain. The Spanish certainly know how to party and we have joined in wholeheartedly, embracing early mornings, essential siestas and late nights.

Our house sits amid orange groves and is about 10 minutes by car from the metro line that takes you into the very heart of the vibrant, friendly, historical gem that is the city of Valencia. 

Before we started the project the house was a small, two bed casita with a garage space and workshop underneath. Simon could see my eyes shining with possibilities when we bought it. During our first year of retirement we created a spacious 2 bedroom self-contained apartment complete with large wood burner for cosy evenings in the winter and quirky object d’art that we have collected over the years. Even a bit of Kefalonian driftwood has been utilised to make a central, hanging lamp!

During our second year of rest and relaxation, our project was to create a private garden and covered terrace attached to the apartment. So, faced with a 15m x 30m patch of soil (and rock solid soil at that!), Simon designed his dream garden complete with 3 patios, upper terrace, fire pit and flowing water stream. However we had to employ a builder to build the pool and upper terrace. He is a Dutch biker which made for a lot of fun.

We started creating levels by digging a fire pit on the left side and raising the right-hand side with the soil we dug out by hand with the aid of a kango hammer, shovel and pick. We then created retaining walls… but straight walls would not do, ours had to be curved with rounded tops. At this stage Simon became very proficient at rendering and swearing! We added steps and seating around the fire pit as well as lighting and cabling for the outside cinema that he forgot to mention in his grand plan. 

Okay… now for the hard work. With the help of my trusty concrete mixer and barrow I made 33 tons of concrete which Simon laid with reinforcing. We were up at 6 in the morning because by 11am it was too hot to work. 

We returned for the final push. Painting, decorating, planting and cleaning, until, almost before the paint was dry, we welcomed our first naturist guests who we met at Vassiliki. So they became our first guinea pigs!

We collected them at the airport, wined and dined them for five days, the sun shone – always a plus – and when it didn’t they visited the stunning and diverse city of Valencia. At the end of their stay we drove with them to a naturist resort nearer to Alicante, where we left them to complete their holiday. 

And so to retirement – well, if we ever have time…..

Written by Sheryle 

If you would like to visit Simon and Sheryle in Valencia, they are welcoming past guests from Vassaliki to enjoy a stay in their beautiful apartment and pool. BOOK NOW, by emailing or calling Simon lasco@btinternet.com +34 642 134 620 .  Or drop Samantha an email and we will be happy to forward it on to them for you.

Maggie – the new naturist!

Back in January 2018, Samantha and I decided we needed some extra help for the month of May at our resort in Kefalonia. We fell upon a website workaway.com which connects hosts and volunteers together. We placed an opportunity on the website and to our surprise we were inundated with enquiries. We managed to get all the enquiries down to three possible candidates. After talking to all three, we decided that Maggie was the right person for the position.

We have never had volunteers before but the basic idea is the volunteers help around the resort with a variety of jobs in return for accommodation, food, drinks and most importantly, new experiences. 

We were very unsure how Maggie was going to fit into our very tight and efficient team, but our trepidation was unnecessary, Maggie was an absolute joy from the minute she arrived to the minute she left.  We laughed the whole time she was here, she has an infectious personality that both the guests and staff loved. She has a passion for people, animals and food and was open to trying anything new. 

So is this a good way to introduce new, young people to naturism? Well I think it worked for us and we really hope we get to see Maggie again. Here is what she thought of her time with us and also some of her other travels.

Naked truth -Baring it all

I have always struggled with self acceptance and self love. Growing up with ridicule by family members, class mates and strangers it was a perpetual cycle that formed how I created relationships and ultimately ended up in an abusive relationship.

After a few jobs of just being an employee who was replaceable, I took a deep look into what I was settling for and knew I wasn’t genuinely and whole heartedly happy.

Fast forward two and a half years later, 28 countries and a life filled with love, laughter, curiosity and happiness. I am now 28 years old and unapologetically myself.

On Christmas Day I went to the movie theatre and watched The Greatest Showman. It forever changed my life. I had a plan to move to New Zealand in 2018 but something was telling me to do something else. I went with my gut and didn’t move. Throughout the film there were happy and sad tears. Due to the movie plot itself and then my internal dilemmas of giving into pressure of a relationship and career. The movie struck a chord with me and that day I wrote down all my goals for 2018. Be my true, odd self, love those close to me and those who need it most, but also remember to give myself just as much love.

I’ve only worked with kids and decided it’s time for a change. With that said, I signed up for a site called Workaway which is a volunteer website that offers anything and everything. Whether it be farming, education, surf camp or something as daring as volunteering at a naturist resort.

I knew I wanted to be out of my comfort zone and learn as much as I can about the world. Less than two months later I was in the Arctic Circle in Finland. I got a position as a dog handler with Siberian huskies through a dog sledding business. I have had no experience with dogs except for my deep love for the animals, but luckily I was chosen as a volunteer.

Guests from all over the world would visit and get a lesson on how to brake and drive the sled. Some looked petrified as they were about to head off. But once done with the route, their faces said it all, full of energy, excitement and adrenaline.

Continuing on my path of new adventures was onto Greece. I had visited Greece before and realised how special this country was. Between the food, people, music and scenery, I wasn’t sure what was my favourite. I just knew I had to go back. 

I got the opportunity to volunteer at a naturist resort in Kefalonia. I’ve gone nude at a few beaches trying to learn to be more comfortable in my own skin. It was a freeing experience. But I never worked with guests in the setting. 

This was a massive step for me. Going from eating disorders, hating my body to now being vulnerable and free. This was the moment I’ve been looking forward to and it was finally here. 

I arrived before the season started which was really lucky. I got comfortable with being nude by myself, with co-workers and then lastly with guests. Before I knew it, I was gardening and cleaning the pool nude. Surprisingly enough, I preferred being nude. I was becoming more comfortable with myself.

I didn’t know what to expect when doing something so different. But with Mark, Samantha, Colin, Alex as well as guests, it was an extremely open, respectful and safe environment. Such a lovely group of people all shapes and sizes, leading different lives but all having something in common. This experience has changed my life and I never would have guessed that I’d not only come to terms with accepting my body but I’d grow to love it.

I wish everyone can experience this opportunity because we are all so much more than just our physical bodies.

Since writing this Maggie has travelled to Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus and even looked after goats in Montenegro.

So all that is left is to wish you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Keep warm as the weather turns cold and don’t forget to book a summer holiday to look forward to!

Nude Seasons Greetings xxx

Well here we are back in Kefalonia getting ready for the 2018 summer season at Vassaliki. Samantha and I have had a crazy winter and the time has flown past so fast that it only feels like we have been away from Kefalonia for a few weeks.  Thanks to all our volunteer helpers we are rattling through all the work, photos can been seen on our facebook page or group.

We have put together a little newsletter to keep everyone updated about all the things that have happened over the winter and news of new things for the coming summer.

Reunion

The big event this winter was the 4th sell out Vassaliki Reunion Weekend held in January at the Moorhill House Hotel in Burley, New Forest.

The weekend started on the Friday afternoon as guests slowly arrived at the hotel which we had exclusively hired for the weekend. Samantha and I were greeting everyone as they arrived and as this is the biggest reunion we have ever held we were soon busy chatting and welcoming everyone.

Guests spent the first afternoon meeting up with friends new and old chatting and drinking in the lounge or in one of the two hot tubs that had been installed in the hotel garden especially for the weekend.

7pm and our first meal was served in the function hall, a Mediterranean style buffet with the sounds of a local guitar player/ singer. This was supposed to be a quiet first evening but being a Vassaliki Reunion, tables where soon being moved out the way and impromptu dancing took their place.

Saturday was time to explore the local forest and village, many guests seemed to find their way to the New Forest cider press which was a convenient short walk down the road as was the witchcraft village of Burley. While others relaxed in the hot tubs, pool and sauna which were of course naturist for the weekend. Lucy dog was at the event this year and was taken (we think…) for four walks, so spent the rest of the evening in our hotel room asleep.

The highlight for the weekend has always been the Gala dinner. Everyone was dressed in their finest clothes and descended on the lounge bar for pre dinner drinks and  amazing close hand tricks from the magician. Dinner service was perfect with an amazing four course meal served by the hotel chefs. During the meal the entertainment started with a surprise visit from the ‘little man with the big voice: Rusty’s Songbook’. This is the new act from my brother Jason.  Rusty was making his debut appearance at our Reunion and what a welcome he got. Have a look at the short film that was shot at our reunion: https://youtu.be/wvwL9tNgCU0

This year we ran a raffle in aid of Motor Neurone Disease in memory of one of our beautiful guests Dawn who died in August 2017 from the disease. We were so pleased to present £520 to her husband Mark who we were honoured to have join us at our Gala meal.

Once all the food had been consumed it was time for our favourite band The Unusual Suspects to play us through to the end of the evening with their superb mix of popular songs, finishing with the traditional ‘Hey Jude’ huddle!

Sunday came around too fast and everyone made their way home. Thank you to all of you who joined us this winter and keep your eyes peeled for the our next reunion in 2020.

Secret piece of Kefalonia Magic!

Samantha and I (along with Nick the chef) feel ashamed of ourselves as we have been keeping a small secret from you all. During last summer we heard about a traditional village taverna not far from Vassaliki that is very popular with the locals. It is hidden away amongst the many small villages.

Samantha, Nick and I went off on a recognisance mission to check it out and found a garden restaurant that has been left back in time.  The setting is idilic Greek and the food, well that was amazing, simple but tasty. A small simple menu, slow service, local wine, and basic beautifully cooked old style Greek food. Well we loved it so much we decided not to tell anyone about it as it was already busy and as we wanted to go the following week again we were worried we may not get a seat😂!

Anna’s opens late in June through to early September, so if you want to know where it is…well I’ll think about telling you when you get here…!

Save Our Seas

The news lately seems to be constantly about environmental issues and most of all about the massive amount of plastic in our seas. This came to light after the amazing Blue Planet 2 series on BBC1 when the program showed viewers huge fields of plastic waste floating on and below the surface of the sea.

We at Vassaliki, are big fans of the sea and spend most of our free time swimming, snorkelling, sailing, waterskiing and boating on the waters around Kefalonia.

Blue Planet has prompted us at Vassaliki to try and reduce the amount of plastic we use at the resort, so we will be only giving out card straws with drinks and reusable stirrers with the cocktails.

We also want to reduce the large number of plastic bottles we use. So we will now be selling Vassaliki reusable drinking bottles from our resort shop. All guests who purchase a bottle will have free access to use our new water coolers which will be situated around the resort.

The water is dispensed from 20L bottles that are returned and refilled when empty. The water is offered cold or room temperature.

We hope that with your help we can reduce the number of water bottles used at Vassaliki by over 600 bottles. THAT’S approximately 1/4 ton of plastic that won’t end up in our seas!

We will continue to recycle all our cans, glass and non reusable plastic bottles as well as cardboard and paper from the resort.

Last few rooms

The resort is now looking like it will be as busy as last summer. We have reached all our booking targets but have a few rooms we would love to sell.

We have just sadly had a cancellation for the fully booked June period so we have just got a 20 night period from 23rd June to 13th of July in a One Bedroom Apartment become available for €130 per night. You can book all or part of this period.

We still have some nice rooms available for July and August. This period is the best for the weather and the island is a buzz with events.

September is now fully booked from 26th of August until September 26th when we still have rooms available at discounted rate until we close on 10th October.

All bookings up to now have been for a minimum of seven nights, but we have just launched on our online site, the ability to book for four or more nights for those of you who only have a short break or maybe want to travel on to other parts of the island. This will hopefully allow us to fill some of the holes we have between bookings.

So if you are traveling through Kefalonia and would like a short stay with us book now online at http://www.viglanatura.com/book

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. http://www.viglanatura.com/join-the-team-in-2018

Discount for 2018

 

 

It’s a dogs life

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.

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.

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.

 

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.

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.

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.

 

 

Well that’s the August madness over with and the island can now return to its normal quiet peaceful self again.

Don’t get me wrong I still enjoy August. The island is full of festivals, concerts, beach parties and the new square in the centre of Argostoli is full of people eating, drinking, meeting with family & friends, so the atmosphere is amazing, but I won’t miss the crazy drivers and Greek traffic jams!!

The beaches in August did get busy and the dreaded textiles seemed to try and take over some of the naturist friendly beaches but Avithos, Mounda, Mania and Kanali remained naturist friendly throughout the season,  well done my fellow naturist beach goers. We have also just received some information about another potential naturist beach which was unknown to us. We will look it up and give it a try soon hopefully, so watch this space.

Our new naked beach BBQ’s have been a big success this summer as well as the naturist boat trips on board the Lady O. We still have both these events lined up until the end of the summer.

We now move very quickly into September. The season is going so fast that I feel we have only just opened. We have a very full resort ahead with only three rooms available from 29th September to 7th October at the discounted rate. On the 7th October the resort closes for our naturist guests and we open for our prudes week. Yes we have people attempting to get a suntan through a swimsuit around our pool! I must remember to dress in the morning for pool cleaning duty…!

Press News

We have just had a visit from the Naked Wanderings.  Nick & Lins, a young couple from Belgium, have decided to quit their jobs and visit as many naturist resorts, beaches and facilities as they can, to write about them on their very informative blog. Have a look and see what they say about our resort. http://www.nakedwanderings.com

The naturist press have been busy this summer with the launch of a new magazine in the Netherlands. Backed by the NFN and UIT magazine, Bloot Magazine will be hitting the newsstands, newsagents and supermarkets in Holland shortly. This is the first naturist magazine designed to target the non naturist or naturist inquisitive market. We were lucky enough to have a visit from a journalist who will be including us in the first 100,000 copies of what we hope will be a long running magazine.

Beach Bags

Our free Vassaliki bags are nearly all gone. And we are starting to receive some great pictures from guests showing off their Vassaliki bags at other resorts and famous landmarks. We will put the best ones online soon.

Flights

We have now received notice that flights for 2018 have been launched by Jet 2, Norwegian, Thomas Cook & Thomson. We are waiting for Easy Jet and Ryan Air to launch yet. So time now to keep an eye on the flights and book early.  Don’t book flights before you either call Samantha or book a room online www.viglanatura.com/book  as we do have some periods already full. 

EYES down now for the last leg before Samantha, myself and the rest of the Vassaliki team return to the UK. Hope to see you during the last few weeks of the season if not speak to you at the end when our newsletter will offer news about

• The launch of all the flights for 2018
• Results from our survey
• Reunion weekend
• Team of 2018
• and lots more…

We are back on the sunny island of Kefalonia for the start of our 11th season at Vassaliki. Samantha and I drove down once again and arrived on 3rd of April to a heavy rain storm!?!

The sun soon found us again and work has started with lawn cutting, pool cleaning, fixing the driveway, new fences, setting up the rooms and pool bar. The resort took a bashing this winter with huge amounts of rain, so much so that a large 10ft high wall collapsed into the car park taking with it some of the lawn surrounding the pool,r plant pots and the lamps. Don’t worry though, we have already had this fixed and the resort will be ready in time.

We are really lucky this year to have some volunteers joining the team to help with this massive task of set up. Six guests are joining us over the next four weeks to help out. I wish them the best of luck!!

 Flight News

We have some great new features for this coming summer and bookings are going well. We do still have a select number of rooms available and we have found a few great flight deals.

12th July for two weeks from £142 from London with Norwegian Air https://www.norwegian.com/uk/

12th July for two weeks from £223 from Manchester with Jet2 https://www.jet2.com

Or in the family holidays 25th July to 1st August £276 with Easyjet from London https://www.easyjet.com

Or if you want to avoid the teachers 13th July to 20th July London Easyjet for £195 https://www.easyjet.com

With plenty of flights now arriving each week direct to Kefalonia from around the UK and Europe, Kefalonia is easier than ever to fly to.

We use www.momondo.com to find the best flight offers.

 Last minute deals

We have six rooms left for the month of May which we would love to fill.

One Bedroom Apartment – 9th to 18th May (9 nights max)

Studio – 9th to 20th May (11 nights max)

Roof Studio – 9th to 19th May (10 nights max)

One Bedroom Apartment – 23rd May to 1st June (9 nights max)

Maisonette – 27th May to 3rd June ( 7 nights max)

Roof Studio  – 24th May to 6th June (13 nights max)

You can book any period within these dates up to the maximum nights stated. All these rooms now have an extra 30% discount until June 6th. Just put discount code “May2017” into the promotional code field on our online booking engine.

Check Availability

This offer is only available to new bookings made online direct with Vigla Natura.

New Team Members

We are really pleased to introduce you to our new team for summer 2017. Colin and Alex will be joining us to replace Simon and Sheryle to assist us in all aspects of running the resort. Colin has been working in the Far East and the UK in construction management and Alex is a fitness instructor, so no more laying around the pool all day!!! Both of them are really excited about their new  lifestyle change and I am sure they will bring an exciting energy and some new ideas to the resort.

Of course all the old favourites will be back, Nick the Chef will be arriving in a few days ready to cook up a storm and has loads of new dishes for the coming summer, Samantha and I will of course be back keeping an eye on everything!

Unfortunately Nicky our amazing housekeeper and team member has decided not to return to Vassaliki this summer. After working with us for 9 years we wish her all the best with her new role.

We are currently interviewing new staff to replace her.

Reunion Weekend

Well it’s back again… even bigger and better than before!

Our reunion weekend is 19th to 21st of January 2018.