The Holiday Homes with a Story: Why Rural Escapes Offers More Than a Villa Stay
- Mandy Gore-Booth
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
There are beautiful holiday villas, and then there are homes that tell you something about the people who created them and the places they belong to. That distinction sits at the heart of Rural Escapes, a handpicked collection of luxury homes across Europe and the UK.
Founded by Sawday’s inspector Tamar Ferguson, Rural Escapes brings together properties chosen not only for their setting and standards, but for their character. These are private homes shaped by artists, sculptors, designers, winemakers, architects and archaeologists. Booking one offers the rare pleasure of living, for a few days at least, inside someone else’s creative world.
The Appeal of a Home that has Been Lived in
The best holiday homes do not feel assembled to a formula. Their rooms have evolved. Books have been read, objects have been collected, and furniture has been chosen because it belongs there. This gives a stay a richness that can be difficult to reproduce in a conventional rental.
Rural Escapes’ newest addition makes the point beautifully. Olhão Townhouse is the Portuguese home of British furniture designer Julian Chichester and his filmmaker wife, Holly. The late-19th-century former merchant’s house retains its original windows, shutters, cornicing, beams and floorboards, alongside stone, terracotta and lime-washed arches. Inside, auction finds and commissioned details sit with pieces from Julian’s own furniture and lighting collections.
The effect is personal, relaxed and full of ideas. It is also a house designed for living: a courtyard, three upper terraces, a rooftop kitchen and a saltwater plunge pool create space for long lunches, quiet mornings and evenings above Olhão’s terracotta rooftops.
A Collection with Curatorial Credentials
Tamar’s background as a Sawday’s inspector matters. With an independent villa, the person selecting it is as important as the photographs. Rural Escapes does the looking, questioning and editing on behalf of the guest, bringing together a concise portfolio of 15 homes rather than an endless directory.
That close knowledge continues after the house has been chosen. The team can point guests towards local restaurants, swimming spots, walks, makers and experiences, helping each stay reach beyond the property itself.
A Route into the Landscape
A strong sense of place runs through the collection. On Syros, a sculptor’s restored farmhouse sits among pines and olive groves, filled with antiques, books and records. On the Llŷn Peninsula, a stone cottage folds into its mountainside above Cardigan Bay. In Andalucía, a restored olive mill is surrounded by oak, cork and olive forest.
These homes are not sealed off from their destinations. Their materials, views, histories and owners provide a way into them. They encourage a slower kind of holiday: shopping at the market, following a footpath from the door, swimming in a quiet cove or returning to the same village restaurant twice.
From Rural Retreat to Characterful Coastal Town
Olhão Townhouse also broadens the idea of a Rural Escape. Its calm is found not in isolation but in the old streets of a working fishing town. Guests can walk to the market and marina, take a ferry into the Ria Formosa and return to a private courtyard or rooftop terrace. Car hire is not essential, and four electric bikes make it easy to explore locally.
For travellers who care as much about the story of a house as its bedroom count, Rural Escapes offers something increasingly valuable: homes with an identity, selected by people who know why each one is worth the journey.
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