The Ikarianwine farm in Ikaria, Greece is a unit with an organic farm and a winery where guests stay in stone houses which have been restored using natural local materials. They were the original family homes built between 120 and 500 years ago. Each of them is approximately 70 - 80 square meters in size and they each have two bedrooms, one on the first floor and a large living room / kitchen at ground level. They each have a large family-size bathroom attached to the house. There are no internal doors and all doors open to the front yard. They can accommodate between 4 - 6 people. Each has an outdoor seating area with a flower garden with views over the vineyard and the forest to the Aegean sea. Visitors can relax and watch spectacular sunsets across the sea from here.There is also a small stone house with bedroom and inside toilet/bathroom proper for a couple or single.
The unit was set up by the resident couple when they returned to their native home. They live there with their children. The property is located to the northwest side of the island, in the hill village of Pigi. It is in the middle of a pine and oak tree forest 3 kilometers from the seashore.
We are a traditional farm and we mainly produce grapes and wine (in our winery) olives, vegetable and fruit, corn and beans, aromatic plants, as well as eggs and goat milk. We use these products in cooking and offer them to our guests with our home-made bread, cheese, jam, grape syrup, raisins etc..
We use organic practices on the farm and that makes an environment free of chemicals.
Ikaria is a unique island with a variety of interesting places. It has mountains, large free-standing rocks, quiet beaches and clean seas. Much of the island is covered with pine and oak forests. It has an abundance of wildlife and flowers. As there are no charter flights to the island it is still free of massive tourism.
Special things to do and see:
Our location is ideal for mountain walking and mountain cycling. There are also guided walks even though there are many signed paths.
You can explore the world of wine with the local established wine producer.
We offer our guests courses about the Pure Ikarian cookery, which is the long living cooking style of the island.
Swimming in the sea in one of the many beautiful and quite beaches of the island
Sailing to near islands
SPA and thermal baths
Greek dancing courses
Visiting local fiestas
Rooms, food and facilities
Family size kitchen-living room with gas cooker, dishwasher, refrigerator, television, filter and espresso coffee maker (fair trade coffee), toaster, access to the internet. etc. Family size bathroom with a washer.
Bedrooms: 2 bedrooms per accommodation, Cork insulated beds, ecological mattresses, feather-pillows, bath towels, ecological shampoo, and hairdryer.
Services: Cleaning every day, change of bed linen and change of towels three times a week, further services of extra cleaning. Private cooking every day. Free transfer to and from the airport or port.
Family friendly: The whole family lives in on-site; they have their own yard and their own privacy. Quest's children can play with our children at table games, outdoor games, cycling, walking in the forest, use the village play area, learn about organic farming etc.
Baby friendly: We can put a baby cot in a room (parent's room or kitchen) and give several baby toys. We can also buy and prepare proper food for the baby after a pre-agreement with the parents.
Our aim is to operate the unit with the minimum possible impact on the environment.
We compost all our organic waste. We recycle most of our waste.
We clean and use for watering plants (fruit trees and small vines) almost all water from the houses. We collect rain water in tanks and use in the vegetable and fruit gardens. We have our own springs which we use to water our organic gardens.
We use energy-saving electrical items (light bulbs, refrigerator etc). We do not use air conditioners as the stone houses have very good bioclimatic behavior. A hybrid heating system (solar panels/wood) provides warm water all the year. It also provides heating (for the rooms) in the winter. We use gas and wood in cooking instead of electricity. We produce electricity from photovoltaic panels.
We support several initiatives against hunting. We do not allow hunting on our property.
Organic gardening practices: We use 100% organic practices in our farm.
We use only 100% biodegradable cleaning products as we are reusing the water to water pants .
All our buildings are mainly made from local materials (stones, wood, canes, sand etc). We also use cork and latex (in beds and floors). We also use copper (mainly pipes), bronze (mainly in doors and windows) and iron (in locally made things). We do not use plastic, aluminum, or other artificial materials (except for some pipes for watering).
We prefer to buy locally whatever meets our standards.