It's not fun writing a bad review, especially when the owner is nice like Poppy, but hopefully this can help others avoid making the mistake we did when we booked our honeymoon here.
We were really excited about staying at Villa Valentine based on the pictures and reviews on HomeAway. We were anticipating a lovely peaceful, relaxing and luxurious stay in the Cretan countryside. Unfortunately, what you can't tell from pictures is that the villa is noisy, uncomfortable and in unpleasant surroundings.
The biggest problem was the noise, and especially the barking of the dogs the next-door neighbours keep chained up in their yard. It was loud, menacing and persistent, and was particularly a problem in the evenings and early mornings. The neighbours on the other side have a contraption in their yard that whirrs loudly throughout the day, and planes fly overhead throughout the day and night, which added to the problem.
The other really big problem was the bed - the mattress was probably the worst either my wife or I have ever laid on, with springs painfully digging into you. To get a good night's sleep, we brought the covers from the sunloungers inside and slept on them. The shower is also an issue: small and cramped, it rarely had enough hot water for two showers and sometimes had none at all.
The final issue we had was the location. The immediate vicinity is more wasteland than countryside and the region of Crete just isn't very nice. Agios Nikolaos was pleasant but that's a 45-minute drive away. Because we weren't enjoying ourselves as much as we'd hoped, we travelled to Chania on the West of Crete to stay there for a couple of days and that was lovely, and we'd strongly recommend holidaying there.
There were some positives to the villa. The garden and pool really are as pretty and well-maintained as they look in the photos and are very private - in the moments during the day when there is no noise, it's a nice place to be. The kitchen is adequately equipped, and Poppy had provided some groceries on our arrival, which was a nice touch. Overall, though, we regret staying at Villa Valentine and wish we'd stayed somewhere in or near Chania instead.
