About Us
We understand that booking an independent villa can be a leap of faith, so we thought you might like to know a little bit more about us and how Fresh Ionian came to be. We are Jay and Jeanette Mercer and we bought Villa Petros in autumn 2019.
We live in West Sussex, UK, with our three cats. Jay has worked in education most of his career and has a great love of history. Jeanette started life as a linguist and after re-training, now runs her own interior design business, Fresh Traditions.
We were married in 1992, and over the years we’ve spent many holidays in Italy, Turkey and Greece. The things we look for have settled into a pattern – a relaxed atmosphere, no high-rise blocks with hundreds of rooms, a swimming pool (Jeanette used to be very nervous about swimming in the sea!), a touch of history and – most importantly of all – a view.
We fell in love with the view
In 2017 we visited Lefkada for the first time – and fell in love with a view. Strangely enough we’ve been drawn to this particular corner of the Ionian Islands for years – having stayed on both Ithaca and Kefalonia, and dreamed of owning a home there. This time we couldn’t let the dream go.
We spent two years, researching, getting to know the area and looking at other places on the island. Every other place we saw sent us back to this same hillside, the one we first stayed on.
We first saw Villa Petros in 2018 and both realised the potential of its beautiful location, superb view and closeness of a great watersports beach and marina. Jeanette also spent several years working for a large tour operator and understands the practical details that enhance a stay.
Some of our plans may take a while – gardening on a Greek hillside definitely takes time and patience! But other updates have already taken place. We love the outdoor dining area we designed – mealtimes there are an absolute delight.
Vassiliki is a pretty, chilled out small Greek town / large village. People are friendly and welcoming – and perhaps this is the reason many of the visitors you speak to have been coming back for years.
Our greatest wish for Villa Petros is for it to feel like a natural part of its environment – a laid-back coastal retreat.
