THE JOURNAL
Frank Sinatra Twin Palms Estate. Photograph courtesy of Natural Retreats
The luxury vacation villas, cabins and pied-à-terres you’ll want to call home.
We love hotels at MR PORTER. Love their convenience, their comfort, their unquestionable luxury. But sometimes, we want something different – we want privacy, we want the ability to spirit away or sit quietly on a terrace with a gin and tonic with no other living human save our loved ones interrupting our reverie. To do that, to ensure absolute peace, we rent a house. It is the only means to guarantee it; the only guaranteed means of being truly refreshed. With that in mind, we bring you the 14 best houses to rent anywhere in the world.
Moat Cottage, Suffolk, UK
Photograph by Mr Will Pryce, courtesy of the Wilderness Reserve
If there is a prettier house in the southeast corner of England we’d like to know about it. The place looks like it has escaped from a Harry Potter film (or off the front of those boxes of biscuits your gran always seemed to have at Christmas). And indeed, the six-bedroom cottage with traditional thatched roof is magic inside, too. A vast table cleaves the dining room-kitchen and makes it perfect for entertaining, and there are log burning fireplaces dotted around the wood-beamed rooms. Oh, and did we mention there is a moat you can row in and a hot tub you can booze in? Heaven is this tiny slice of Suffolk.
What to pack
Villanocetta, Rome, Italy
Photograph courtesy of Villanocetta
With its own pool and expansive gardens, Villanocetta sits in the Valle dei Casali, the greenest part of the Eternal City, and is equipped with its own concierge, a maid, housekeeper and driver who will whizz you around in the house car – it’s like being in a really expensive hotel, but without the annoyance of other guests, which we like. The whole beautiful farrago comprises six suites, two living rooms, a kitchen, gym and study. But frankly, we’d be happy just to camp out in the garden, so beautiful is it.
What to pack
Maistros, Skopelos, Greece
Photograph courtesy of The Thinking Traveller
Skopelos is Greece’s best-kept secret. It attraction is its beauty – pine forests spread down to seashore, water the colour of your lover’s eyes and barely a car on the roads. The reason for this is that it doesn’t have an airport, but is accessed by sea from Skiathos, the next island along. Although the island seems to have been designed by some benevolent god, the house was done by the French architect Mr Marc Held in one hectare of land; the views are breathtaking, with access to a private beach. There are seven bedrooms, a dedicated, very welcoming staff, supplied by The Thinking Traveller, a heated pool and a donkey called Kukulitza in the grounds.
What to pack
Kugel/Gips House, Cape Cod, US
Photograph by Mr Antoine Lorgnier, courtesy of CCMHT
It is hard to believe that until 2009, the Kugel-Gips house was a beaten-down wreck. Despite it being on the outstandingly lovely Cape Cod National Seashore, it had sat abandoned, unloved and uncared for for 11 long years. Lucky for us the Cape Cod Modern House Trust came to the rescue, restoring the pleasantly secluded house to its current condition. And quite the condition it is: the architect who designed it in 1970 was Mr Charles Zehnder, who, inspired by Mr Frank Lloyd Wright, created a house which is very much part of its surroundings, its three bedrooms and two bathrooms, plus living areas, pinwheel around a central hearth. Happily, it was put on the National Register of Historic places in 2014.
What to pack
Les Jolies Eaux, Mustique
Photograph courtesy of The Mustique Company
Book Les Jolies Eaux for a week or two and you won’t have much trouble filling its six bedrooms with friends. Or you shouldn’t anyway, because this was for several decades owned by the late Princess Margaret, sister to the current British queen. She received the land as a wedding gift from Lord Glenconner, who owned the island and was ever trying to make up to her. She had the famous set-designer Mr Oliver Messel design her a fairy tale, low-slung house, which has two pools and superlative views. It comes with a live-in staff of five, who will minister to your whims with the dedication of a Kensington Palace footman.
What to pack
The Lew House, West Hollywood, US
The Lew House by Richard Neutra, West Hollywood. Photograph by Mr John Chimon
The Lew House is a diamond amid zirconia in Los Angeles. It was designed by the father of mid-century modernism, Mr Richard Neutra, in the hills half a mile above the Sunset Strip and has featured in a thousand magazine articles and TV paeans since. You can see why, when you walk around its four individual en-suite bedrooms – you will not find even the smallest piece of mass-produced furniture, it’s all handwoven rugs, Frette linen, and pieces by Messrs Paul McCobb, Vladimir Kagan and Milo Baughman. The pool is saltwater, the garden is heaven and the owner is charming – what more to ask?
What to pack
19 Queen Square, Bath, UK
Photograph courtesy of Luxury Cotswold Rentals
You don’t have to spend much time in Bath to understand why it was the great favourite of 18th- and 19th-century dandies such as Mr Beau Brummell – it is a stunner. In part, that is because it is built in honey hues, which give this World Heritage Site its distinctive colouring. And also the fact that it is built on a warm-water Roman bath, which are accessible to this very day. No better place to do it from this effervescently charming house on the city’s best square. Built 283 years ago, the Palladian Villa has been catching people’s breaths ever since. There are six bedrooms, over five floors, each approximately the size of Belgium, with a dining table that sits 24. It is beautifully decorated and well-turned out and 10 minutes from the aforementioned Roman baths. Be a Beau for a day.
What to pack
Frank Sinatra Twin Palms Estate, Palm Springs, US
Photograph courtesy of Natural Retreats
Ol’ Blue Eyes’ artistic temperament clearly wasn’t confined to his vocal cords – he had an eye for design, too, judging by this, his former Twin Palms estate. Mr Sinatra engaged the architect Mr E Stewart Williams to build the place in 1947 and its four bedrooms are all ineluctably mid-century. It is spot on if you want to escape LA and live the Sinatra lifestyle. His shadow looms large, naturally – there is memorabilia throughout the house and the swimming pool, pleasingly, is in the shape of a guitar.
What to pack
Chinamans Beach View, Sydney, Australia
Photograph courtesy of onefinestay
Splayed out like an oiled sunbather on a deck chair, this split-level house in the upmarket suburb of Mosman in Sydney has been designed to make the most of its attributes: its secluded position and its knockout views. It’s all ultra-modern, lots of natural timber and to use that hoary old realtor’s phrase, with all mod cons. There are three large bedrooms, but you won’t spend much time in them – why would you when you have the swimming pool to amuse, along with the Middle Harbour Yacht Club and Taronga Zoo within skipping distance. And did we mention you get a gourmet gift basket on arrival.
What to wear
San Luis, Merano, Italy
Photograph courtesy of San Luis
San Luis is in a landscape that seems to have been shaped by some kindly hand for thinking, dreaming and doing really not very much. This part of Italy, the Tyrol, is all small villages, mountains and lakes, all of which are close to hand. As is an unyielding tranquility which would salve the soul of even the most harried man. There are 16 treehouses and 22 chalets spread widely around a central lake, each with their own terraces and kitchens, and available in various sizes; there is also a club house, bar and restaurant, and show-stopping pool in double-height barn, if the mountainous weather doesn’t play ball. It combines all the relaxation and seclusion of a private house with the amenities of a hotel. We like it, as indeed we do the fact that your breakfast is delivered to your rooms each morning.
What to pack
Cala d’Istria, Corsica, France
Photograph courtesy of Thinking Traveller
Splendid. That’s one way to describe this house. Another is extraordinary. There is, of course, the modern, fulsomely equipped kitchen, five bedrooms, expansive living areas a study and all the rest, but what makes this place stretch for brilliance is what is outside – it has views of rare beauty, a Japanese garden and a glass floored infinity pool that seems to lead you off into the sky, though in fact just makes you really, really relaxed. The beach and more happiness is just a few hundred metres away.
What to pack
The Winged House, Tasmania, Australia
Photograph courtesy of spaces42
Perched on a cliff, like a starlet at a bar, The Winged House is a thing of beauty. The first view you get of the house, which was designed by architect Richard Goodwin, is a surprise – it looks like a vast metallic moth, about to take flight. Thought why anyone would want to take flight from this part of the world, heaven knows, as well as its expansive views, it is also not far from the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, one of the last temperate rainforests in the world. There are three bedrooms and a dial-a-chef and dial-a-massage on speed dial.
What to pack
Villa Monara, Sri Lanka
Photograph by Mr Mikael Bernard, courtesy of Àni Villas
After long years of strife, Sri Lanka is once again having its moment in the sun. And there is no better way to enjoy the warmth than Villa Monara, which comes equipped with eight en-suite bedrooms, each with its own beach and an infinity pool which seems in danger off falling off the edge of the world. That seems like quite enough in and of itself but there is also bars, tennis courts a butler and chef and all things to ensure you sink into deep relaxation.
What to pack
Casa Estrella, Belize
Photograph courtesy of Luxury Retreats
The doors of three sides of this house open directly onto the aquamarine sea of the Caribbean – you could jump straight out. It is like Neptune built it as a holiday getaway and indeed the beds in the sleeping areas are big enough for minor gods. The house is one of seven built on this private island, and is constructed in such a way so you can sit in your house in complete privacy with nothing but the sea to disturb you.