FORTHCOMING EVENTSOLIVE HARVEST: NOVEMBER 2021TREE PRUNING & BONFIRES: APRIL 2022(as featured in The Guardian Newspaper! Click here!
Find a few friends and share one of our large 4-bedroom villas in our olive grove in Crete. Can you imagine? It's Monday morning in November... wouldn't you rather wake up to bright warm sunshine in the Eastern Mediterranean instead of cold damp drizzle at home? You'll be in the most southerly part of the continent and the weather is usually fine and sunny. After a lazy breakfast on the terrace of your villa, stroll over to the other side of the olive grove and take a look at what's going on. Our professional team of Greek olive pickers will be hard at work with their nets and buckets and (hopefully) piles and piles of fresh green olives will be ready for bagging. Markos and Kostas will show you how we take the olives off the trees and how to collect them in the large nets. After a brief demonstration, it's your turn to have a go with the mechanical whirly whizzer sticks that you'll poke into the branches to loosen the fruit. (Safety glasses and gloves supplied.)
But the fun isn't always in November! We also offer similar activities in April, when we are busy preparing the olive grove for summer. Whether you have green fingers or not, come and help us trim trees, chop wood and build and burn bonfires!
Dip in and out as much as you like
Do we mean your private pool?
Well, yes if you wish. Though we actually mean you can contribute as much or as little work as you feel you want to do - there is no pressure, it is your holiday after all! We only expect you to have fun! Though you'll be very welcome to break a sweat and keep fit by filling hessian sacks each with 40kg of olives. There will be plenty of sacks to fill; recently our 20 visitors bagged 1.8 tonnes! (If that sound like too much hard work, know that our oldest olive picker, Ernie from the UK, is 92. And on his second visit!)
Do you have green fingers? Fancy pruning some trees into great shape for next year? You'll be extremely welcome to work your magic on our nursery of around 40 smaller trees which need a bit of TLC to help them grow into big strong trees for the future. Markos will show you the correct way to prune an olive tree - take the middle out, so a swallow can fly through it. Don't worry, our trees are hardy little blighters, so even if you get it wrong, there's not a lot you can do that will harm them permanently. A brutal No 1 haircut is good for them!
There will also be a visit to the olive factory where you will see our olives being made into fresh green extra virgin olive oil.
Free lunch!
Every day that you are helping in the olive grove, we'll provide a complimentary buffet vegetarian lunch in our own villa Fos. It usually consists of local fresh vegetables and cheeses in our own Greek salads, freshly baked bread from the bakery in Gavalochory, home made humous or fava and a savoury pie or cake, all freshly made by Kirsty, one of your hosts.
On the Sunday evening after your arrival we provide a Welcome Meal, where you can meet other fellow olive pickers and relax around the woodstove with a glass of wine. Other evenings, we will take you local tavernas where we will have organised Traditional Cretan Music where you can also learn Cretan Dancing. Join in as much as you like, there will be something interesting organised for every night - food or music related, often both!
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What if it's wet?
While the weather is usually fine at the end of November, we may get the odd rainy day. But we LOVE rainy days because that's when we can get crafty and creative. We'll put out the paints, the hammer and saw and let you loose all all types of things to make in the style of what we have called Cretan Peasant Art - where we make colourful, useful and decorative items from things we have found. You'll learn how to make a roman oil lamp from string, a paperclip and a saucer. We will introduce you to Olive Grove Basket Weaving - making your own from freshly cut olive shoots and stems. You can even make rustic electric lamps from pallet wood, twine and an empty tin of sweetcorn. And while the thunder & lightning put on an impressive display for us outside, inside we'll be warm and toasty, around the woodstove with a paintbrush in one hand and, of course, a glass of wine in the other.
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Optional extras
- Guided walks
in the foothills of the White Mountains with our experienced, professional guide. Price depends on how long the walk is, but allow around 15 -20 euros per person. Your tour can include the Dourakis
winery just south of the village of Vryssis
- Exploring Chania with our guide and you will be taken to the best places to see, shop and eat in the historic Venetian Harbour area where you will east at the famous Tamam restaurant, one of the Daily Telegraph's Top 10 restaurants in Crete. Allow 15- 20 euros per head for lunch, and 15 euros per head for the tour. (Minimum 4 people)
- Cook the Cretan way. Want to learn the easy method for making perfect filo pastry? Create a pan of authentic courgette fritters, stuffed vine leaves? Put out perfect cheese pies and a delicious rooster stew? Spend a day at the traditional school of cooking in nearby Vamos. Minimum 4 people, price is 55 euro per person, which includes lunch
- Glass factory visit - Free visit to this amazing Glass Factory in Kambia where you will see some truly astonishing creations made from recycled glass
Optional activities: learn to cook the Cretan way; guided walks in the foothills of the white mountains; visit the astounding glass factory in Kokkino Chorio
PRICES
£195 per person (flights not included, but allow approx £120 return from the UK)
Minimum 4 persons - bring some friends and have a 4 bedroom villa to yourselves. Maximum occupancy 8 people per villa.
To make a reservation, or just chat about the possibilities, call Markos in the UK on 01298 871004 (+44 1298 871004 from outside UK) Or email using the form below.