1984 was a year that saw the birth of some truly incredible things, for a start there was the incredible blockbuster that was Ghostbusters as well as Scarlett Johansson and a little company called Freelance Holidays. These three examples all have one thing in common; they are all as good today as they have ever been.

So with 14,600 days or 350,400 hours of trading under our belt we thought that it was time to give you all a little bit of an insight as to what has kept us going for so long;

Where did it all start?

Interestingly the idea for Freelance Holidays came out of the package holiday trend that became popular in the 60’s. Although package holidays offer you an easy way to get away from the grind for a week or two, they were all a little too structured to facilitate any real enjoyment. We wanted to allow people to get more of a choice of holiday destination hence the ‘Freelance’ in the name; we wanted to make sure that you could really put your own stamp on your holiday, we made a little name tweak in 2020 when we changed it to Freelance Villas.

What was the biggest milestone?

We are often asked what has been the biggest milestone in our 40 years, but there have been many over the years, starting with offering villas with pools in Crete, then Mallorca & Menorca , Sicily, Kefalonia and more recently Croatia! Our villas in Crete are now some of our most in demand properties and people return to them year after year.

Why did we choose the areas that we have?

Our list of destinations has grown to six regions in total and we have been very selective in expanding to cover each of these areas. One common factor that unites all of our destinations is that they are all Mediterranean islands; this gives every property a wonderful climate from spring to late autumn and proximity to the sea. We did not want to simply keep acquiring properties wherever we could and chose to stick with the more personal ethos that started the company in the first place. By choosing areas that were not heavily ‘touristy’ and choosing the properties and their location carefully, we have managed to maintain an incredible list of villas that provide comfort and character and an attractive setting. One important factor for us is also to make sure that our villas are easy to arrange independent flights to and that there is no stress in getting to them.

Do we have a favourite villa?

With so many villas now in our repertoire it really is hard to pick a favourite villa from this list, – every single villa has something special about it and genuinely no two are the same. Whilst our favourite could differ depending upon the day, we will admit to having a definite soft spot for Villa Metapothia in Crete. One of our directors was actually responsible for constructing and furnishing the villa and it is incredibly hard to find anything about it that wasn’t chosen to enhance its charm and beauty. The name of this villa literally translates to ‘By Foot’ as it was originally only accessible by foot, …but don’t worry we have now widened the road so that your hire car deposit is a little safer.

A word from the owners

“If you are going to do something for 40 years then it helps if you enjoy it. Thankfully we have enjoyed every moment. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our incredible staff for working towards our dreams with us. The biggest ‘thank you’ of all however, goes to the incredible holidaymakers that have made this journey so special. Some of our customers have been booking with us for 40 years now, – this kind of loyalty must surely be testament to the personal service we provide and the high quality of the properties that we offer.”

So if you are looking for the perfect villa, then please get in touch!
We would love to help you take the first steps toward your perfect holiday.