15th-Century Estate · Pool · Sleeps 16

Villa Paula was standing here before Columbus sailed. The house grew up around the Mirabete tower in the 15th century and has been lived in ever since. Today it sleeps 16 of you, fifteen minutes from the center of Valencia and eleven minutes from the airport.

THE ESTATE
Sixteen acres of working Clemenules mandarin groves wrap around the house, and just outside the doors there is an acre of walled garden: palms, jasmine, bougainvillea and fruit trees, with a private outdoor pool and its own lounge area. There are corners to get lost in — the jasmine-covered gazebo, the columned terrace, the gallery of blue and white ceramics, the dry courtyard of cacti and urns. The farm is not decoration: the fruit is picked and sold, so in season you will see our crew out in the far groves, and you will eat mandarins that were on the tree that morning.

THE HOUSE
You are met by a gallery with marble floors and blue-and-white seating that echoes the tiles on the facade. Inside, an entrance hall with restored 15th-century ceramics. To the right, the games room: cinema, billiard table, surround sound, a library of Spanish painters and literary classics, sofas and a fireplace. Beyond it, the living and dining room, with tapestries, a painting collection, a long table that seats the whole group, and a second fireplace. The kitchen is built to cook for everyone at once, with three different coffee makers. And the hall of mirrors, with an 18th-century desk, opens onto the dry courtyard and the cactus garden. Above the entrance, a hand-painted 18th-century Virgen de los Desamparados has watched over the house for two hundred years.

THE BEDROOMS
Seven, and each one has a name because each one has a character.
Travel: two 3ft bronze beds that join into one 6ft, its own shelf of travel books and a hand-thrown ceramic lamp from the early 1900s.
Mediterranean: a 6.5ft square bed, armchairs, a 75" smart TV and a private bathroom, under a collection of 16th-century flower ceramics.
White: a solid wood four-poster, a white and gold triptych mirror painted by hand, and hand-carved wardrobes.
Flowers: everything here is spring, including a painting made for the room.
Nautical: a 19th-century French berth recovered from the RMS Oceanic.
Taurino: two boat beds that join into one 6.5ft square, in the burgundy of wine and grapes.
Children's room: its own smart TV, lights that can stay on through the night, and a room built for kids.
Five full bathrooms: four inside the house and one by the pool.

STAYING CONNECTED
Fiber optic internet on a mesh network that covers the house and the gardens too, three wired network points, and a 5G backup with unlimited data and twenty hours of battery. You can work from here without thinking about it, and a video call does not drop because the wind picked up.

WHERE YOU ARE
Valencia Airport is two miles away, eleven minutes by car, with direct flights from across Europe. The old city — the Central Market, the Silk Exchange, the City of Arts and Sciences — is fifteen minutes. Manises has made ceramics since the Middle Ages and its pottery museum is a short walk from the gate. The beaches and the rice fields of the Albufera are half an hour south.

CELEBRATIONS
Villa Paula also hosts weddings and private celebrations for a larger guest list, under a separate agreement and supplement. Message us before you book if that is what you have in mind and we will walk you through how it works.

GOOD TO KNOW
This is a working farm and it behaves like one: our staff come in to keep the gardens, and in summer the irrigation runs several times a day. At certain times of year some areas may be off limits while machinery is working.
The house you rent is completely independent, with its own installations, and stands beside another house on the same estate that is equally independent.
We run on solar panels of 14.8 kVA with a 10 kVA battery, and the tap water is drinkable, treated in our own reverse-osmosis plant.
The house is full of original and restored Valencian art: looking after it is what lets us keep sharing it.
Pets are welcome — please ask us before you book. Keep an eye on your dog: the estate is large and the groves are working land.
Check-in from 3:00 PM, check-out by 10:00 AM. No smoking indoors.
And throughout your stay you can reach us 24/7 on the villa phone.