The Owners

Our names are Rene and Tom, and although originally from Indonesia and the UK respectively we have lived in many different locations around the world as far afield as Azerbaijan and Malaysia. In July 2008 Tom gave up the corporate life and we settled in Bali. Unfortunately it was spectacularly bad timing to try and set up a new life, and so we are now back on the expatriate road again, this time living in Bangkok in Thailand.

Both of us love Bali and have made several trips together here over the years. Tom is a fanatical diver which drew us first to East Bali, where we decided to buy our first villa close to Candidasa and directly on a white sand beach with a great reef directly offshore that was perfect for snorkeling. We named it Villa Talia Vashti after our little daughter (Talia Vashti).

In 2007 we were blessed with a second daughter, who we named Kalisha. We realised we were in trouble now though as she was bound to be jealous that her sister had a villa and she did not. Many years ago we stayed at a villa in Ubud called Villa Uma which we had absolutely loved. Rene had always wanted a place up in the mountains where the temperatures were pleasant and cool all day, but she also wanted to be close enough to Ubud to be able to enjoy the restaurants and attractions of the area. Villa Uma was perfect, so we called up the owner to see if he was willing to sell, and as is the case when you feel fate is on your side he actually had the villa on sale. The villa though was in a bad state of repair, and while the previous owner while had a great feel for aesthetics, he lacked a little something when it came to practicality with the result that the villa had no staff quarters, and no storage at all.

We decided to buy it anyway, and then committed to a major renovation. We replaced all the decking by the pool (which had rotted away) and extended the swimming pool to make it a genuine infinity pool. We took away the old wooden railings and replaced them with safety glass so that you could now lie down anywhere in the villa and still have uninterrupted views of the jungle. We also built an entirely new staff quarters and storage area to the back of the villa. Having started all this work, we realised that the villa itself looked a little old and tired, so we replaced all the bathrooms, installed a new and properly fitted and functioning guest kitchen, and renovated and repainted the entire villa from top to bottom.

Finally 6 months later, the villa was finally finished and we renamed it Villa Kalisha to avoid any sibling arguments later in life.

We still find it hard to believe that we could end up owning one amazing villa in Bali, let alone two and so we often have to pinch ourselves to believe that Villa Kalisha and Villa Talia Vashti are really our villas when we stay at them with our little daughters, which we try and do whenever we can. In any case we think they are both really special places and we hope that get as much enjoyment from our villas as we do.

Our Staff

It is our policy to support the local communities in which the villa is situated. As such all the staff working at the villa come from either Tangkup or Kebon, which are the small villages that you drove through on the way to villa. We hope to start further initiatives with the local villages in the future and will keep you updated on any progress.