5 bedroomed holiday bungalow with swimming pool

We arrived after a 4 day trip visiting the cultural triangle with a driver/guide & we received a warm welcome by John & Marilyn. Clean, spacious bungalow with a beautiful pool in immaculate gardens. My two boys loved the pool & the beach across the road is stunning although the sea is not safe to swim in. The local people are friendly, the Mangrove Cove (5mins walk away) served delicious food & also offer breakfast if you are not keen to self cater. Our hosts were really helpful in booking taxis & we had use of their lovely driver & tuk tuk to visit local places. Highly recommend visiting the turtle farm, the river safari on the local river was fabulous, we saw a large croc, water monitors, kingfishers & visited Cinammon island & a the temple island. Would also recommend you book a whale watching tour (seasonal) from Mirissa. We hired a taxi for the day as cheaper than booking a tour & booked directly with Mirissa Watersports. We saw a huge school of dolphins & 4 blue whales! The sea was very rough so travel pills recommended! We stopped in Galle on the way back & walked around the fort.

Thank you John, Marilyn & Sirrima for making us feel so welcome & I will definitely recommend your lovely bungalow for anyone wishing to visit Sri Lanka!

Just home from the holiday of a lifetime…
First the villa – a beautiful spacious clean villa with everything you need for self catering. Clean sheets every 4 days, basic food provisions on arrival, clean pool, powerful hot showers, air-conditioned bedrooms and sky TV for when you have had enough of sunbathing and sight seeing!!
The owners John and Marilyn made us very welcome and were on hand to help organise our trips around the island, so we always felt safe and secure that we were going to be looked after.
Balapitiya has beautiful beaches and Ambalantota just a 500 rupee tuk-tuk drive away has a “supermarket” look after Siramel the tuk-tuk driver he has excellent English and is extremely helpful, even helping me with my supermarket shop and ordering a Chinese takeaway!
We enjoyed some lazy days by the pool where you can float on your lilo and watch chipmunks play and geckos scurry around the place, we were woken in the morning to the sound of Mina birds singing!
We made some amazing trips, my favourite was a boat safari on the Madhu Ganga, a short tuk-tuk from the villa and we saw Water Monitors, bright blue Jellyfish, had a Garra Rufa Fish in the middle of the river, met a real life Robinson Crusoe who showed us how to make string from coconut husk and cinnamon sticks from branches of the tree. We also went to Candy to the Pinnawela Elephant orphanage and just up the road to the Millennium Elephant place where we got to wade into the river and wash an Elephant!! Then the tea plantations and the Candy dancers and don’t forget the Temples…
Back in Balapitaya we had a day our with Siramel and went to see a turtle hatchery which was fantastic; we also went to the moonstone mine and Galle for the day where we saw the legendary stick fishermen and bought a very cheap English willow cricket bat (according to my sone the one all the professionals use) for a third of the price in England.
I strongly recommend Refresh in Hikkaduwa for a meal one night – not cheap but an amazing experience you get to pick your fresh lobster from a tank and eat with a view of the beach and watch the sunset – wonderful.
We would certainly love to return and would not hesitate to stay in the same villa again, thank you John and Marilyn

We booked with John and Marilyn the owners for Summer 2011 and have just returned from a wonderful holiday. We stayed for a week either side of an island tour and were sad to leave at the end of our 3 week holiday. The Villa is a bungalow design on the same site as the owners house, across the fabulous swimming pool, so they are available to answer any questions or resolve any problems should you have them.
As hosts John and Marilyn were first class, answering questions about the area and Sri Lanka and always keeping the pool and garden in tip top condition. Bedding was changed twice a week at your convenience and the facilities in the villa were great for a family of 4. Two air conditioned double bedrooms were ideal for us, the other 3 rooms have ceiling fans so would be ideal for a stay for a larger family of up to 8. Though we did feel the air con was needed until we acclimatised to the heat of Sri Lanka others may be happy with the ceiling fans. All beds had nets for insect protection though we were hardly bothered by them around the villa.
The kitchen had all the basics required to self cater which we did for much of our stay as there is a 'supermarket' and shops only a 500 rupee tuk tuk drive away. Siremel is the young man who drives the tuk tuk used by the owners, he is a real superstar, use him and treat him well, he will find you bargains and give you sound advice about the local area, collect you beer or take away food for delivery also. We used him almost exclusively and found his prices to be reasonable and fair - unlike some tuk tuks we encountered on our tour.
The town of Balapitiya is quite undeveloped though a new restaurant has just opened in walking distance near the boat tours.
We loved our stay and would certainly return. Our boys miss the pool already!
Thank you Marilyn and John for letting us stay.