A tranquil villa in Jaela, close to Negombo on the west coast

Owner very very helpful on the phone and then via email with lots of recommendations before we arrived.
House clean and beds comfortable - everything worked. Kitchen basic but we only used it for breakfast.
Very safe location and lovely and quite.
Pool on site fantastic and we had it all to ourselves.
Strange inside garden in the living room that is not shown in the pictures!?!
Great restaurant nearby called 'the fork' - and some small shops nearby that sell basics. A/C worked extremely well and mosquito nets were not needed at all -we got abs no bites and I normally do.
It's 45 minutes to an hour in a tuk tuk (1000rs) to Colombo and 40 minutes to Negombo (700rs).
Drivers seem to find it ok and we picked them up from the top of the road - but then got a good one who came most days for us if we prearranged -

We have been staying at this house in JaEla for the last five weeks and were amazed at the comments made by the last reviewer. We arrived on the day she left and the house was spotlessly clean, the only hairs we have found have been our own.

The house is spacious, very secure, private and well maintained. There is hot water in the bathroom provided by a water heater that works perfectly as does the shower. There are also three toilets in the house one being located on the ground floor. The back garden overlooks a park and we have sat in the garden at night enjoying the warm air which has been delightful. There are mosquitoes about but we have effectively managed that problem by using the air condition and fan. This is the tropics and mosquitoes are everywhere so if you are allergic to their bites stay away. The house manager is very helpful and attentive but not intrusive.

A swimming pool set in attractive gardens is at the end of the road and provides an ideal opportunity for exercise and cooling off. We have always had the pool to ourselves during the week. A new restaurant called “The Fork” overlooking the lake has recently opened and the food is excellent and they are installing a wood burning pizza oven. There is a variety of shops on the estate that are well worth supporting.

Negombo is a comfortable thirty minutes drive away and has the beach and some good restaurants, we go there frequently but deals must be done with taxi drivers.

We have had an excellent time and wonder if the previous reviewer had stayed in the same property because her experience has certainly not been ours.

The house was not cleaned well. There were long blackhair (my hair is blond!) all over the tiles in the kitchen, and in the bedrooms. I also found them in the beds. Disgusting! Not nice at all :(.

The toilet seat in the second bathroom were broken so we could not use that toilet at all. It was only fixed the day before we left, so we had to manage with 1 toilet in the master bedroom for 12 days. The shower in the second bathroom did not work either, there was no hot water in here, so we shared the shower in master bedroom as well.

The lacking of mosquiotnets in all the bedrooms was very disapointing. I was bitten all over the body by insects (mosquotos and/or sandflies) so I had to visit the Hemas hospital in Wattala 3 times due to all the rashes i had all over my body. This was very annoying and disturbing and ruined my staying.

The description of the house said it was 20 minutes to Negombo beach, which isnt true at all. It took nearly 40 min and the taxi cost was much more than the housekeeper told us.

So, I am sorry to say but I wouldn not recommend this house to anyone, since it was a big disapointment to us all!!!

Ullis Karlssson, Stockholm, Sweden