Helen and John are a retired professional couple. We have a son and daughter and three grandchildren who all love Villa Sahane and Dalyan. Proudly, we are both from South Yorkshire, but have lived in North East England for the past 43 years. Helen was a nurse, school nurse, district nurse/midwife, audiometrician and health visitor for over 50 years. She became a Justice of the Peace in 2007. Since 2011 she has become involved in charity work in Uganda, Africa, visiting and working with Interplast UK and Kumi Community Hospital twice a year. Her main interests are singing in two regional choirs and the local village church choir. She is also involved in fund raising for several charities .

John was teaching for 40 years, mainly in special education, finally as a headteacher for 21 years in two residential schools for children aged 5 to 18 years with emotional and behavioural difficulties, learning difficulties and autism. After retiring he worked part time until 2011 at two NE universities as a tutor in educational leadership and management. The villa hopefully reflects John's passion for gardening. Other hobbies include beekeeping and watercolour painting.

Prior to building this property, we had stayed at close friends' villa further out of town. We fell in love with Dalyan, the culture, flora and fauna, food, weather, the hospitality of the people and totally relaxed environment. We wanted to build a special villa for our family which met all our needs, and we think that we succeeded at all levels. The villa is spacious, cool when it is hot, warm in spring and autumn, private and in easy walking distance of the centre of Dalyan. There are about twelve restaurants between Villa Sahane and the harbour, 400 metres away.

We bought the land for this property in 2006 because of the views of the mountain and the opportunity to design a secluded, private villa which was close to all the restaurants, shops and other amenities in town. With advice from two friends, we were able to build Villa Sahane (trans. "beautiful") which matched all of our specifications.