Last summer, I went on a family holiday with Harry, my parents, my brother and his girlfriend and we decided that instead of a hotel, we would all prefer on a villa type accomodation as it would allow us to do as we pleased for the duration of the holiday, and worked out cheaper per person too. Obviously, we realised it was self-catering but decided we would eat out every night as many of the villas were well located in terms of location on Menorca and after a bit of internet trawling, my mum came up with Villas Tamarinda in Cala Blanca. We booked the villa separately from flights, through Asda travel (although the villa is available through James Villas too at a much higher price), and when we finally arrived at the Villa, we were all absolutely thrilled with it.
We found that the Villa was about an hour's drive from Menorca's airport, mainly because it is on the other side of the island but it was easily findable. We had to pick up our keys from a neighbouring hotel, who takes care of all the housekeeping in the villas too, but once this was done, we quickly made out way to the villa. It is located on a one way street, and we had to drive up to the end of the street and back down the other side to get to it, but there was ample parking for our two hire cars once we arrived, although parking is on the road. The outside is protected by a large white gate, a small brick wall and a row of bushes, but there is no locks on the gates so do be aware that anyone can walk in since it's accessible. Of course, the house isn't, but we did have cleaners and pool cleaners come in and out in the early hours of the morning (7am) without warning and frightened me a bit!
Aesthetically, the villa is nice to look at. The lovely swimming pool is located at the front of the house, behind the bushes and while I was worried about being seen, the road is residential and very quiet and we didn't get anybody walking past at all really. Alongside the pool are some sun loungers on wheels so you can move them about easily, a patio area which has patio doors leading into the villa. The building is a darkish yellow colour but looks very nice, and the two balconies from the two upstairs bedrooms are located at the front of the property also. The whole building and outdoor area was very clean, they have maintenance people come in regularly to clean, especially the borders around the pool to keep it clean, and it's nice to see that they take good care of it. The row of villas down that side of the road all look the same, about 5 or 6 of them, but we didn't really see any neighbours during our week's holiday.
As you enter the villa via the front door at the side of the property, you find the curved marble staircase on your left (no safety guard at the side near the bottom so be aware of that if you have younger children), a bathroom to the left, and a twin bedroom straight ahead of you. You go through the glass doors to the right, and enter the living area where you find a large dining table, a kitchen straight ahead and then the living area, which has 2 settee's, a television, coffee table and double patio doors which lead through to the patio area and swimming pool area.
It is a nice layout on the ground floor, with tiles throughout which is great for keeping the house cool, and also good when you have little people who run around after jumping straight out of the swimming pool!
The bedrooms were very pleasing. As I mentioned, there is a twin room on the ground floor, with 2 single beds, a window to the back and 2 wardrobes. My parents took this room, and apart from it being rather warm, they were very pleased with the room and said the beds were good enough for them. Upstairs, there are 2 more twin rooms located straight ahead of the staircase. Harry and I took one, and my brother and his girlfriend had another, and both had balconys which were solid stone all around and therefore I felt they were safe for Harry to be around. Our room was a good size, with a large fitted wardrobe which had clothes storage at the side too, 2 single beds, each with a bedside table and wall lights, and had a fan as well, but I couldn't operate it for the life of me. I managed to switch it on one morning and couldn't get it off and our room was like a freezer, my brother had the same problem so we tended to leave those alone!
The bathrooms were okay, although we did have an ant infestation in the upstairs bathroom which was pretty disgusting and had Harry refusing to go into it for a good few days. We bought some ant killer and that seemed to stop the issue, but before that, they were everywhere - over the sink area, in the bath and up the walls too which wasn't great. It's a shame the owners didn't bother to clean that up before we arrived. The problem didn't stretch to the downstairs bathroom which was good, the shower units in both bathrooms were good, had good strength in the jet spray, and had a good amount of warm water in too. The kitchen was well equipped, had plenty of glasses, plates and bowls to keep up going, and there was a decent sized fridge there too. Basic amenities were present such as a toaster and kettle too which was good for things like breakfast.
The maid service came every few days to change the towels and clean the general area, and we didn't actually see them so they must have come when we were out during the day. Rubbish was also removed, although in between you just take your rubbish out to the large bins outside the villas on the pavements. We did see the gardening people who come round in the mornings to water the plants and take care of swimming pool cleanliness. In fact, they frightened me a bit as I was sitting on the patio area and was the only one awake and they let themselves in and wandered around the garden in front of me, I don't think they realised I was there! We had no trouble with any of the neighbours either, they were all fairly quiet and we rarely saw them. Parking was adequate, with us having to park on the main road in front of our villa, and considering we had 2 cars, there was always space for both of our cars which was good.
As for the area, it's in a residential street so it is very quiet and we didn't have any problems with that at all.
Everywhere was accessible by car - it took us around 30 minutes to drive to the main town, 10 minutes to go to a more touristy resort down the road (Cala'n Bosch) where we found some amazing restaurants and places to visit in the evenings (see the pictures!), and the small but lovely Cala Blanca beach was very nearby too. We were also a 5 minute drive away from a local restaurant area where we found a lovely pub type restaurant where we spent our first evening meal, and went back several nights for drinks and ice-creams, and breakfast too... they made such a fuss of Harry too which made all the difference. There are several restaurants I would recommend around there, and certainly something for everyone to enjoy. As the accommodation is obviously self-catering, it's worth knowing that are restaurants very near, and if you go a bit further by car, you can explore more resorts that are fairly close too, we'd definitely recommend Cala'n Bosch.
This was a great holiday villa, and I would definitely recommend it to families wanting nice accomodation in the Cala Blance region of Menorca. The villa was clean and tidy, spacious enough for 5 adults and a young child, and the privacy of having our own swimming pool was just fantastic, and we put it to good use both in the day and at night when it was lit up beautifully! You are situated in a quiet residential area so don't need to worry too much about safety or the area, and everywhere is readily accessible by car. I will be honest and say I don't know too much about the price as my mum organised the whole thing, but it was very reasonable for a June holiday, and we were all pleased with the accomodation overall. If we were looking to return as a family group, I am sure we would consider going to Villas Tamarindas again, and think it was a fantastic experience for us all!
More information about the villa can be viewed here: http://www.jamesvillas.co.uk/menorca/cala-blanca/tamarinda-3455/
Location: Cala Blanca, Menorca, Spain.
Thank you for reading.
A Place in the Sun! 
