Maison Kamari

Maison Kamari is on Paros, one of the easier-going Cyclades, in a quiet hamlet called Kamari a few minutes inland from the beaches. From the house you look out over a valley to the Aegean and across to Antiparos, and the light does what it does on these islands. Paros is a good base: proper villages like Naoussa and Parikia, plenty of beaches, boats over to Antiparos, and it's simple to reach by ferry from Athens or straight into the island's airport. It's livelier than Tinos next door but still a long way from the crowds of Mykonos or Santorini.

The house is a modern reading of the old Cycladic cube by React Architects, the Paros studio of Natasha Deliyianni and Yiorgos Spiridonos, all simple white volumes with nothing fussy. It was built for a couple who work in film, art direction and music, and they were closely involved, so it's a personal house rather than a rental box. The pool and terraces are the heart of it: the main steps run down into the water, and a second staircase, which the architect nicknamed "the experience," leads up to the roof and the big view. The three bedrooms each have their own bathroom and sit apart from one another for quiet, while the living room and kitchen are open and easy. The furniture is a collected mix of mid-century design picked up in markets in Paris, Athens and Paros.