This was our first visit to Malta, there were 14 of us, 6 adults and 8 children between the ages of 2 and 16. We got lost on our way from the airport to the villa (took us over 2 hours) so if you're driving make sure you get detailed maps or have GPS as we found the road signs not very helpful.
On arriving at the villa we were allowed to leave our baggage and return after the cleaning was finished. The villa is a beautiful and spacious property with a pool just the right size and depth for the younger children with a deeper end for the adults and older children plus a jacuzzi which was well used. The children absolutely loved the pool and made very good use of it. They also loved the games room which was also used a great deal when we were not out and about. If you are a large party then there may be some squabbling over who gets which room as the two rooms in the lower floor by the games room are somewhat more basic than the rooms upstairs but being next to the games room is a big incentive for the children to sleep down there. Both rooms downstairs had air conditioning.
Generally, a beautiful, spacious villa with plenty of bathrooms, lovely pool and jacuzzi in a quiet area.

We were a party of 21 (15 adults, 2 teenage boys, 2 young children and 2 babies) on a family holiday to Malta from 27 July to 3 August.

David, the owner, was very prompt with responding to e-mails inquiries during the booking process. A non refundable deposit is taken and the price for the villa will go up if the numbers staying go up.

David also helped us arrange for transfers from the airport which was about 15/20 minutes away from the villa.

Location
The villa is on a road called TRIQ ZENJI in an area called High Ridge. Its an area predominately of villas and so is very quite and residential. There are some amazing views from the villa and we saw fireworks from nearby St Julian's on a few nights. David also owns some of the neighboring villas.

Greens supermarket (http://www.greens.com.mt/) is about 7 minutes walk away. It is very narrow but fully packed over 3 floors. They also have a fruit and veg store opposite the main supermarket. They have everything you will ever need on your stay. Although you can walk there, it is advisable to take a car back as you have to walk uphill usually in scorching sun! They also offer a delivery service and you can order groceries online from their website (above)

There are a few local shops including a chinese restaurant and pizzaria.

St Julian's, Silema and Peaceville are all a short taxi ride away. Taxis are relatively cheap and we always got a mini bus and it worked out to be about 50/60 euros each way (for a 30-45 mins drive).

There is a bus stop about 5 mins away and the number 12 bus will take you to Valetta (capital in 45-60 mins), St Julian's, Spinola and the splash and fun park. Buses are about 3 euors return for adults and 50 cents for children. The buses are the bendy one and you have to hold on for dear life but are air conditioned and the same as you would see in London. The drivers in Malta are a bit crazy so you have to be super careful when crossing the main roads which have no traffic lights or zebra crossings (which you need to do to get to the opposite bus stop)

The Villa
We got to the villa early but they let us hang around whilst the cleaners finished off. Jane, David's wife, was our main point of contact.
The kitchen and living room are very spacious and it was great to relax in for our big group. The pool is adequate and the games room kept the children entertained. Although the play mat was dirty so we didn't really let the babies play there.
Tap water is not advisable for drinking so buy bottled or boil the tap water first.
The back door and the window locks were broken. They fixed the door but never got around to the windows as we were not always in for the handyman. However we felt safe enough not to bother too much about the window locks. There are locks to the room but we were not provided with all the keys so you have to ask Jane for them if you intend to leave the villa empty and lock your valuables in the villa.

A welcome guide is provided which includes excursions such as a boat trip around the three islands. We found that booking directly ourselves was cheaper.

They use the same 3 pin electricity plugs as the UK

Some of the rooms were great. The top floor has a balcony and there are two double rooms on the first floor, one of which is en suite and had an adjoining room with a bunk bed. Most of the beds though are situated in the two basement rooms (sleeping 10). Most of the rooms has air con and fans. It was not very nice sleeping in the dark basement rooms so some of us ended up sleeping in the living room. One of the sofas has a pull out double bed.

The kitchen has a toaster, oven, microwave, kettle, dish washer, double fridge and freezer. There are lots of plates and cutlery but not much cooking utensils. Only a few large pots and pans.

They provide one roll of toilet paper so we then had to stock up. There is no hand soap or hand towels so again you need to buy these essentials.

There are additional charges for using air con, wi fi, electricity and water. We had to pay 200 euros for a weeks worth of air con. We didn't really have a choice as it was so hot so I'm not sure why it was not included as most villas in other countries do. We spent about 100 euros extra in electricity and water but again most villas would have included these charges. It was not surprising given how big our group was so I'm not sure how they work out the allowance for electricity and water. Wi fi costs 5 euros a day - personally I think it should have be thrown in as an extra given how much we paid for the villa. You have to pay a returnable 500 euro deposit and a one off maintenance charge of 50 euros. The cleaners could have done a better job - but we did a lot of cleaning ourselves during our stay anyway.

There are not many English channels - we ended up just watching children's programmes on it so you may wish to bring some DVDs.

Towels are provided but were not that clean but we cleaned them in the washing machine ourselves

In the first floor bathroom, the water from the shower runs down the side of the bath and causes pooling of water so we didn't use that much for showering

There is an outdoor BBQ but we found that there were too much flies and mosquitoes to eat comfortably outside. We were bit quite badly during the stay so take repellant!

Malta
The maltese are pretty crazy drivers but very friendly and laid back. It gets extremely hot during the summer so avoid the intense heat if you can during the day. We had easy access to the north, south and central parts of Malta. We took the younger kids to the splash and fun park which was about 10 mins by bus. If you plan to go to the marine park to swim with dolphins be aware that you have to book 3 days in advance (which we didn't so missed out the opportunity). We hired a private boat to tour around the islands. We went to Golden beach (one of their few sandy beaches). We visited Valetta the capital city. We also went to the fish market which only runs on Sundays. We even managed to go drinking in peaceville which is heaving in the evenings. The food is very generous in portions but a tad heavy on the taste side with a very heavy Italian influence. We had a lovely meal at Barracuda in Balluta Bay, which was expensive but exquisite. They have a few shopping malls, we went to the Point in Spinola but its a lot smaller than the ones in the UK.

Overall we have a pleasant stay at the villa and in Malta, but be weary of the additional charges as they can add up.