Brandenburg Patio
Shady and enchanted – St. Oak’s pleasant courtyard in Kyritz, Brandenburg, offers respite even in the most intense summer heat. Recommended ingredients for the perfect day here: fresh fruit and vegetables from the market in front of the house and good company.
Both apartments in St. Oak share the enchanted courtyard – yet there is room enough for retreat and intimate conversations, for example under the plum tree. The high walls of this Art Nouveau townhouse are covered by ivy and wild vines; lavender and herbs perfume the air. Here you can cook as well as eat outdoors. How about a freshly caught, grilled zander from the nearby lake? The outdoor kitchen contains everything you need for simple summer menus. And you can take your sweet time – even late in the evening, it’s cosy here, with the sun-warmed walls shielding you from any chilly winds. Just long leisurely evenings with family or friends.
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A departure point for journeys of the mind
Ending the evening with a view of the sunset, closer to the sky than the hustle and bustle of the streets—that sounds like a true vacation. Of course, you’ll need a roof terrace for that!
The outdoor seating on the roof of Convento Olhão in the eponymous Portuguese coastal town is perfect for those times when you want to trade being seen for a chance to cast your gaze into the distance. The two rooms of the Convento, only accessible via a narrow spiral staircase, are closest to the roof terrace and its pool. From here, the view extends far and wide: sweeping over the Moorish-style old town of Olhão and the Ria Formosa nature reserve with its lagoon, all the way to the Atlantic’s vast expanse. Truly the perfect place to let your imagination soar.
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Mökki way for something different
A cliff on the water, a fishing rod, and enjoying the fish in the evening—still warm—while overlooking the sea? What sounds like escapist fantasy also exists in a very sophisticated form. For example, on a private rocky islet in the Baltic Sea.
On the Finnish island of Skjulskäret, in the Saaristo archipelago 70 kilometres south of Turku as the crow flies, a house with an outdoor kitchen and smoker patiently awaits anglers and fish lovers. The house—an elevated variation of a Finnish Mökki—with the name “Project Ö” let’s you be at one with nature without having to give up anything—like, for example, a sheltered terrace with a big table and comfortable chairs. Here, a barbecue grill, as well as a pizza oven, and smoker encourage you to cook. Dry wood is stored underneath—heating is done in the traditional way here. And suddenly you feel pretty close to nature after all.
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Cinematic Terraza
Are you still inside or already outside? Such questions are not always easy to answer, especially in the south. At the Casa Costa in Tenerife, for example, it can be difficult to distinguish here and there. But that’s not really important—since this is about something completely different.
If one had wanted to shoot a sequel to Delay’s La Piscine with Romy Schneider and Alain Delon ten years later, it would definitely have had to be here: The interiors of this cubist house from the 1970s blend seamlessly into its outdoor space; the pool on the terrace is the only round element far and wide. And the carefully selected furniture – both inside and outside – is even cooler than that of Schneider and Delon. The house’s location on the cliffs above the Atlantic Ocean directs the eye to the endless blue – no luxury car carrying Jane Birkin needs to pull up here. No one pays attention to that anyway.
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Terraces galore
The rooms of Mas Le Clos Souris are so beautiful and interesting that you don’t really want to leave them. But doesn’t one holiday in the south of France in part because one wants to spend as much time outdoors as possible?
Not to mention, the former artists’ residence here near Alès offers a huge selection of open-air lounging areas. Each of the three individual units has a private terrace for relaxing and dining; on top of that, there is shared outdoor seating around the pool, as well as in the wild garden across the street. Each terrace features different seating options set on a variety of surfaces: natural stone, wood, and gravel. Oh yes, and there is a barbecue and fire pit as well. Ironically, even on vacation deciding on a terrace can become a headache.
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Sicilian Cuisine
Interior, exterior—such concepts are only relative in this house, located within sight of the Sicilian Baroque town of Noto. The kitchen, for example, is somehow neither here nor there. It depends entirely on whether the sliding doors are open or closed.
There is no need for an outdoor kitchen here: the stove, refrigerator, work surface, and oven are already aligned between two spacious, floor-to-ceiling openings to the outside. The sink offers a view of the Mediterranean. The fact that, in contrast to some other holiday accommodations, there is only one kitchen here is, incidentally, quite logical – after all, Gaëtan Le Penhuel and his team designed the terraces simply as natural extensions of the interior. The practical side effect: no need to walk between the kitchen and a second cooking station – because constantly running back and forth hardly sounds like a holiday.
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Poolside grilling
You eat with your eyes – and they help with the cooking too. When the outdoor kitchen at Casa Agila is in full swing, you’ll have to be careful to stay focused on the ingredients. Not an easy task with this view!
Here in Sicily, you can chop and season, fillet and fry, all while enjoying the views of the pool, olive trees, and the Gulf of Noto. The elegantly minimalist outdoor kitchen has everything you need for barbecuing: a work surface, a sink, and, of course, a grill. The compact outdoor furniture is made of concrete, cast, as it were, in one piece with the pool. With a workspace like this, kitchen tasks have their own unique appeal – after all, cooks can jump straight into the water once they’ve finished their work. Or they can first enjoy the meal they’ve prepared at the adjacent table. And finally, swim a few “digestive laps” before dessert.
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Colourful and outdoors
Just over 200 kilometres south of Thessaloniki, the sea is blue, the landscape rugged, and the open-air kitchens colourful – just like everything else at the Afeilianes Stone Houses on the cliffs near the fishing village of Platanias.
This is a great place to barbecue – and then savour the results of your culinary efforts while overlooking the sea caressed by a light breeze. Each of the four vacation homes has a roofed outdoor kitchen, one even features a bread oven. The indoor kitchen is also located directly next to the terrace – if you’ve forgotten something in the fridge, it’s only two steps away. What’s more, you’ll find plenty of herbs here to enhance your delicious dishes – rosemary, lavender, and sage can be harvested right outside the door. The only catch: the spectacular view of the sea inevitably distracts from whatever you might serve here.
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Text / Compilation: Barbara Hallmann & Anne-Birga Niepelt
Photos: Fotos: Luisa Brimble via unsplash.com (Cover picture), Laura Muthesius (St.Oak), Theo Gould (Convento Olhão), Mike Kelley (Project Ö – Skjulskäret), Jean-Marc Wullschleger (Casacosta), Matthias Mattmüller & Lieven Herreman (Mas le Clos Souris), Francesco Caristia (Casa Bendico), Francesco Caristia & Moolenar Bart (Casa Agila), Mireille Papamiltiades (Afeilianes Stone Houses)
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