The Palola-Harriman Family
We are Heidi Palola & Richard Harriman, American educators who left the USA to work, travel and raise our children Margaret & Griffin overseas. In 2006, we returned from Saudi Arabia to Greece, where we had previously worked and travelled; but for the first time visited Crete. The four of us fell in love with the rural culture, Aegean shoreline, and mountainous landscapes of this amazing island, deciding not only to make this place our home, but to build a home where others, too, could share in its joys.
Completed in 2012, 2015 & 2017, the farm’s three homes have now been serving family, friends, and gatherings from two to twenty-four, providing an intimate retreat where joy, health, family and community are fostered, strengthened and celebrated.
Now retired from teaching, we live year-round at Villa Koukouvayia, hosting guests, managing its small olive farm, while also directing a separate company that supports retreats, creates experiential adventure holidays, and draws energy from the cultural, recreational, and culinary landscapes now in our backyard.