The villa was beautifully renovated, with two wonderful outdoor dining spaces, one a terrace with a pizza oven and grill where we cooked many happy meals. It's located in a little hilltop Cretan farming village, without tourists. Local people were friendly and welcoming. You can buy basics, coffee and treats at Episcoli, and there is also a garage on the way there. Otherwise there is a Tuesday Market in Heraklion for fruit and veg, the (more touristy) daily market on 1866 Street, and plenty of supermarkets. We really enjoyed eating out in Heraklion, especially in the Venetian area around the Lions Fountain (We can recommend Parasties and 7 Thalasses, also Amalia, and plenty of others). Our favourite local beach was Arena (sandy, a bit of wave action, and a choice of a bar with waiter service or cheap loungers and shady parking under the trees). We were blown away by seeing the archaeological museum, then Knossos (highly recommend getting up early - we didn't!). We explored the Roman burial caves at Matala; were totally taken by surprise by the Dikteon Cave (one of Zeus's purported birthplaces), and found the Lasithi Plateau absolutely beautiful; we took a boat to Chrissi Island for the day; visited Agios Nikolaos; were blown away once again by the Minoan excavations at Malia. We were lucky to have two weeks to explore, as most trips were at least 1.5 hours, which was pretty draining in the August heat, but we found that alternating trips and beach days worked for us! We were astonished at the generosity and hospitality of Cretan people everywhere. It was a wonderful fortnight.