Great place to stay to explore the area. A car is definitely needed. The villa is about 15 mins from Martina Franca where you can eat in the historical town and go to the supermarket. Ostuni is about 45 mins away, Locorotondo around 20 mins and my personal favourite, Cisternino about 25 mins away. All great places to explore the old streets and find restaurants tucked away in little corners.
As for beaches, these are a little further away (1hr/1.5hr) for the Ionian side. The water is very clear and the beaches are bigger. With larger areas if you want to take your own umbrella and avoid the lidos. It’s a shame the lidos take up so much space as they are practically empty!
Or the Adriatic is closer. We only tried Rosa Marina beach which was around 45 mins away but there are plenty of others to try.
Maria, the owner of the villa is very helpful and responds to messages almost instantly! Our daughter hurt her foot and Maria gave us a couple of options on where to take her and even met us there to help with communication. Nothing was ever too much trouble. We forgot our portable speaker so Maria lent us her daughter’s!