Greek Island Home From British Talent Show ‘Mamma Mia! I Have a Dream’ Hits the Market

A Greek villa on the island of Corfu that had a starring role last year on British TV talent show “Mamma Mia! I Have a Dream,” has come to the market for €4 million (US$4.3 million). 

Built in 2012, Villa Koukos blends elements of old and new, with a classic design using locally sourced traditional materials—including stone from the homesite itself—alongside an open-plan layout with modern comforts. 

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The house has “been cleverly designed to create the sense of being there forever,” said Piers Williams, founder and managing director of the Ionian Collection, which just brought the home to the market. “The owners at Villa Koukos have done a brilliant job of bringing together natural materials, using mellow stone and maximizing the natural light—it’s been done in a way that gives the villa masses of character. But at the same time [the home] feels light and contemporary.”

Owner Charlotte Barrie got her inspiration for the design after spotting a French mansion in a magazine, from which she tore and saved the picture, she told Mansion Global. “That was how it came about.” 

Last year, the house was used as the filming location for the British TV series, a reality show competition that saw cast members vie for lead roles in the West End production of “Mamma Mia!” The show, hosted by Zoe Ball, featured Samantha Barks, Alan Carr, Amber Riley and Jessie Ware as judges. 

“I just got contacted by a location agent,” Barrie explained. “This location agent had found our house,” and after a meeting in London, Barrie agreed to let the show use her home, and she stayed in a flat in the village during the process.  

“I found it fascinating,” she said. “I loved it. My daughter was a runner for the production, it was a great experience for her. There were a lot of people there—150—but they put the house back, they repainted, any damage in the garden was all put right. It was an amazing experience.”

The property has seven bedrooms—spread across the villa and an adjoining stone cottage and studio—and is situated in a secluded hilltop spot on the northeast coast of Corfu lies outside the hamlet of Santa and above the harbor town of Kassiopi, and as such, the views are far reaching, taking in the surrounding landscape and out across the Ionian Sea to Albania and its dramatic mountains. 

A double-height contemporary glazed entrance hall leads directly into the main living area and the kitchen, which has a traditional farmhouse feel and natural stone floors. 

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“The wonderful, large and open-plan kitchen and living space leads out to one of the best outdoor dining and seating areas I’ve seen on the island,” Williams said. It includes an external fireplace with a pizza oven and a large barbecue, he said.

Another feature “that has been so well thought through,” he said, “is the large swimming pool and fun poolside bar.”

The pool was a favorite spot of Barrie’s children, she said. Though personally, she preferred an evening spent in the outside seating area, with the “heat of the day gone [and a] drink in hand.” 

The villa is surrounded by landscaped gardens as well as its own hillside olive grove.

“All buyers in the Ionian seem to love the olive trees, [there’s] so much character in the gnarly old trees and the green of the olive grove and the wild flowers in the spring are most uplifting, with a few villa owners collecting their olives in November, to make their own oil,” Williams said. “We find buyers like the authenticity of taking a natural approach and making the most of their surrounding landscape.” 

Barrie and her family attempted it, but “not very successfully, it was rather bitter,” she said. “Since then, we’ve just let locals take them.”