From derelict farmhouse to dance retreat, Villa Vista owner Samiya Sahabdeen shares the transformative journey behind her island home.
When Samiya Sahabdeen first set foot on the grounds of what would later become Villa Vista, there was little more than crumbling stone, a caving roof and a thicket of pine forest stretching out to the sea. “There was nothing to see,” she recalls. “It was close to being reclaimed by nature, but I knew instantly it was the one.” That intuition – honed from years as a barrister and jewellery entrepreneur – would become the defining force behind her next chapter: one rooted not in law or luxury, but in restoration.
Today, Villa Vista is no longer a ruin, but a soulfully reimagined farmhouse sitting on 28 acres of pine-scented planes in northern Ibiza. Its transformation sparked the genesis of Samiya’s latest venture – a retreat intended to channel the island’s magnetic nature.
“When you wake up every day in a space like this, something starts to shift. The body opens up – and so does the mind”
It was a birthday trip to Sri Lanka’s Adam’s Peak and a tough mountainous climb that altered everything. “After three kids and time spent raising our family, I was completely out of shape,” explains Samiya. “Climbing Adam’s Peak was meant to be a huge part of our trip, but it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I was ready to give up. But our guide was insistent I could do it, and when I finally put my foot on that sacred mountain top, I felt so elated. I knew then that I had to make a change.”
Back in London, Samiya’s dance classes that started for friends and school mums soon swelled to weekly meetups of nearly 200 women and a dance school in Notting Hill. “It was exhilarating,” she enthuses. “But I began to wonder: what next?” The answer revealed itself almost entirely by accident. Originally looking for a holiday home in Mallorca, a fruitless search failed to turn up anything that clicked. “I’m an instinctual property person,” she says. “I either love it or I don’t.”
It wasn’t until a serendipitous visit to their friend, a lawyer in Ibiza, that Samiya was steered towards a forgotten villa in the island’s north. The property itself was barely standing with wild forest creeping all around. “Everyone thought I was completely insane,” she laughs. “But as soon as I saw it, I just knew. It had the magic that everything else had been missing.”
The magic, so to speak, was not immediately obvious. Derelict and distant from the island’s nightlife and beach clubs, Ibiza’s more rural side was then unknown to Samiya. “At that time – over 20 years ago now – the north was almost exclusively locals,” she muses.
If Samiya was a stranger to this part of the island, she soon became acquainted with the community. Securing the land involved negotiations with 19 separate owners, who had long left Ibiza, and six months of paperwork. A sensitive restoration in collaboration with Ralph Blakstad Sr. followed, his reverence for Ibicencan architecture laying the foundation for what Villa Vista is today: a home that feels organically at one with the landscape.
Contemporary Andalusian-inspired extensions unfold effortlessly into forest, with traditional Sabina beams and whitewashed walls framing spaces that breathe with light and salt air – and views that, as Samiya puts it, “no photo can do justice.” Outside, gardens designed by Emma Clark – the mastermind behind King Charles III’s Islamic garden – unfurl in secluded pockets, linking the house to the wildness beyond. “I love that you can come as a large group but have these spaces to hide out,” she adds. Elsewhere, trails meander through the trees, leading down to a quiet cove where you can step straight into the sea.
“One of the other things I love most about the villa is that it has this duality. You can spend days in solitude, not talking to anybody, but then it’s less than 30 minutes in the car to so many vibrant places. Sometimes I pinch myself, I feel so lucky to be able to share it with people.”
It’s this duality – seclusion and sociability, movement and stillness – that defines Samiya’s feel-good retreats at Villa Vista. Elevating her London dance classes, the programmes are high-end but not high-strung. Technique is fused with emotion, and discipline with joy. Guests are invited to take professional instruction in everything from salsa to tango, interspersed with coastal hikes, gourmet meals, massage therapy and group coaching.
“I love the villa’s duality. You can spend days in solitude, not talking to anybody, but it’s less than 30 minutes to so many vibrant places.”
I almost don’t want to call it a retreat,” she laughs. “We just have such a good time.” And yet, transformation lies at its core. “When you wake up every day in a space like this, something starts to shift,” she says. “The body opens up – and so does the mind.” Now a trained life coach, Samiya notes that time spent here, whether alone or surrounded by loved ones, sparks a deeper introspection. “For me, transformation begins with radical honesty – being truthful with yourself, which is harder than it sounds. But it comes effortlessly here. You’re so at one with nature that everything else melts away.”
It’s no accident that Villa Vista’s emblem is a tree rooted to the earth, with a phoenix rising above. “That’s what we’re all trying to do. Rise up, be a better version of ourselves. In my mind, there’s no better place to do it than here.”
Villa Vista is available to rent from €29,800 per week
Related articles
New Vision: Sharon Costi of Villa Mariposa
Take a look around Villa Mariposa. Designed by architecture virtuoso Rolph Blakstad, it typifies his approach to celebrating traditional architecture while adding contemporary comfort.
A brush with nature at Can Draco
Painter and sculptor Cyril de Commarque on creating a panoramic sanctuary high in the protected woodlands in the north of the island.