When Tessa Laws was growing up in the UK, she recalls going on family vacations to places in France and Italy and staying at charming but sophisticated B&Bs, enjoying good food, lively company and beautiful scenery.
“I wanted to recreate that same feeling here in Israel,’’ she says regarding the recently opened Sitopia guesthouse about a half-hour drive west of Jerusalem.
And unlikely as that sounds, she has to a large degree succeeded. Sitopia is really a special place, a cut above most B&Bs I’ve stayed in Israel, and one where, as you sit outside your room, drinking a glass of wine and taking in the beautiful view of open fields and tree-covered rolling hillsides, you can almost imagine being on vacation in Tuscany or Provence.
To create that type of feeling requires a few essential elements, which Sitopia is fortunate to have. The first is, as they say, location, location, location. The setting is Kfar Uriya, a small moshav located on Route 44 between the Shimshon and Hulda intersections. Most Israelis will know this as the old pre-1967 road to Jerusalem, part of the Mate Yehuda region, and it’s one of the prettiest stretches of countryside in Israel, a largely unspoiled green belt dotted with forests, fields, vineyards and small agricultural communities.
Kfar Uriya was founded way back in 1912 and briefly even boasted Zionist labor guru A.D. Gordon as a resident, but was abandoned and reestablished a number of times over the past century. These days, like a lot of moshav communities located within commuting distance of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the homes there range from the modest original bungalow-type structures to impressive houses built by more recent arrivals.
One of those was Tessa Laws, a lawyer by training who settled there six years ago from the UK with her new husband entrepreneur Itzik Ben-Aharon after years of visiting Israel. She says the idea of establishing Sitopia developed naturally from the couple’s love of hosting in their home, and a growing passion for cooking. With building rights behind their house, they decided to establish an intimate guesthouse similar to the ones she had enjoyed in Europe.
“Organic’’ is a word Laws uses frequently when discussing Sitopia, both from its construction to the food served there. The building was done using local materials and craftspeople, with the stone-work on its walls so artlessly constructed I mistakenly assumed it was done as a renovation of an older existing structure.
There are just four rooms, designed with a floor-level den and toilet and a loft-style sleeping space above. Each room is designed in a specific color pattern – we stayed in the white room, with the theme carried through down to the smallest details. The furnishings, towels, linens and toiletries are all high quality especially ordered or designed, and some are available for purchase through Sitopia.
Each room faces toward a lovely, largely unspoiled view of the surrounding countryside, which you can enjoy either sitting on a front patio – complete with a fire-pit lit up at night – or even from your bed, with a strategically placed-window offering a vista from the sleeping loft.
THERE’S ALSO a small reception area that doubles as a bar, with Itzik proving himself an able mixologist by fixing us some neat cocktails on our arrival.
Cooking and eating are done in an adjacent kitchen/dining room at a communal table. Dinners are optional, costing 550 shekels for a couple, including a bottle of wine – pretty much what you would pay for a comparable meal at any quality restaurant in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
Itzik did most of the cooking for our farm-to-table style dinner, using mostly organically grown, locally produced fare, serving both fish and meat dishes. Tessa handled the breakfast, included in the basic price, and again, a delicious, generous meal that we lingered over for hours.
A bathing pool comprises most of the central, open-air atrium behind the rooms, and while too small for real swimming, does provide for relaxing bathing, even on cool days with the water kept at a warm 22 degrees centigrade. Also on the premises is a steam room that is set to go into operation shortly.
A compact buggy-jeep is on-site for use by guests if they want to take a jaunt through the countryside. The area is also prime hiking territory, with parts of the Israel Trail and the Park Britannia’s sculpture route nearby. The Mate Yehuda region encompasses the Elah Valley, Israel’s primary grape-growing area, and along with the Kedem Winery in Kfar Uriya, there are several other top wineries within a short driving distance. After being served a bottle from the Agur Winery with dinner, we were inspired to head out there the next day to buy a few more.
It's not for everyone
Although I would highly recommend Sitopia, let me be clear that it is not for everyone. It’s only two to a room, and doesn’t accommodate children under 16. The kitchen is not kosher and Shabbat-observant, although if someone wants to rent out all four rooms and make their own food arrangements, that’s an option. And it’s not cheap; the price is NIS 1600 on weeknights, and NIS 1800 on Friday night, including breakfast.
We are talking about a high-end, boutique experience here, though one I found does give you bang for your buck. Perhaps the biggest bonus you get at Sitopia is simply the company of Tessa and Itzhak, a very charming and interesting couple, who say one of the key reasons they undertook this venture was to enjoy the company of like-minded people.
I’ll end this write-up with a very only-in-Israel experience that took place during our stay there. As I was sitting down for breakfast, another of the guests burst in to say that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was staying as a guest elsewhere in Kfar Uriya, and at the moment was attending Shabbat prayers at the moshav’s synagogue while a protest took place outside.
Being a journalist I had to rush over there, and arrived just as someone threw a smoke-grenade into the crowd of demonstrators, creating a scene of mayhem.
Having done my journalistic duty, an hour later I was back in Sitopia, lounging in the bathing pool to clean the smell of smoke off myself, and calming my nerves with a glass of complimentary wine served to me by a sympathetic Tessa.
I can’t promise that everyone who stays in Sitopia will experience that same level of excitement – thankfully – but am confident they will enjoy an equal measure of hospitality and relaxation.
Sitopia.co.il (052-702-6393)
The writer was a guest of Sitopia.