Wild CARD

In the hands of its design-savvy owners, a nondescript house has been cleverly converted into an airy, light-filled space defined by ocean, mountain and texture

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It’s hard to imagine that the Ibiza home of British fashion editor Deborah Brett and her writer/film director husband Tom Edmunds was once the wild card in a quartet of homes they were shown to buy.

"It looked like something out of Narcos," says Deborah, as she recalls their first viewing more than a decade ago. "We looked straight past the dead trees and obligatory Buddha in the garden, past the proliferation of bright orange crenelated walls and gauche tower with thick bars on all the windows, to the property’s incredible location."

With uninterrupted views out towards Es Vedra, an uninhabited island that is steeped in folklore, mysticism and Greek mythology – the location of the house is all the more spectacular because it gives the feeling of being right on the sea. "When we discovered that the house had access via a dirt path to our favourite beach, a rarity in Ibiza, the deal was sealed," says Tom.

For Deborah, who has been going to the Balearic Islands ever since she was a child, the desire to recreate her childhood holidays for her own children Phineas, Hermione and Ottilie, was a strong motivator. In fact, Tom and Deborah had made Ibiza their summer destination of choice long before they had children, not for the party aspects of the island but because they loved the rugged roughness and the ease and proximity of island life. Not to mention the accessibility from London where they live.

"There is a sensibility to the Balearics that we love," says Deborah. "A wildness where the smell of pine trees and the red dirt roads - offer a necessary balm that is a contrast to our life in the city."