Two Welshmen,
one Sicilian obsession.
Darbey‑Jones is the brain-child of Craig Darbey and Rhys Jones, two Welsh, Warsaw-based property developers who share a passion for projects that are well thought out, architecturally pleasing, and financially viable.
We met playing rugby in Prague in the early 1990s and started Celtic Property in the late nineties. Today our Polish development and investment portfolio boasts over 1,200 commercial tenants and is still growing rapidly. You can read more at celticproperty.pl.
Alongside our families, we fell in love with Sicily – and Cefalù in particular. We are building a portfolio of 23 vacation rentals there — three open so far, with the rest in progress.
Every property we take on has to pass a simple test: would we book it for our own families? We look for character, walkability to the sea and the old town, and the kind of architectural detail that makes you stop in the doorway. If it does not feel right on the first visit, we move on.
When we do find the right place, we restore rather than replace. Original stone walls, timber beams, and hand-painted tiles stay wherever they can. We work with local Sicilian builders and artisans who understand these buildings, then layer in the comforts you actually need – proper kitchens, strong WiFi, and climate control that works in August.
We are not writing this after one long weekend. We spend a lot of time in Cefalù every year, year after year, with our families in tow — we eat at the restaurants we recommend to guests, our children play on the same beaches, and we know the shopkeepers well enough to stop and chat. The guides on this site come from that repeated time on the ground, not a single research trip, and from managing that portfolio in person as it grows. Our hope is that guests come back to Cefalù as often as we do.
Thanks for being part of our story. We will be extremely grateful for any suggestions.
