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Tassos Gourgouras has the demeanour of an absentminded professor. The 43-year-old's once jet-black hair is greying, his clothes are rumpled and, while clearly in possession of a sound intellect, he is sometimes easily distracted, as he is now.

While giving a visitor a guided tour, Gourgouras stops in his tracks and with childlike enthusiasm scoops up the walnut at his feet. Spotting a fist-sized rock, he grins and gets cracking. "I could spend the whole day under a walnut tree," he says, merrily chomping on the fruits of his labour. "With some honey, you can have the best meal you've ever had."

The savouring of a simple but special moment is what Gourgouras and Milia are all about. Located in southwestern Crete, Milia is a mountain hamlet at the vanguard of Greek ecotourism, a place to heal those frayed big-city nerves.

Getting here is relatively easy. From Athens, you can fly to Hania, Crete's second-largest city - which, incidentally, has a gorgeous walled old quarter and harbour built by the Venetians. From Hania, also spelled Chania, it's about a 90-minute, winding drive into the mountains. (The ferry from Piraeus in Athens will get you to Hania in about eight hours.)

Founded in the 16th century - some say by the Venetians - Milia has been through many cycles of boom and bust, of habitation and abandonment. During the island's occupation by the Germans during the Second World War, the town served as a well-concealed

refuge.

After the war, it was abandoned yet again - until 1982, when Gourgouras and others with family ties to the land started to bring it back to life by planting trees and guarding against soil erosion, partly caused by overgrazing and brush fires. In 1991, they began the restoration of a handful of dilapidated fieldstone homes that today offer 13 rooms for as many as 35 visitors.

In 2003, Milia won an ecotourism award from travel and tourism organization Skal

International.

Guests are asked to walk from the parking lot, roughly 200 metres from the main compound, so as not to disturb anyone. The silence is usually broken by little more than birds chirping, flies buzzing and the distant clang of goat bells.

Located at about 500 metres above sea level, the entire spring-fed hamlet has been converted into a near-self-sustaining resort of tranquillity. The kitchen relies on gas for cooking, but solar power provides what little electricity they use in Milia - although in the winter they have to run a diesel generator for six to seven hours a week. "It's not biodiesel - yet," Gourgouras says apologetically.

Wood-burning stoves in the rustic rooms come stacked with kindling. There are only candles to read by. And wastewater is filtered before being used to hydrate chestnut trees.

Gourgouras and his staff grow their own food or get it locally. Chickens, goats, sheep and pigs are raised - and slaughtered - on-site.

Mikalis, a 22-year-old student visiting with some friends for the weekend, savours the simplicity of it all.

"I like the old life - no lights," he says in broken English. "And the food is very good."

Actually, the food is exquisite, the portions generous. There is, however, no menu, the charming and multilingual Serb waiter takes great pleasure in telling his guests. "One by one, I will tell you what we have ... and you choose," he says.

Dinner is always by candlelight, of course. There are numerous vegetarian options, including dakos, a Cretan specialty made with rusks smothered in olive oil, grated tomato, green peppers and a silky smooth feta made with a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk.

For carnivores, dishes include roasted lamb with chestnuts gathered from the forest floor.

Bread is freshly baked in a wood-burning oven.

The pork-and-cabbage stew is a typical dish: hearty, delicious and simple. To the pork and cabbage they add only olive oil, water, tomatoes, salt and pepper.

The house rosé, like so much here, is homemade and quite pleasant.

Breakfast is a selection of cheeses, fresh-squeezed orange juice, fruit and honey from the neighbouring village.

For those looking to work up an appetite, there are plenty of trails to hike, some of which pass by the area's many apple trees or its olive grove. Along the way, you may catch a glimpse of Morpho the

donkey, Milia's mammalian lawnmower.

The 90-minute trek to the village of Sirikari takes you to the plateau above Milia, offering spectacular views of the sea and mountains.

For a more sedentary vacation, you can enjoy any of the several stone patios scattered throughout Milia. They're great places to curl up with a book - and perhaps a blanket, to ward off the chill mountain mist that can settle in at dusk.

The hamlet also holds classes in traditional Cretan cuisine, hosts wine tastings and gives seminars on the local flora. And you're welcome to try your hand at the farm chores.

Over all, Gourgouras says his is a back-to-basics approach, with an emphasis on protecting the environment. He's troubled by what he describes as unbridled development on Crete, which includes the building of resorts with hundreds of villas and the widening of many of the region's narrow roads - better roads are safer, but they also bring more people to an island desperate to conserve fresh water.

"Our land is a piece of art," he says. "If we lose what makes us different, we lose

everything."

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Pack your bags

Reservations

http://www.milia.gr; 011-30-28210-46774

GETTING THERE

By air Both Aegean Airlines (http://www.aegeanair.com; 011-30-210-6261000) and Olympic Airlines (http://www.olympicairlines.com; 011-30-210-9666666) fly from Athens to Hania.

By sea Anek Lines (http://www.anek.gr; 30-2821-024000) operates a ferry service to Crete.

By land Kappa Rent A Car in

Hania: http://www.auto-kappa.gr;

011-30-28210-68782.

Where to stay in Hania

The Belmondo Hotel http://www.belmondohotel.com;

011-30-28210-362167.