We had the most fantastic stay at Madi’s beautiful home from home in Umbria. The photos really do not do the house justice. It’s packed with family heirlooms and antiques wherever you look. The house is decorated with style and care, but with comfort and every modern necessity you could need. The grounds are HUGE you have fruit trees and a huge field of olive trees on the property to wander around. There are many colourful plants including huge lavender bushes and herbs in the beautiful gardens. What we loved most was all the different comfy private seating – lots of little areas to lay or sit and read a book grab a coffee or eat alone or with family and friends. You are not overlooked anywhere – we loved the peace and tranquility. The pool is amazing – we’ve rented all over the world and this had the biggest and most well equipped pool we’ve encountered. It had incredible views, lots of pool furniture, plenty of towels, places to eat and decent shade. The views from the house and gardens are breathtaking – you can see for miles across the valley and the lake. The four bedrooms are all large and the four bathrooms well equipped plus there are extra sleeping spaces on a mezzanine at the top of the house. The kitchen was better equipped than mine at home – I’ve never seen so many pots and pans – it’s beautifully rustic and traditional but had modern conveniences like dishwasher and microwave. The self contained flatlet upstairs was brilliant for our teenager and his friend who popped over – they had their own private suite of rooms to hang out in. The sofa and TV in the main living room have been updated since these photos and it’s a lot brighter than it looks in the photographs. There are two sets of double doors and two large windows – plus it opens onto a pretty patio with a huge table for dinner al fresco with a view but under cover so no sun burn. There’s a state of the art bbq we didn’t use it but it was a good one. The house is on an unmade rural private road but it’s a very quick drive into the pretty town of Guardea. There’s a supermarket that has everything you could need, a brilliant butchers and friendly coffee & pastry shop that makes good cappuccino. We loved the Z bar for delicious takeaway pizza. Madi was a delightful and caring host – she organised a delicious meal for our first night, did a fabulous first shop for us and her restaurant recommendations were brilliant. We’ll be back for sure.
Cathy