Lizzie's Country Farmhouse (#751)
If you are seeking a beautiful, gloriously spacious Tuscan farmhouse set high in the mountains with stunning views over the Tiber Valley, look no further.
The Farmhouse sleeps 14 easily in double bedrooms, but with a little notice and a few extra rooms pressed into service, beds added to rooms, children attached to ceilings etc, it can accommodate up to 24 and still retain its feeling of space and tranquillity.
Each floor has 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms and the barn room has an en suite.Rooms can be made up as either double or twin bedded.
By special arrangement, if more accommodation is needed there is an apartment within the farmhouse with two double rooms, bathroom and a large, arched sitting room / kitchen; a further double bedroom and bathroom; two rooms can have an extra bed added, and the barn room has a sleeping platform for two extra beds giving a total capacity of 24.
While it has it’s elegant and graceful moments, above all it is a relaxed and friendly house: the kind of place where children, returning again for their holidays, race in to check that their favourite toys are still there and their parents sink into a hammock with a glass of prossecco; a place where fraught family holidays with too many people in too small a place with not enough saucepans or decent knives to cut up an onion are a thing of the past.
Its opera-singing owner used all her charm, talent and a great deal of shouting to lovingly restore it with equal attention to use of original materials, local craftsmen and carbon footprint.
The heart of the house is its large, ochre farmhouse kitchen. Cooking at the Farmhouse is always a pleasure: owned by a passionate cook, the kitchen is both beautiful – hand made from local chestnut and Carrara marble – and highly functional. The experience of having quite so many sharp knives, decent saucepans, ovens, enough fridges to keep everyone cool and TWO dishwashers can take some getting over. The refectory table – made from the wood of the old mangers – easily seats as many people as can stay and more.
The Sitting Room used to be an ovile and is huge – 10 metres by 6 metres with a twenty foot high ceiling. With its French windows overlooking the Tiber Valley, soft ochre walls, big comfortable sofas and a pietra serena fireplace, it makes for a wonderful living space. Additional seating can easily be arranged to acccomodate workshops, courses and small Wedding banquets.
The other sitting room is a good contrast to the spacious airiness of the music room being smaller and cosier, with a huge fireplace taking up most of one wall, French windows overlooking a lake down in the valley, games, videos, hi-fi and TV.
Attention to quality continues in the bedrooms, which are all good-sized double and are furnished with locally made wrought iron bedsteads, sparingly used Tuscan farmhouse furniture, goose down duvets, comfortable mattresses and fine bed linen.
Synthetic duvets are available for people with allergies and children.
The separate barn is a beautiful arched space 20m x 7m that invites singing, dancing and getting married. In favourable weather Wedding Receptions may alternatively be celebrated in the spacious lawns beneath gazebo’s.
In front of the house there is a pergola with tables, hammocks, fruit trees and lawn; although by the time the deer, the wild boar and the porcupines have finished with it, any resemblance to the smooth green variety we have in England is tenuous.
Edged in Italian travertine, the pool (14mx7m) has spectacular views of the Tiber Valley and surrounding mountains and woods. The pool is above the house and enclosed. There is a pergola and hammocks, and a barbecue beside the pool house.
Eco matters; Water comes from two mountain springs and is heated by solar panels. There is gas central heating but for the last two years in winter the house has been entirely heated using efficient wood burning and wood pellet burning stoves. Food waste can be composted and all plastic and glass recycled. Photovoltaic cells are planned to complete the house’s carbon neutral footprint and we are happy to offer help and a 5% discount to any guests wishing to travel to Italy by train.
Location: In the east of Tuscany at 900 meters the house is one of the highest in the High Tiber valley. Apart from the breathtaking views, this is a distinct advantage when the rest of the valley is sweltering in a heat wave and wishing it could lie down in a cool, darkened room.
Wildlife and wonderful walking start outside the front door while down in the valley Sansepolcro offers Piero della Francesca in abundance, a Signorelli crucifiction and the campest Martyred Saint picture in Italy. Just up the road from Sansepolcro, Monterchi offers La Madonna del Parto –one of Piero’s greatest frescos. Pieve Santo Stefano – also in the valley – doesn’t count as the prettiest town in the area but people come from miles around to eat its brioche for breakfast; they are considered amongst the best in Tuscany with good reason. Across the valley is the beautiful hilltop town of Anghiari. A few miles from the house are three fabulous restaurants which can also be arrived at on foot: by the time you have hiked up and down the Alpe della Luna every single calorie will be well accounted for. Lizzie, the owner has an apartment in the house, which she uses from time to time. If it is important to you that she is not there during your visit please do say – that is usually very easy to accommodate.
The Rates
| Description | Season | Weekly (EUR) | Daily (EUR) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 -10 guests - exclusive use of pool | peak | 2,250 | - | ||
| 8 -10 guests - exclusive use of pool | off peak | 1,750 | - | ||
| 14 guests - private pool | peak | 3,150 | - | ||
| 14 guests - private pool | off peak | 2,450 | - | ||
| each additional guest (max 10) | peak | 100 | - | ||
| each additional guest (max 10) | off peak | 75 | - | ||
| wedding venue rental fee | 500 | - |
Seasons
Peak: 21 May - 02 Sept 2011
off peak: 04 Sept 2010 - 20 May 2011
Rates are inclusive of power, linen and weekly cleaning
Booking
Please complete the inquiry form to see if this property is available for your holiday.