Chianti horse riding holiday in Italy
| country: | Italy | ||||
| location: | Tuscany | ||||
| departures: | 2010: 30 Mar, 10 Apr, 17 Apr, 24 Apr, 1 May, 8 May, 15 May, 22 May, 29 May, 5 Jun | ||||
| price: | From €977 (6 days) excluding flights
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| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Both riders and walkers will be staying in Jenny’s charming sixteenth century farmhouse perched on the slopes of the Chianti hills and overlooking the Arno valley.
Jenny has eighteen well-trained and much cherished horses and has been running a riding-centre for many years, but she is as keen on walking as on riding and has recently created a Walk and Ride programme to suit all tastes. “In so many couples, as in so many families, there is usually a good rider, but the others prefer to see the countryside on foot in a more leisurely fashion. Now they can share a holiday and meet up for all the other activities we provide. And if they all walk, or all ride, no problem, we can cater for everybody.”
Jenny’s colleague, Pietro, has been cooking for their guests for many years. He has written his life story (the English version is called “Pietro’s Book”,Constable 2003), where he recounts his experiences as a peasant farmer from the thirties to the sixties. “I was born in the Middle Ages,” he comments with his typical Tuscan humour,” and now I’ve reached the age of the computer!” While helping him with his book Jenny has learnt a lot about Tuscan agriculture and local traditions and is happy to share her knowledge with you.
Sergio, Pietro’s son, now does some of the cooking (when he is not shoeing horses!), but most is done by Franca, a buxom local lady, while Marco, Pietro’s grandson, helps in both the stables and the kitchen. And we must not forget Eraldo, our extrovert Sardinian instructor and guide, who is extremely knowledgeable about the local fauna. Don’t worry, his English is excellent.
Jenny has eighteen well-trained and much cherished horses and has been running a riding-centre for many years, but she is as keen on walking as on riding and has recently created a Walk and Ride programme to suit all tastes. “In so many couples, as in so many families, there is usually a good rider, but the others prefer to see the countryside on foot in a more leisurely fashion. Now they can share a holiday and meet up for all the other activities we provide. And if they all walk, or all ride, no problem, we can cater for everybody.”
Jenny’s colleague, Pietro, has been cooking for their guests for many years. He has written his life story (the English version is called “Pietro’s Book”,Constable 2003), where he recounts his experiences as a peasant farmer from the thirties to the sixties. “I was born in the Middle Ages,” he comments with his typical Tuscan humour,” and now I’ve reached the age of the computer!” While helping him with his book Jenny has learnt a lot about Tuscan agriculture and local traditions and is happy to share her knowledge with you.
Sergio, Pietro’s son, now does some of the cooking (when he is not shoeing horses!), but most is done by Franca, a buxom local lady, while Marco, Pietro’s grandson, helps in both the stables and the kitchen. And we must not forget Eraldo, our extrovert Sardinian instructor and guide, who is extremely knowledgeable about the local fauna. Don’t worry, his English is excellent.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Fly to Pisa or another Tuscan airport and make your way to Florence SMN (the main station), where you will be met by Jenny (middle-aged, white-haired) or her son Nicholas (tall, dark and handsome). He or she will take you to our local town by train and there Sergio will pick you up in the minivan and take you to the farmhouse for an introductory glass of wine (Chianti, of course) before dinner. Meet the horses, Sammy and Elsa, the dogs and Catkin, the cat. |
| Day 2: | The riders go for a two and a half hour ride, passing the 14C church of Galatrona. The walkers will walk up to the 10C tower of Galatrona and climb to the top of it, before visiting the church of Galatrona on their way home. After lunch, a lesson in Italian pronunciation (hilarious). By the end you will be able to order your pizza in Italian, and it will then be brought from a nearby village. |
| Day 3: | The riders go for a two hour ride, while the walkers have a woodland walk, studying the various trees and shrubs on the way and passing the house where Pietro was born. After lunch a quick train journey for everybody to Arezzo for a guided tour of the wonderful frescoes there by Piero della Francesca. Home for dinner. |
| Day 4: | The riders go for a day ride, passing the tower of Galatrona and the castle of Cennina and picnicking in a wood. The others walk cross country down to the local town for lunch and return by another route. Dinner all together. |
| Day 5: | Free day. You can take a train to visit Florence, Assisi or Orvieto. Or you can simply laze in the sun and read a book. Dinner all together. |
| Day 6: | All go down to the market in the local town, ideal place for buying presents. Then a trip by van to Loro Ciuffenna, an ancient village built round a ravine. Lunch there at a very special restaurant. The riders then return home for a ride or a lesson in the school, while the others walk up to the Romanesque church of Gropina with its animal sculptures and eighth century pulpit. Then down again to a trattoria selling homemade icecream. Home again to a buffet supper which the guests, if they like, can help to prepare.. |
travelling with a local operator
This holiday is operated by a company based in the holiday destination and they will be able to provide expert local knowledge. They will be able to tailor make your holiday to suit your requirements not only concerning the dates of travel but also typically the standard of accommodation, and thus price. It is rare for local operators to be able to help with the booking of your flights.how this holiday makes a difference
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Environment
The tour has been designed for not more than twelve walkers or riders so that no one will feel just one of a crowd. The farm where you will be staying has an organic certificate. There are about three hundred olive-trees which produce all the olive oil used in the kitchen; ducks and pigeons are raised for the table, hens lay eggs daily and a well-stocked garden provides fresh vegetables. Other food is bought at a local farmers’ market, Chianti wine comes from local vineyards and only Fairtrade tea and coffee are used. The house has been carefully restored, using local materials: chestnut wood for the beams, terracotta for the floors. The furniture has all been bought locally. Wood for heating the house is brought from the Chianti hills: there is a large fireplace in the sittingroom and a woodstove in the kitchen which heats most of the house. All the water comes from a spring on the farm. Jenny is an active member of CAI, the Italian rambling association and helps to find and maintain paths all over the countryside. All walkers and riders are encouraged to recognise and respect the local crops and to refrain from leaving litter (the horses sometimes let us down in this respect, but what they leave is strictly organic). Jenny likes to teach the local children not only to ride but to recognize trees and flowers of the area, while Eraldo tells them about the deer, the porcupine and the wild boar that roam the woods, as well as the birds: in spring it is common to hear hoopoes, bee-eaters and golden oriels, while the nightingales sing day AND night! Community Everyone working at the farm is Italian, with the exception of Jenny, of course, who has however lived in the area for forty years and feels almost Italian. Pietro (82) presides over the kitchen but most of the cooking is now done by his son Sergio and Franca, a buxom local lady. Marco, Sergio’s son, does part-time work in the stables and the kitchen. Eraldo is our ebullient instructor and guide, while Costanza and Giovanna help Jenny with the riding and walking respectively. The Centre owns another farmhouse with a large barn on the edge of the nearby village, 200 yards away, and here we have held small photographic exhibitions and painting classes. Sergio and Franca regularly organize dinners for our guests to which the villagers are also invited. Sometimes they are all entertained by local musicians playing and singing folksongs, or poets improvising in “ottava rima”, a folk tradition which has recently been revived. And if Pietro is in the vein, he will recount one of his famous stories. We have a lot of plans for this venue but sometimes lack the time to carry them out. In summer Nicholas,Jenny’s son organizes a “teatro di paglia”: he and his friends build an amphitheatre out of straw bales and local people come to act, sing, play musical instrumnets, as the spirit moves them. Nicholas, by the way, is assistant editor of an ecological magazine, “Terra Nuova”. |
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