Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
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I have been visiting Italy all my life, I went to university in Florence and subsequently spend much time in Rome, Milan and Florence. Since meeting my husband we have been visiting our Italian friends in Umbria and Tuscany once or twice a year and we bought our farmhouse a few years ago, possibly a bit mad but we love it and who knows may end up living in it!
We know and support many small local businesses. We have a particularly strong relationship with our nearest restaurant at the bottom of the hill, and the delicatessen/wine shop (Enoteca) in the local town. We are very keen to support both these businesses. The Tuscan cook and his wife, from the restaurant, make delicious food for us and are keen to start doing lessons at our house for us and our guests. They are complemented by Patrick and Antonella, at the Enoteca, they are both from Umbria (Spoleto) and he personally knows most of the smaller local wine producers and considers himself the local champion of local Umbrian/Tuscan wines. He always comments that these wines are hardly know about but are truly delicious and while inexpensive are a great compliment to the local food. Both sets of people are lovely and are running businesses that they clearly love but they do struggle to get by. We want them to succeed and flourish.
The only public transport that is helpful is the train which we encourage people to use as it takes people from the local town (Umbertide) to Perugia, Assisi and other historical centres and to Rome, Florence and Pisa for flights. The train ensures no traffic holdups which can be legendary and it is a great way to see the countryside.
Our ethos for our house and land is to ensure it is as natural as possible with the house sitting comfortably in its surroundings. To this end we have decided to take down any fences that were put up previously and to promote local species of plants. During the renovation works of the house we reused as much materials as we could and otherwise only source very local, sustainable and natural materials. We think this has worked well and means that our house retains the old characteristics but underneath the surface performs very well with excellent insulation, low water usage fittings, A rated white goods and a modern condensing boiler.
The house water supply is from our well. Our pool is cleaned using a natural salt water system and it isn’t heated. If it is to be we will use a solar system. We display notices about using minimum water around the accommodation. In the garden, we provide a compost for leftovers which we encourage guests to use. We also provide large bags for rubbish recycling – card plastics, bottles and we intentionally don’t provide hard bins as we want people to take their own rubbish to the recycling points to help show them how much rubbish we do or don’t generate.
Other measures we have include low volume half flush loos and low flow taps, energy efficient light bulbs, and also low wattage, energy efficient condensing boiler, a super insulated house, and we collect all rain water from the roof of the house to a centralised point in the garden.
The sheets are only changed only at the end of each rental period and we use eco cleaning products throughout the house. During the work where we removed all fencing from around the property to allow it to sit in its natural environment, we always tried to recycle building materials and if not able to we only sourced local materials. The craftsmen that helped us are all local small businesses and they help us if we need any work done in the house going forward. Outside ongoing maintenance is carried out by Antonio who lives at the bottom of the hill.
We have an open fire in the main room which burns wood from our land. This is collected each year as part of tidying the forest and pruning when necessary. After 15 years of neglect we are tending to our olive grove with love and attention. We are planting new tress to infill where trees have died. We are carefully pruning our existing trees to stimulate olive production and intend to start harvesting ourselves this year and produce olive oil for our guests. Now that the ground round the trees have been cleared of debris the land has proven to be full of wild flowers which we hope to encourage as much as we can. We are also re-introducing fruit trees around the house and grounds offering food for the table, natural shade and further enhancing the houses setting. We are planting an extensive herb garden near the house. This will be for all to use and enjoy.
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