Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
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This tour has been designed for not more than twelve riders (or walkers) so that no one will feel just one of a crowd. The atmosphere is informal and friendly and singles will feel at home. 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 reared 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. All the light bulbs are low energy. Wood for heating the house is brought from the Chianti hills; there is a large fireplace in the sitting-room and a woodstove in the kitchen heats most of the house. All the water comes from a spring on the farm.
Jenny, your English host, is an active member of CAI, the Italian rambling association and helps to find and maintain paths and trails all over the countryside. Riders and walkers 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 recognise the 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 orioles, while the nightingales sing night AND day!
Everyone working on the farm is Italian, with the exception of Jenny and her German colleague, Michaela, both of whom have made Tuscany their home for many years. Pietro (83) still presides over the kitchen, but most of the cooking is done by Sergio, his son and Franca, a buxom local lady. Marco, Sergio’s son, does part-time work in the stables and paddocks, Eraldo is our ebullient BHS instructor and guide, while friends from the nearby village of Rendola give a hand with the olive-picking.
This programme is designed to make as little use of the car is possible. Buses in this area are infrequent but we do make use of the excellent local train service. Guests enjoy going with us to the market in our nearby town where they can observe the local women doing their weekly shopping, while the men stand chatting in the main square. In theory they are discussing the price of pigs and suchlike, but in Jenny’s opinion they are just having a good chinwag! We frequently organize parties for the people of Rendola in our converted barn down in the village and our guests are welcome to participate in the feasting and dancing.
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