Arezzo holiday cottage accommodation, Sansepolcro with walking, log fire, rural retreat

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Tuscan Mountain Cottage (cottage)

Home description

The house is part of a wonderfully solid stone built farmhouse, set on a mountainside (840m) in an area full of natural parks, forest and walking trails ("sentieri"). Although it is in a wonderful quiet position, the house is in fact only 5 minutes from the E45 motorway, 500 yds from a weekend Pizzeria, 4km from a shop and 8 minutes from a town with all facilities.

The house is at the top of a short mountain road and consists of: sala/lounge with log burner and stove, double door and window onto views, large kitchen/dining room with small wood burner stove/oven and separate gas cooker, bathroom with shower (from hot water tank), wooden stairs to two upstairs bedrooms (one is currently used as an extra sitting room and has a sofa bed), whilst the other has a wonderfully comfortable double bed. With the peace and quiet at night, the mountain air, and the bedroom shutters closed it's impossible not to sleep very well indeed!

Whenever we go we tend to mix travelling around the local area and tourist trails with walking and mountain biking. We have two Cannondale mountain bikes available for hire (£15/week each) if you would like to use them.

Sala	Looking down onto the village from the National Park
Nestled in the oak trees, mountains and meadows

To see more photos please visit http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/15009

The Tuscany region

The Valtiberina (high Tiber valley) area of Tuscany is quieter and more unspoilt than the westerly parts and yet has some fantastic attractions of its own, including the Piero della Francesa trail (Sansepolcro is 15mins from house, Monterchi 25mins), Anghiari, Caprese Michelangelo (Michelangelo's birthplace), La Verna (where St Francis received his stigmata). It is however within easy day trip reach of Florence (1 1/2 hrs or a stunning 2 hour drive through the rolling hills), Lucca and Pisa (2 hours), Siena (1 1/2 hours), Chianti (1 hr) and the beautiful Arno valley (45 mins). The area also has the advantage of being close to the Adriatic Riviera (1 hour), San Marino, Umbertide, Perugia (45 mins), and Assisi. The E45 motorway which runs 5km from the house connects with the Bologna/Ravenna area to the north and Rome to the south (Rome is 2 1/4 hours away).

Whenever we go we tend to mix travelling around the local area and tourist trails with walking and mountain biking. We have two Cannondale mountain bikes available for hire (£15/week) if you would like to use them.

Arezzo / Sansepolcro area

Highlights for us include Sansepolcro and its buildings, churches and Piero della Francesca paintings, Monterchi (a wonderful hilltop Tuscan town with the Madonna del Parto on display), La Verna and its monastery, stunning Anghiari, Arezzo and its antiques market (and scenes from Life is Beautiful), and the fantastic fruit and vegetables at the local market in Pieve Santo Stefano (and the fresh pasta shop there too!).

We send a guide to local markets and restaurants to guests. The quality of the food in the valtiberina area is tremendous and, even better, the prices are low as the area is not as "touristy" as the rest of Tuscany. There are a number of great restaurants within an easy drive of the cottage. At weekends, there is also a local, rural pizzeria run by a local family which does fantastic pizzas (we recommend the calzone in particular) at great prices - 2 calzoni, bruschette, wine & water for €14!.

We have a pile of maps and guides to the area available for use at the house and would definitely recommend the Sansepolcro tourist office if you need more information. One of our favourite books has a number of waymarked walking and mountain biking trails (including to La Verna) which start or can be joined from the house and wind their way through the forest trails, plains and natural parks. www.valtibike.com is also useful for these.

If you are a keen cyclist you will particularly love the area, whether it is for mountain biking or road. As with many places in Italy, you'll see lots of club cyclists out on the weekends taking advantage of the good weather, clean mountain air and quiet, stunning roads. We're keen to develop the house for cycle holidays as it's a passion of ours.

The house is also a real haven for walkers and lovers of wildlife. The area is criss-crossed by many way-marked trails, often passing through the local forest and into the Casentino national park which borders the village. At Gualanciole (slightly further up the valley) a new visitor centre is being built which will focus on Tuscan flora and fauna. Gualanciole is also an important junction for many of the way-marked trails e.g. the St Francis trail and the route to nearby La Verna.

How to get there

We tend to fly Ryanair to Bologna Forli, Perugia, Pisa, Florence, Bologna, Rome Ciampino, or Ancona. Any budget airline to those airports, Florence, Perugia or Rimini would be ideal.

You do need a car to get to the house, and to see some of the best sites in the area. For car hire we have found Hertz (if accessed via Ryanair) cheapest, or holidayautos. You can either pick the car up from the airport, or get the train to Arezzo or Florence and collect a car there.

Being so close to nature at the cottage makes us very aware of the impact our travelling has. We’re hoping in the long term to make the cottage much more environmentally friendly, we’re already trying to re-use, and recycle as much as we can and think about the things we buy like cleaning products and light-bulbs. The wood we use to heat the house comes from local sources and the forestry is managed responsibly. In the longer term we’d really love to start using the summer sun and the winter winds to produce the energy that we use.

We've also been looking at carbon offsetting and in particular the idea of tree planting. Carbon offsetting is a relatively new, and controversial, area. It’s widely acknowledged that there’s no substitute for just not producing the emissions but we’d like to do what we can. From the information we could find it seems there is controversy over whether tree planting works. We therefore looked at something a bit broader, and which also had the appeal of a community/aid element too.

Flying is the way that most of us get around Europe and it not only tends to produce high emissions but it also produces them high up in the atmosphere which causes more damage. For each person who books with us and gets to Italy by air we will contribute to the International Communities Portfolio from the Carbon Neutral Company. We thought this was a good way to make a positive difference to communities around the world. We’ll send you an email with the details (we thought the posting of a certificate might undo a little of the good work!)

If you’re travelling by car or train then we’ll give you a £5 discount from your bill unless you’d like us to contribute to the fund for you.

You don't have to fly to get to the house. We have made a couple of trips by car from the UK which were fantastic (even, or especially, in an 17 year old Panda!). There are some great routes you can take, some avoiding most of the tolls too. Let us know if you'd like details.

We have also travelled by train from London to Florence and then hired a car locally. The train ride is fantastic! Again, let us know and we can give you details.

Activities near Arezzo

Facilities

Further details indoors:
The cottage is rustic and simple in style, with cotto tiled floors downstairs, wooden (chestnut) floors upstairs and beautiful exposed wood beams throughout. There are wood-burning stoves in the living room and kitchen and an ample supply of logs for the cooler months.
There is a good sized double bedroom with a breathtaking view of the mountain and national park - the perfect sight when opening the shutters in the morning. Upstairs there is also a second bedroom, again a good size and with the same wonderful view. We use this room as a second lounge or occasional bedroom as the stairs open out to it. Hence the house is ideal for one couple and this is how we have listed it, but could also be suitable for a group of up to four friends. There may be a small additional supplement for extra bedding if using the house for more than two people.

Further details outdoors:
The house looks on to the Monte Nero national park and has stunning views over and down the valley. There is a small private space immediately in front of the house for a table for two, but the land to the side of the house is shared and we use it for parking and to place our table to eat and sit outside. The house is in a tiny, friendly viillage where there are other (Italian) holiday homes. From (approx) Easter to November there is a weekend pizzeria 5 minutes walk away in the village. Otherwise, the nearest restaurant is 5 minutes drive away at the bottom of the valley (near the motorway junction).

Further details

Cannondale mountain bikes available for hire - £15/week each.

House is a classic Tuscan mountain cottage and therefore simple and rustic in style. This simplicity is exactly the house's appeal and is also reflected in the rental price.

Conditions

Given the house's rustic nature (it has an open wooden staircase) we do not recommend it for small children.

Please see our personal website for booking terms and conditions.

Rental rates

Period	From	To	Weekly	Nightly rate		Minimum  stay
				Weekday	Weekend
Autumn Off Peak 2009	3 Oct 09	19 Dec 09	200£ 200	0-	0-	1 Week
Christmas Peak	19 Dec 09	9 Jan 10	270£ 270	0-	0-	1 Week
Winter Off Peak 2010	9 Jan 10	4 Apr 10	220£ 220	0-	0-	4 Nights
2010 Peak	4 Apr 10	3 Oct 10	280£ 280	0-	0-	4 Nights

NB: Prices may be subject to change at the advertiser's discretion.

Mid week or weekend bookings may be possible on request.

We are very happy to discuss discounts for multiple week bookings.

Clean bed linen will be ready for you on your arrival - what we ask is that you make your beds up when you arrive and then leave the bed linen in the laundry basket when you leave and leave the house clean and tidy. Towels can be provided on request.

In winter months we now need to add a supplement for firewood of £25 per week. We've resisted this as long as we could.

Guestbook for Tuscan Mountain Cottage

A selection of comments from our guestbook - you can look on our personal website for every comment we've received.

Thank you for a lovely stay in your charming and rustic cottage. We have visited some beautiful areas and particularly loved the hilltop towns of Poppi and Citerna. Also we have so amazed by the beautiful and wonderful stars at night - stunning!! The fresh air and warm, sunny days have been so welcome. Thanks again.

(Laura and Alan, 2nd - 9th August2008)

We've had a wonderful 4 weeks and the cottage has been a great base camp for us to visit all the wonderfil surrounding towns, cities and countryside. Our battle with the local insect life was a tough one but we came through and the wildlife here is spectacular. Our favourites were the Wild Boar and the young Fox, the sandy bend in the road up is a nature hot spot it would seem. This is where we saw the 3 Boar, Fox and Buzzards.
Some places we found lovely that haven't been mentioned were San Leo, near San Marino (amazing), Fano for the beache and nearby Bagno di Romagna is a lovely little town and Restaurant Canacole in a converted church we highly recommend. Now we have to tear ourselves away from here! Thank you very much! (Stephen and Elina, 28th June - 26th July 2008)

A most beautiful cottage to recapture what is most important in life, food, peace, beauty and love. Look forward to enjoying this most special place once again. (Michelle and Rod, 26th January 2008)

What a beautiful place. We have basked in hot sunshine and appreciated the wood burner in the cooler evenings. The simplicity of life is so good for us all in contrast to our hectic lifestyles. All eating-places fun and especially the pizzeria in the village.
We have travelled to all major towns and visited many wonderful buildings and viewed a rich and wealthy range of art and sculptures.
(Rachel, David, Jess and Caroline, 8th - 23rd August 2007)

"What an enchanting place to stay with only the welcome sound of birdsong to disturb the peace....and what a perfect location to explore the wonders of Tuscany and Umbria......We've enjoyed our stay very much and are sad to leave this special place." (Edward and Nuala, March 2007)

"What a wonderful place! We loved drinking our coffee outside in the mornings, enjoying the beautiful views and relaxing in front of the crackling fire in the evenings. Assisi was our favourite place, but also throroughly enjoyed exploring Gubbio, Sansepolcro and Citta di Castello. A big thank you for giving our honeymoon the perfect start........" (Ken and Kate, November 2006)

Availability

See below for next 9 months' availability - to see the next 24 months click here

Send Enquiry

To contact this advertiser please visit: http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/15009

Contact details for the advertiser of home 15009
Name:	David Worrall
Mobile:	+44 7977 422628
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Advertiser joined: Sep 2006

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