Sunny day at last

Beautiful sunny day today - about time. Working from home as lots of calls.
Jayne and George headed up to London this afternoon to see Vivienne & Angela, go to the Royal Academy and also the Globe to see Othello (tommorrow night). They are also going to see our lawyer re italian apartment.

Dinner was rump steak on the barbeque, a glass of red wine and then relaxing outside watching the sun go down.

Gary called re problems with his new computer. Faxed George's school report to Mum & Dad.

Added an entry for the leadership course I went on at Ashridge Business School.

About Virgoletta

The village of Virgoletta developed along the main street on a spur of solid rock with the church and the piazza at one end and the castle at the other, where the archbishop of Canterbury stayed in the 10th century on his way to Rome.
Along the main street you will find doors, windows and other fine examples of mediaeval decoration. The castle has an elegant courtyard with an attractive double staircase. Virgoletta was a stop on the Via Francigena – the route from Canterbury to Rome.

Draft contract & George in Weymouth

Cycled into work today.

Received first draft contract for apartment - a preliminary agreement to buy.

George went to Weymouth with Isabel from school. They are staying at her Grandmothers.

Went to La Flamma restaurant in Bath for dinner and reviewed contract.

Floods and work outside

Dreadful weekend for floods in the UK - especially Worcester, Gloucestershire and Tweaksbury.

Did work outside - weeding and another session on Render removal.

Cycled into work

Lovely fine day - nice change after all the cold and rain. Cycled into work.
Second day of the stone masons fixing the front door porch

Back to work

Back to work today.
Stone masons started working fixing/moving the front porch so that it sits better against the house. This is needed once all the rendering gets removed
Jayne got Dad's Lodge Sash framed (pics above) - also some papers from Roger & lodge. They look great.
Heard back from one of the solicitors re apartment.
Lovely evening - hamburgers on the BBQ, dinner outside and then grass mowing.

Home again, weeding & fire

Cold, windy and wet - in fact we started a fire to dry things out. Is this the middle of July?
General tidying up around the house and weeding outside - in between showers.

Emailed a number of lawyers re Italian property - waiting for response.

First caffe from new coffee machine - very good indeed, although need to get the grinding right.

Evening was spent sorting photos and doing the Blog.

Troyes to home

Fairly uneventful drive home. First on A roads to Reims and then on motoway to Dunkerque with a dash to the ferry. Missed the 14:00 by about 15 mins and caught the 16:00. Home about 21:30 - noticing that the temperature had dropped to about 12C.

Torino to Troyes

First task was to work out what route to take on the way back - through Switzerland (Mont Blanc) or through France. Decided on France. Very hot (upto 35C) and fine day.

Collected car from car park and headed out from Torino on small roads - slow going. Got onto motorways and headed upto and through Frejus tunnel - pretty amazing - 12km long and a cost of 30€. Very pretty drive through the French alps near Grenoble.

Continued north past Lyon towards Dijon and went on small roads again through the Burgundy wine region - passing Macon, Measault & Puligny-Montrachet - just south of Beaune. Onto the motoway (and tolls again) finally ending up at Troyes.

Ever heard of Troyes? No we hadn't either - it is here - southeast of Paris. Very interesting. Stayed in a nice IBIS hotel in the center, very reasonably priced - 75€. Troyes has many timber-framed houses and is host to a number of champage festivals. Good dinner of Steak & Frites outside - the last of our holiday. Not many restaurants open on Sunday evening.

Troyes: Typical street, FT-Orange Shop & Dinner

Troyes: main square and wooden-framed house

Around Torino

Early start and one of the first stops was a wonderful espresso and pastries in a cafe in Piazza Carlo Felice. Wandered up Via Roma and bought some clothes for George in Zara.

Further wandering northwards through Via Lagrange and Piazza San Carlo - I'm sure this was one of the places "The Italian Job" was shot. Ended up at the main food market. Fantastic place with mountains of wonderful fruit, veg, meat and fish. Bought some coffee and cheese. Back to hotel for a rest via excellent chocolate shops/cafes Peyrano and Platti.

Back out again once the shops opened and did some more shopping - including a new Gaggia coffee machine in red. Dinner at a local restaurant- pizzas and risotto - nothing special.

Torino - Piazza San Carlo, cakes in Platti and Fish market

Goodbye Pontremoli - Hello Alba & Torino

Finished packing at the hotel and met William again for some more viewing. 3 more properties at Villafranca & Mulazzo.
Returned to Virgoletta for second look at apartment - good as the first time.
Drove up to Torino stopping at Alba for lunch/afternoon tea. Were impressed with Alba - some great food shops. Had a beautiful glass of Asti Spumante Brut - nothing at all like the fizzy pop we've had in the past.
Visited a great truffle shop (Tartufi) and bought some bits and pieces. The lady was very friendly - her husband is president of the Italian Truffle association. An invitation to go truffling in October is open!
Short drive up to Torino and no problems finding hotel (Urbani) - although it was difficult to park. Dinner at a local restaurant.

Shops in Alba

Virgoletta apartment

Our apartment is in the medieval village of Virgoletta, a few minutes from Villafranca in Lunigiana and about 1 hour north 0f Pisa. Click here for the location.

It was built in the 1300's and orginally was a tailors dwelling (note the scissors above the door). It has a double bedroom, sitting room, large kitchen/breakfast room, bathroom and a fantastic terrace with views across valley. Inside has been completely restored - exposing the orginal stone and vaulted brick ceiling. Other features include a handmade chestnut kitchen with marble tops, solid wood bedroom wardrobes, marble floors and a cellar.

Village of Virgoletta, entrance to apartment

Views from terrace

Terrace; Kitchen looking towards terrace; Sitting room floor

Sitting room; Bedroom; Bedroom looking towards kitchen

Cantina (Cellar)

Pool and Virgoletta apartment

Quiet day spent packing and by the hotel pool.

Went to Bagnone late afternoon for an ice-cream and look at some properties. Main one of interest was in Virgoletta (see here).

Excellent dinner back at hotel.

Towards Portofino & shopping

In the morning went to Pontremoli market - only the clothing part. Later drove around and up the coast towards Portofino. Beautiful scenary with views over the water. Ended up at Lavagna for lunch by the beach.
After we got back it was shopping in Aulla.
Had real problems finding a restaurant open for dinner and finally ended up in Villafranca.

Lavagna beach, Bagnone castle & old town

First properties with William

Pontremoli & Bagnone main squares

Met William the estate agent at 09:00 for a look at three properties in and around Pontremoli. Nothing really suitable.

Had coffee in main square of Pontremoli.

Back to the hotel for a salad lunch by the pool. Rain in the afternoon - again

Dinner was at Bagnone pizza restaurant - a favourite!

Pontremoli properties

Hills around Pontremoli

Spent most of the morning driving through the hills around Pontremoli. Had coffee in Patigno in the Zeri valley. Beautiful scenery however many of the villages were too remote for us for a holiday house. We want something fairly close to the main motorway.

Everyone was very friendly and the lady in the Patigno cafe was very interested in my map - the fact that it was from England and I had a local butcher and restaurants mentioned.

Headed to a restaurant in Crocetta di Mulazzo (Rustichello) only to find it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays - a bit of a recurring theme we found. Absolutely stunning view though. Eventually we returned to Pontremoli and had lunch in a place we had visited before. Nice balcony overlooking the river.

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta and swim. As normal for this time of year there was thunder, lightning & rain in the afternoon - followed by sunshine.
Salad on the hotel balcony for dinner

View from Mulazzo, view from hotel, hotel pool

Belgium to Italy

Another beautiful fine day and after breakfast at the hotel we were on the road by 09:00. Excellent drive, mainly on motorways down to Switzerland and then very pretty drive through the mountains. Went over the Goschenen pass as there was a huge queue in the tunnel. Big difference in temperature between the top of the pass and down on the flats in Italy.

Eventually got to the hotel in Pontremoli about 10:30 after many miles (1000Km) and hours on the road.

For our route - Click here

Goschenen Pass Switzerland

Off to Italy - 07/07/07

Bath Abbey, Leaving Dover & The White Cliffs

Last minute packing then in to Bath for breakfast and to drop George off at the school Commemoration Service at Bath Abbey - start time 10:30

At about 12:00 we were on the road heading for Dover. A fine but very windy day and a nice drive to the ports. Managed to get on an earlier ferry (by 5 minutes) with a sailing at 16:00. Had some dinner on the boat.

From Dunkerque we drove to Namur on Belgium, an interesting and pretty place by the river, well worth further exploration.

Namur Belgium - Castle & Our hotel