It's been a great month here in Tuscany, blue skies and happy guests - what more could we ask for? Our new pool heater and solar cover have been working well - a great improvement on our old system. We recorded a pool temperature of 31 degrees on Saturday! We had a little six month old staying the week before last - his mum said it felt like bath time every day all day! Ha ha.. Again our lovely guests have been using the CL facilities, taking their youngsters out on the bikes and when I visit the house to water the plants I can hear little delighted voices in the play room. And we've already had 6 five star reviews, must be a record for the time of year! Steve the scarecrow is doing his job nicely and the strawberries are coming along a treat as are the tomatoes. Leigh's mum was here for two weeks at the beginning of May so we had a great time with her. Cortona is one of her favourite places so we didn't need to be asked twice to visit - I love love love Cortona. It is such a beautiful town and only a forty minute drive from Casa Leana. We had lunch in the place under the theatre - really nice food and a great price. Other than that we spent ALOT of time eating cakes and ice cream and drinking coffee and Prosecco! We had a lovely catch up with some friends on Sunday.. A delicious meal and wine (obviously) and a walk around our local village. I think that's it - still mowing and strimming quite a lot and because of the sunny days, lots of watering. Casa Leana is at its best this time of year - all the roses and jasmin are coming out and the lavender are just about to flower. And poppies are everywhere you look in the surrounding areas! Happy times. D I A N A xxx
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Woo hoo.. our 2022 season has kicked off! And our first two groups were really lovely. One of them has already booked for next year which is always a great feeling for us knowing they've had a wonderful holiday and we are really looking forward to seeing them next April! The weather has been sunny so far this month and, like I've said in the past, it is so great that life is back to normal which we are appreciating even more than we did before. One thing that didn't go quite according to plan was the planting of our tomatoes. Soon after we put them out there was an unexpected frost so when we went to clean the pool the week before last, we noticed they were all brown and frozen (!). Such a "school boy" error! We don't have any guests for a week at the end of April so we can do bits and pieces like that although my main plan is to sit by the pool if we don't get a late booking! The garden at Casa Leana is looking lovely as always at this time of year, very green and lush. It does mean lots of mowing and strimming though but we bought a new lawnmower (for me) and strimmer (for Leigh) so all good! And it keeps us fit... After a busy few weeks we took ourselves off to Arezzo (I know I am loving Arezzo at the moment!) and had some lunch in the sunny piazza and I managed to pick up a pair of trainers in another sale. Unbelievable, the amount of things I am finding in the sales here recently. It is possible that nobody else likes the styles I go for and they are completely old hat but hey ho... As well as lunch we had a couple of glasses of wine, shortly after which I realised I'd forgotten about the yoga session I'd planned with the girls that afternoon, so just got back in time for some wonky yoga poses! Ha ha.. Hope you're all having a lovely Easter weekend! Roast dinner and Yorkshire puddings for us followed by chocolate and more chocolate (and Prosecco of course)! D I A N A xxx
Another busy month as we're still getting everything at CL ready for our first group who arrive on 2 April! A lot of the gardening stuff has to be done last minute (after the cold weather has disappeared) so we have been packing it all in this month - we are both just falling into bed after long days in the garden but it all looks great! The new wrought iron fence, pergola, wine room door and window guard have been fitted and look gorgeous. We're so lucky to have these artisan businesses right on our doorstep. The new pool heater is working perfectly - it reached its goal of 29 degrees after a few days of being installed. We are so happy with it! And our new solar pool cover is doing its job too. I painted the (very long) wooden railing in the CL garden and we put the tomato plants in and I have also put some freesia bulbs in which I am hoping will add a bit of colour to the garden and the smell is of course, wonderful! Inside the house, for some reason I decided to paint the beams in the kiddies play room. I've wanted to this for ages as I thought it would make it a lot brighter with a white ceiling rather than the brown wooden beams. I was (obviously!) right, it does look better but those beams and terracotta tiles take a lot of paint and painting a ceiling is messy work - I had more on me and the floor than on the ceiling at the end of it! We had Sunday lunch with some friends at Casa Leana which we like to do a few times every year. The kitchen lends itself so well to having a large group together chatting etc. although I am not sure cooking a massive roast dinner in front of seven people is ideal from my point of view. Dishing up is the worst bit, I tend to get a bit antsy with Leigh if things don't go according to plan as he is my helper for those last ten minutes. Poor thing! It's not all been work work work, Leigh managed to get a couple of days ski-ing in during March. One of our friends found a lovely little ski resort a couple of hours away (Abetone) just north of Florence. He hasn't been ski-ing for a few years and really misses it so it was a nice break for him. Apparently it's a really lovely resort with a variety of mixed level ability runs and the perfect combination of quiet pistes and a great little network of ski lifts. Great for a couple of days ski-ing. Unfortunately I don't ski and I think I'm a bit too old to learn now plus I'm not a great fan of heights so... I'm pretty sure I would enjoy the apres ski though! Apart from that nothing more to report. The fun really starts when the guests arrive. It sounds a bit mad but it means we can relax a bit as we can't do anything in the house although that CL garden still takes a bit of time! Can't complain - roll on summer and more lovely guests! D I A N A xxx
Just got back from the UK, a bit later than usual - we had such a great time with family and friends. My mum's 90th (!) birthday was of course the highlight of the trip. Back to reality now but not before a little break in Lake Maggiore which was wonderful - we love the Italian lakes and luckily the weather was blue skies all the way. Since getting back to Casa Leana we have been super busy. This is one of my favourite times of the year as we're getting the house and gardens ready - it means I can feed my spending habit without feeling guilty! We have a new pool heater and solar pool cover being fitted as we speak. The wrought iron fence and pergola are both being installed on Monday and I have bought new bedding and towels and a beautiful mirror and wall art for the twin room. Also there is a "little bit" of work to be done in the garden. Over the last few weeks we have been cutting hedges, pruning trees, sanding and painting the decking and Leigh has put a new roof on the shed. Still lots to do - always a pinch point at this time of year as we have to wait until the warmer weather comes before we can do any planting. Six weeks and counting until our first group arrive. Very very excited! D I A N A xxx
Not much to do on the Casa Leana front in December. The grass has stopped growing thankfully along with everything else in the garden. As mentioned in my October blog we've ordered some wrought iron fencing, a lovely new pergola for the top garden and some window guards for Casa Leana. We are told the work will be complete in February so watch this space for the finished articles. We're also planning on putting another pergola overlooking the vineyard at the bottom of the garden and updating the flower bed on the top lawn with some new plants and surrounds - I told you we get excited about what some people might call boring projects! We returned to the UK this month for my mum's special birthday and to spend time with our families over the festive period - we've had a wonderful time and are really looking forward to our 2022 season. Not before I've been to the sales! D I A N A xxx
We had another really wonderful fun group of guests staying at Casa Leana for the October half term (our last week of the season). They went for a bike rides on the CL complimentary bikes, drank wine, played games while the kids were in bed and apparently enjoyed all the other facilities we have to offer. We never tire of hearing about what our guests get up to during their stay, it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that they are enjoying themselves at Casa Leana. So that's it for another season.. We closed the pool last week, covered all the garden furniture and brought in the hammocks, wrapped up the lemon tree, dug up all the veggies and put Steve the Scarecrow in the shed, he was in bits, poor thing, and will need a lot of attention as usual in the spring! With all that done, we took ourselves off to Bagno di Rimagno for a welcome break It is a little spa town about forty minutes drive from Casa Leana. Leigh took his beloved road bike so was able to get out for a few rides while I had some pampering spa treatments. We both enjoyed a few sessions in the thermal pools so we are feeling very relaxed for the run up to Christmas. We have most of our gift shopping done now so are planning to enjoy the festive markets that will begin soon here in Tuscany. A lot of our friends who live here are heading off around the globe to visit family over Christmas and New Year so we had our last get together of 2021 over the weekend which was lovely. Have a great November. D I A N A xxx
October is one of my favourite months here. The L'Intrepida takes place and the autumn festivals are well under way. L’Intrepida is an annual bike event where many of the (fitter) locals get involved in cycling around our local area on old bicycles wearing vintage clothes. This year we followed the cyclists through the hilltop towns and villages in our little Fiat 500. Such a fun day and without realizing it, my attire for the day had a vintage feel! (Many of the villagers also dress up in vintage clothes as you will see from the images below). With some tweed culottes and a weird hat I bought many years ago, I totally looked the part. I am seriously contemplating going the full hog next year. I have a faux fur cape that would be perfect, one that I bought to put over an evening dress (when I actually wore evening dresses) and that I thought I would never wear again but hey... I'm not sure Leigh is ready for plus fours yet though! Ha ha. It was a lovely day and the weather was beautiful too. The chestnuts are being harvested now which means you often see cars parked up on the side of the road and locals collecting the fallen chestnuts. And for those of us that can’t tell a chestnut tree from an oak(!) you can always find a chestnut fare on somewhere. So we popped up to Caprese Michelangelo one morning to get some chestnuts, look around the stalls and have a coffee and cake of course. There is always home made wine on offer which allegedly goes with chestnuts but I really don’t like it which is unusual because it is wine after all! It just tastes a bit like alcoholic Ribena. I have never been a fan of chestnuts either to be honest, mainly because neither Leigh nor I knew what to do with them and because they look a bit like conkers. But last year our lovely neighbour left a bag of chestnuts outside our front door so we thought it was about time we looked up cooking instructions to see what all the fuss is about. With a bit of trial and error we (Leigh) managed to get some to the point where they tasted absolutely delicious and not like conkers at all. So we felt like proper Italians at the fare, buying a massive bag of chestnuts to cook over our open fire with our holey frying pan. Yum. The Casa Leana garden is looking very autumnal - we have some little trees on the top lawn that have the most beautiful red leaves. All of which have now fallen and they even look beautiful on the ground.. Or is that just me being weird?! So the end of the season is near which means project time when we can get on with new and exciting projects. The ultimate plan, as always, is to improve and update Casa Leana. We have a few already in progress. We know an amazing metal work company who we have charged with fencing our parking area and an external gate on our wine room. I know it sounds crazy but we still get excited about projects! We are also putting a new larger pergola on the top garden and moving that one to the garden overlooking the vineyard. I love project time. Sad but true. Watch this space for more projects (once I think of them!). I think that's it. We have had some lovely guests from the UK for the last two weeks enjoying the CL heated pool. It really feels like things are getting back to normal just in time for the last week of the season! We are looking forward to a bumper 2022, having already sold 28 weeks - a new Casa Leana record. Have a lovely week... D I A N A xxx
It has been a hectic few weeks here in Tuscany. We have had some lovely guests from the UK staying at Casa Leana and family and friends staying with us. Blissful. We have been missing our loved ones so much over the last eighteen months, even more so than usual. We found a fabulous new restaurant and had a wine and olive oil tasting, followed by lunch, both venues with the most breathtaking scenery.. can't get away from fabulous views here in Tuscany! We took Leigh's dad and step mum to Montepulciano and Cortona, two of my favourite towns! We also found some great new places to eat and frequented some old, tried and tested haunts. It all felt so normal and I cannot tell you how lucky I feel to be doing all these kinds of things - I am pretty sure we won't be taking them for granted ever again. Shortly after Leigh's family left, our lovely friend, Mo, arrived and we started the process of going out and enjoying ourselves all over again, phew. The only drawback is that I haven't been on my bike for over four weeks so my bottom was feeling rather large in a pair of jeans I tried on yesterday! Hmmm. We have some more friends arriving at the beginning of November which makes us both very happy and smiley as you can imagine although I do need to get on my bike in between visits otherwise once I come out of my baggy summer trousers it will be very emotional trying to fit into my winter attire! The temperatures have been perfect this month for site seeing, not too hot but with beautiful blue skies. I think that's it. We don't have any guests this week so we are taking advantage of the Casa Leana pool in this glorious weather. Have a great week. D I A N A xxx
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Welcome to my blog...Just a little insight into our lives here. After eleven years of living in Tuscany I thought it was about time to have a go at blogging when one of my lovely friends said she had received (what she thought!) was an extremely funny text from me, hmmm.. How difficult can it be?!
D I A N A xxx
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October 2023
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