Farmhouse getaway in Manciano

Before going to Finland I felt I really needed a little getaway with my family. Daniele had left already for his summer job in Finland, but I booked a night in a farmhouse in Tuscany for the rest of the family. I had been there once with Sofia and knew it was a beautiful place. My husband didn't want to go, he never feels any need to get away with the family, but I insisted and in the end he was quite happy, too.
We left on Saturday morning and our first stop was Orbetello and Porto Ercole at the coast. We ate a pick nick lunch and went to the Feniglia beach. The weather was variable with sun and quite dark clouds.
Then we went to the farm house Le Macchie Alte in Manciano. We went to the pool, but it got really cool after a while, so I kept my clothes on and read my book a little. I went for my run out in the wood round the farmhouse. There was a trekking path with really steep slopes, but now I felt so warm and exhausted I had to walk most of time uphills.

In the evening we had a lovely dinner together with the other guests. It was really nice, because there was a big table and everyone sat together and they brought the same kind of food to all the table. It was delicious and the company was nice, so in the end the restaurant owners left us there chatting and told us just to put off the lights when we were ready.

The breakfast was delicious, too with home made jam and fresh ricotta. Carlotta and two Dutch-Italian girls had made friends and today the weather was warm, so we stayed at the pool till lunch time. Very nice! Would have loved to stay a few more nights, but we had to get back to Rome to work, say bye to the horses and prepare our suitcases for Finland. We stopped in a small village called Pitigliano which is built out of tuff-stone. It started raining while we were there, but soon stopped again. Me and Carlotta wanted to bathe in the hot springs in Saturnia, so we stopped there on our way back home. More of these week-ends, please!

Week 28 - Night bathing in the hot springs

This week had been really stressy for me with lots of work and very little sleep. I felt I didn't have time to enjoy summer at all just sitting in front of the computer. My friend had the great idea to go and have a night bath at the hot springs. This summer had been unusually cool in Rome and nights weren't so warm, so a relaxing warm bath would be more than welcome. The springs where we wanted to go didn't have warm water, so we found another place a bit further away, out in the countryside near Viterbo. They were open till midnight and had three pools with warm water. Although I was very tired having got very little sleep lately, the warm bath really cheered me up and it wasn't even too hard to drive back home 1 1/2 hours late in the night, although Sofia didn't keep me company, but fell asleep a few km from the springs. Carlotta stayed over at a friend's house, which was good, because it would have been quite tiring for her, so we went with the big girls. Lucky to have a friend as crazy as me, willing to drive 130 km to get a night bath at the hot springs!

Week 27 - A sporty week

This week Daniele went to Finland. For the first time we didn't leave together. He had got a summer job for a few weeks starting in the beginning of july in Lovisa, the small town where his friends live. So he is staying at their house while we are still here in Italy.
This week was an important week also for Sofia, because it was the week of the Italian Pony Show Jumping Championships. The first day went very well and Sofia and Topaz got the third prize. The next two days they made small errors and in the end she was 17th. Well done anyway!
Me and Carlotta also partecipated in a running event with Armando one evening. It was a charity run of a few km in Eur and after that we had a swim in an out door pool, so it was very nice. Carlotta rode her bike.

Week 26 - Exams over for Sofia

Not a very good photo, but an important moment anyway. This year Sofia finished her "Scuola Media" and this means they had to do exams, first written ones and in the end an oral examination. This week it was finally over and Sofia's summer holiday could start. She celebrated it in the evening by eating a huge bun filled with ice cream in the Sicilian ice cream shop that's near our house.

Week 25 - Apricots

We got so many apricots this year from our tree, so we didn't buy any fruit for weeks. In the end we got quite tired of apricots, but in the beginning they always taste delicious. Of course we made jam out of them, too.
Carlotta and her friend having an apricot pick nick in our garden.

Week 24 - My birthday

On Saturday week 24 it was my birthday. Me and Carlotta made a good strawberry cake and we celebrated in the evening by going to our favourite pizzeria, which is at a walking distance from our house. I also got some birthday presents - a book from my husband and some horse things from my children. After the pizza evening at the restaurant we came home to eat the birthday cake.

Some more photos from the evening: