Walk your socks off in the Apuane Alps. The views across the mountains to the Tyrrhenian Sea are glorious. And so are Ailsa’s picnics: home-grown salads, local pecorino, sweet pies baked that morning.
She and Jamie took on this remote farm in 2003. They cultivated the terraces (cherries, apricots, olives, vines), strung hammocks between the trees, and breathed new life into Lavacchio. Now, two rustically elegant retreats (La Stalla, an apartment in the farmhouse, and La Fattoria, close by) are filled with comfort and light. The saltwater pool has dreamy views and there’s ping-pong under the loggia.
Molezzana, 2.5km, is big enough for a post office, bar and bread shop. The treasures of Lucca are a 50-minute drive. Return to rain showers, books, paintings, antiques, friendly wood-fired pizza nights, and dinners under the stars.
This is a small piece of heaven which I can hardly bear to recommend because we want to keep it to ourselves forever. Jamie and Ailsa are the most generous and wonderful hosts - the food is exceptional and the house unbelievably comfortable - and their farm is in the most unspoilt and magical of places. We loved every minute of our holiday and wished we could have stayed forever.