Rendola Riding

The house where our guests stay is surrounded by vineyards, olive groves and woods of oak, pine and chestnut and has a wonderful view over the Arno valley. Outside it has the typical characteristics of a seventeenth century farmhouse, with its small tower, arches and outside staircase; while inside the floors are of terracotta and the ceilings have oak or chestnut beams.

Rendola Riding has six bedrooms for guests, each with its own bathroom. They are painted in pastel colours and have brightly coloured curtains and bedspreads (why are they a dismal brown in so many hotels?). The furniture is traditional and there are pictures on the walls and shelves full of books.

In a spacious dining-room you can enjoy the excellent Tuscan cooking of Franca and Sergio, Jenny's colleagues, who use our own farm produce where possible. The comfortable sitting-room with its fireplace is where guests gather to read and chat: there is a collection of classical music and a rich library which spills into the corridors.

Don't be surprised to find a novel left open on a table, a cat curled up on the sofa or a jacket hanging from a chair: they bear witness to the fact that this is a family home which you are invited to share as honoured guests. If you look out of your bedroom window in the morning you will see horses grazing among the olive trees, in the spring you will hear birdsong (nightingales sing night AND day), you will smell wisteria and jasmin. Yes, it's a different world