The beamed ceilings and wooden lintels have remained, there is some exposed stone wall and we have had cottage-style doors hand-made to complete the effect. There are three double bedrooms, one with twin beds, so the cottage will sleep six as standard, and there is room for extra single beds on request. The photographs show the cottage lounge, which has satellite TV and a DVD player, the kitchen and the smallest bedroom.

Friends who have seen it have been very complimentary and commented on its spaciousness – the floor area is in the order of 100 square metres. All that remains to be completed is fixing the satellite dish to the roof.

If you would like to enquire about renting Wisteria Cottage, please e mail me; the grape harvest season and all its festivities is upon us and, allowing for some rainy days, the weather is generally very equable until the end of October.

No rest for me though, or for our builders, who have now transferred to our farmhouse at Casa della Fontana. Already in 2008 we have had an earthmoving ‘experience’ and the rear of the property opened up – you can now drive a car around it – with a new retaining wall, rear terrace (currently just concrete) and completely renewed drains.

This was by way of preparation for the opening up and installation of a new rear door, five new rear windows and French doors, these being to the new kitchen, laundry room, pantry and a downstairs wc, and provision is being made for the installation of a pellet burning boiler, and hopefully some solar heating for hot water, at a later stage.

After the builders have gone home, we use the onset of evening to set to in the Vineyards, where we have replanted several hundred new vines to fill ‘gaps’ in the rows that the previous owner had allowed to accumulate – several vines die each year and over time this can build up.

Disturbing the ground to get the young plants in opened it up for the invasion of all sorts of opportunist vegetation which we ‘zap’ – the Italian word for hoe - and at the same time we are trying, with not a great deal of success at the moment, to keep some of the other land that we cleared last winter free from regeneration of brambles, bamboo and other unwelcome residents. At least we will get a good crop of blackberries again.

At the moment, the focus is on the family. Our eldest son Robert married Rachel back home in Yorkshire in mid-August, so we have been to and fro to the UK more regularly this Summer with all the organisation and preparations, and just before the wedding William jetted off the Amsterdam to join his elder brother and friends for a Gentlemans’ Weekend, so Bob was up at 4.00am again to get him to Milan Malpensa airport.

We have also found time for some relaxation, particularly with several friends who have made it over to Piedmont to check out what we are up to. This has been an ideal opportunity to introduce them to Piedmontese cuisine and wine, and to show them the local sights. The general view seems to be ‘so much to see, so little time’.

We are looking forward to indulging in a spot of relaxation before school starts. Edward and Oliver do not go back until mid-September and the Riviera beaches will still be very welcoming, yet uncrowded, as the whole of Italy will have returned to work.

Recently Bob and I went to the antiques market at Moncalvo, near Asti, to see if we could find one or two items to ‘finish off’ Wisteria Cottage, and acquire some photography ‘props’ for when we finally find time to get the wine photography upgraded on the website.

These Sunday antiques markets are an appealing aspect of local life; they perform a ‘circuit’ of the local towns so there is one on in the vicinity almost every weekend of the year, although, except for Moncalvo, which is right at the start of the month, there is a gap in August for the Italian holiday season.

Moncalvo is a delightful small town, the market is laid out under the facades around the main piazza and during the siesta period there is hardly anybody there except for the stallholders, so you can get a really good look at what is on offer.

The restaurants and cafes are all open and we enjoyed a most pleasant lunch; I had mixed seafood whilst Bob enjoyed a ‘Milanese’, all washed down with a delightfully light and fruity mildly effervescent white house wine.

We inevitably spent more than we intended, but found a pewter jug and some interesting wine glasses for the ‘still lifes’, when we get round to them, and several items to adorn the cottage. You will have to come and see those for yourself.

kerrie@anitalianadventure.co.uk

0039 0141 851 154

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