Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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This is our first family
newsletter and a brief synopsis of our adventure so far. We hope this will
be the start of a regular newsletter to allow you to follow our progress, should
you wish to do so. If you are new to our website, please take a
moment to register. We would love to keep in touch with you.
We arrived in Italy in
April to blue skies and warm weather and were easily recognisable as “stranieri”
or foreigners, because whilst everyone else was wearing jumpers we were in
our t-shirts.
Our first Italian home was
a first floor “prima piano” apartment in the delightful small town of
Nizza Monferrato, and much to the boys' delight it had a view of the
local swimming pool or “piscina”.
After an extended Easter
holiday, including several Saint’s days, we enrolled the boys in a local
school chosen because some of the children at the school spoke English. They
were welcomed with open arms by the Italian children who proceeded to
practise their English, and also taught the boys a few Italian words, although some
of these were instantly banned from their vocabulary.
At the end of May the
temperature soared and we were blessed with the opening of the “Piscina”.
Having negotiated a deal for season tickets, we promptly became their best
customers. When it was ‘cool’, we had the place to ourselves!
We spent nearly four months
living at the apartment, practising our Italian on our neighbours, some of
whom proudly practised their English on us. They commiserated with us when
England was knocked out of the World Cup, and we partied with them when
Italy won.
We were sad when we finally
moved out.
Our permanent Italian
residence is a lovely old “cascina” or farmhouse, in the hills above the
small town of Canelli and quite close to a village where we now buy
our bread and milk. We were lucky enough to find our home in early June,
having spent many (enjoyable) hours house-hunting.
We finally completed our
purchase of “Casa
della Fontana”
in August and having sorted out a few teething problems which included no
electricity, discovering our upstairs bathroom had never been plumbed with
hot water, and the cooker didn’t work, we finally moved in. This was just it
time for our eldest son Robert and future daughter in law Rachel to visit
and to view our new home.
Having also enrolled the
boys in a language school we soon found out that their teacher spent the
summer at her parents’ house, a short walk from here. Italian classes were
soon taking place under a sun umbrella on a terrace followed by a short
stroll home through one of our vineyards, usually carrying some gift like
honey or figs which had been donated by a passing neighbour.
August became September and
after three months! of holidays, school loomed on the horizon, but just
before they returned the “Vendemmia” or grape harvest began. This was
accompanied by the sound of tractors puttering around the country lanes and
the intoxicating smells of the vineries as wine production began again.
In October, William reached
a milestone and celebrated his eighteenth birthday with friends in
Amsterdam. All money producing schemes are now under way to raise enough
cash for a return visit in June. My mother became our third visitor and gave
her approval to both the house and Piedmont. She particularly enjoyed
strolling around the house and orchard and identifying the wildflowers
growing there.
Bob found another vocation
and became a lumberjack, armed with a brand new chain saw he began the
massive task of providing us with enough wood to keep warm this winter.
November brought colder
weather at night and an excuse to burn all that wood. We also finally had
our furniture delivered, or at least most of it, and that’s another story.
We have now reached
December with a cold crispness in the air. Visible in the distance are
breathtaking views of the now snow covered peaks of the Alps to the north,
and the Maritime Alps to the south, glistening in the sun.
Every day we live here we
see and do something new, we are very lucky to experience this. Our designs
for the refurbishment are being finalised and next year we begin the work of
building our swimming pool and converting our stable, hay loft and cantina
into accommodation. Our plans to be able to offer vineyard holidays in a
wonderful location will finally be achieved.
This is “An
Italian Adventure”
Our very best
wishes Robert and Kerrie Barker and family.
Spring 2007 Newsletter
E mail:
kerrie@anitalianadventure.co.uk
0039 0141 851 154
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