Adventures in Tuscany Part 1

Now the summer holidays are well-and-truly over and we're back at work (after 6 weeks off - which seemed like only 6 days), I guess I should get on with telling you what we got up to.  In summary, we.....

• Visited Simon's folks in Devon (ate fish & chips, shopped in Exeter - and bought a Cath Kidston cardigan, rode the steam train from Paignton to Dartmouth, read, paddled in the River Otter - and saw a kingfisher, enjoyed the sunshine, and visited the Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth)

• Visited my folks in Staffordshire (took lots of photos of the garden, played games, went for a countryside walk - and almost stepped on a snake, ate al fresco almost every night, barbecued, read more, enjoyed more sunshine, visited Hardwick Hall, and went to a wedding)

• Went to Tuscany (stayed on a farm, ate amazing Italian food, swam a lot, got bitten by mozzies, read lots more, caught more rays, drove through some breathtaking scenery, visited some wonderful places, sampled a few glasses of chianti, ate, ate, and ate some more)

I took LOADS of photos while we were in Italy.  Sorting through them all took AGES!  I was strict with myself about deleting, but still have HEAPS.  So I think we'll do this in two separate sittings.

Are you sitting comfortably, dear blog readers?  Then we'll begin.....  'Adventures in Tuscany Part 1':  

Podere San Lorenzo  

Civitella in Val di Chiana

Siena

Monteriggioni

Lucca

Pisa

Well, I think that's enough for today.  I'll have a sort through the rest, and return with 'Adventures in Tuscany Part 2' very soon.....

Carly

x

P.S.  I've enjoyed catching up with your blogs over the past week SO much.  I REALLY miss you all when I don't get around to visiting as often as I'd like to!!!