The sea of umbrellas & people sheltering in mandatory fur-trimmed, black puffer jackets has gone. After the wettest march in 50 years its all sun shine & blue skies now. Everywhere things are blooming with the hills covered in cherry blossoms & carpets of baby daisies. The children loving making daisy chains with the new English neighbours. They are kindly letting us use their garden as ours is full of rocks. A 500 year old, 5m high retaining wall cam...

Running down the hill to the bus in my usual rush this morning I came face to face with a beautiful deer, antlers & all! What a magnificent creature! Felt like I was in a fairytale. Adam had a much less pleasant experience with a huge wild boar whilst doing some cross country running through the Chianti hills here. Scary stuff! Certainly got him running a little faster! He's training for the Florence half marathon Sunday! Just turned 41 & the fittest he'...

Cellai, Italy. 15 degrees, clear blue skies and sunshine! I cannot believe that we are finally in Italy !!!! My dream come true! We are staying in the Chianti wine region in Tuscany in a rennovated 10th century castle called "il Castello". It's just 20 minutes south of Florence and it is so beautiful- we feel like we are living in a Tuscan coffee table book! Every window, even the one from the toilet looks out onto rolling hills or olive groves, rustic stone h...