Should anyone be interested in booking the Villa for the coming year you can find booking details on

either holidaylettings.co.uk or owners direct.co.uk (“http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk”>Owners Direct apartment rentals</a>”)

Any questions please do not hesitate to contact me

Just come back from a long weekend at Villa Paola, the perfect holiday home for you to rent in the delightful Abruzzo countryside. The purpose of the trip was to get the house ready for Christmas. I was sadly sidetracked due to the extreme weather, snow and then rain. The benefit was that at 1900 m this translated to extreme amounts of snow. I could not wait to get on the slopes.

If you want to see how good it is, have a look at the following site.

http://www.snowpl.com

It has some great photos and information regarding skiing in Abruzzo.

I nearly did not get there as there was a 3 hour delay in getting out of Stanstead. This was not due to the Italians or even the French but the failure by the British air traffic control to “reboot” their systems!

However having arrived the following day I was at Passo Lanciano. Went skiing Sunday and Monday, Monday was fantastic as there was no one else on the slopes – maybe I exaggerate, but there were no more 20 people there it was divine!

Going back on 19 December 2013 and can hardly wait. Will post some photos soon.

Villa Paola is your idea holiday home in the beautiful Chieti province of Abruzzo, its available for rent throughout the year. Its great for Christmas, Easter and especially for the summer. If you are interested in renting please do not hesitate to get in touch.

This may well be the first of a quite a few blog posts, most being about Villa Paola and my experiences in what must be the ideal holiday destination, Abruzzo. Some will however be about some of the other bits and pieces I have picked up over the last few years. Lets start with the Mills. I love San Martino Sulla Marrucina and think it the ideal place to rent a villa at all times of the year. I think the people in the area are fantastic. AFter Villa Paola became finished and it was open to guests and started to be rented out I started to look for another project. Me being me have ended up with two, or rather two potential projects.

The first project, are 2 old Mills in San Martino. They date back some 400 years and are fairly unique as the water is supposed to flow from one Mill to the other and into the river afterwards.

At present they are little more than walls and foundations. Oh dear. However, through the hard work of Lorenzo Fosco an excellent architect from Rapino, another stunning little village some 5 k away, we have now obtained some of the permissions required. Because of the location it is necessary to obtain permission from, I think, the local commune, the forestale, somebody in L’Aquila and someone else in Sulmona. Having said all of this, Lorenzo has done well and we are more than half way there.

Today he sent me the preventive (quotes) for the work. I am going over in early December to meet and decided whether to start work next year.

I am going to try to post the plans and photographs today or tomorrow.

Villa Paola is your ideal holiday villa rental in the beautiful Abruzzo region of Italy and can be rented for as little as a day and as long as a month. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

It seems an age since I came back from Villa Paola and the beautiful countryside of the Chieiti province of Abruzzo and left the comfort of Villa Paola, everytime I come away I cant help but think that Abruzzo is the perfect place for both winter and summer holidays. I am now sat on a train coming back from Birmingham, where I had gone for work, and as I look out of the windows all I can see is grey skies and rain. Lots of rain.

The trip to San Martino Sulla Marrucina in October was fantastic, I was sitting in the garden in shorts working on 28 / 29 October 2013, the temperature being 26 degrees, it was like an English summer. It was a great break from the UK and the stress of Court life, and it is always great to arrive at the house, its so peaceful, not being overlooked and the views never cease to amaze me, within minutes I find myself relaxing and my shoulders returning to a more normal position, ie not hunched up around my ears.

On Saturday went looking for a new kitchen. I have been less and less happy with the kitchen and have tried to add more storage space but finally gave up and thought that the house needed a new kitchen. If I had any doubt that this was the right course of action it was allayed by one of the reviews for the house which said that the kitchen was not great. Thankfully the guests enjoyed their stay and like the other guests left a great review.

After a day of looking round the shops in Pescara, which reminded me of the repeat visits of 2011 when the house as being finished, finally chose a kitchen and ordered it. The new kitchen is apparently on its way and I am really excited. Spoke to Liliana and Maurizio who look after the house (and the guests – see the reviews they are fantastic) and they have now taken out the old kitchen, attached to the post. I am really looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Paul

Villa Paola is your ideal holiday villa rental in the beautiful Abruzzo region of Italy and can be rented for as little as a day and as long as a month. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Liliana and Maurizio pulling old kitchen apart

Not far to go ….