Poggio le Stalle Umbria - Macchie, Amelia, TR

steve allen

Tranquillo

Margaret H

10 people in our group, two couples with teenage children and mother in law! ||||Having spent the first few days of our holiday in Rome to see the sights, Sat Nav all set, we headed off for our new destination with our extended family in tow, travelling through some extremely impressive scenery, although I certainly couldn’t do it enough justice in this report.||||We eventually arrive at the walled town of Amelia and Just a couple miles further to the little village of Maccie (pronounced Mackie) one shop, one bar and one tobacconist, but enough for us. We headed down some smaller roads and a farm track arriving at the Farmhouse, to a very warm welcome from Helen and Panagiotis.||||What an absolutely amazing place here . . . the Farmhouse is set on two levels, TV room/ lounge, another lounge and then a dining room and a very large Kitchen. Upstairs a well stocked Library and five en suite double bedrooms which overlook the valley and surrounding countryside. The house is set into the hill so there is a balcony to the rear. At the front to the side of the house is an outside dining area set under an oak pergola with grape vines growing across it and then to the side of that a sort of outdoor lounge with comfortable wicker seating overlooking the valley and the distant hill town of Maccie. On a mezzanine terrace there is table tennis, and next to that a brick pizza oven and BBQ. The terrace below that has a well established kitchen garden with a green fig tree growing to the side, herbs, aubergine, tomatoes courgettes to name a few all in abundance and Helen was kind enough to let us have our fill! ||||On the terrace below is the massive swimming pool, immaculately clean, one side shaded by a pergola and a couple of walnut trees and just behind that a boule court, at which I remained unbeaten!||||The local village had a festival week when we were there with food and entertainment. We visited on three occasions because the food and the hospitality were so good! In fact the Pizza I had on one night was the best I have ever had, and that is saying something as I don’t really like Pizza. Wild Boar with pasta and also a wild Boar casserole among some of the many dishes that we sampled and also a dish they call Suppli, rice and cheese in breadcrumbs then deep fried which is delicious.||||We self catered on most evenings and the local sausages were amazing; Helens suggestion of poaching them in white wine until all has evaporated, browning them off ~ exquisite||||Whilst we were there Italy was experiencing an unusual heat wave, the temperature averaging 40 degrees during the day! However Helen advised keeping all the shutters closed during the day which meant the house stayed pleasantly cool.||||For our second week the heat subsided to a more pleasing temperature and we ventured out to visit all the towns that were a little bit further out. ||||All in all a very pleasant stay, helped immensely by our excellent hosts Helen and Panagiotis, I would definitely recommend this family farmhouse, it certainly ranks as one of our best holiday experiences.||||Chris, Maggie and families

Julia M

We spent 2 glorious weeks at Le Stalle this summer. This family renovated house is furnished to a very high standard, spacious and well equipped. There were 10 in our party; 4 adults, 3 teenagers and 3 children but we never felt crowded. There is a beautiful terrace for Al fresco dining with views of the valley and Helen's beautiful garden. Even though Helen and Panaghis home was close to our villa we didn't feel they were there to keep an eye on us but quite the opposite! Helen provided useful and helpful information for restaurants, days out and things to do. An endless supply of fresh vegetables were left on our doorstep for us to enjoy and nothing was too much trouble. The pool was idyllic; clean and quite the largest we had experienced in a private villa. The table tennis table provided lots of entertainment and we even used the giant pizza oven to cook our own pizzas! We hope to return again in the near future. The McDonnell and The Osbourne families

hilary k

I spent a wonderfully happy five days in Poggio le Stalle in autumn 2012 in the company of a group of friends, and friends of friends: all professional women in our early sixties, hailing from various European countries, and most of us enthusiastic grandmothers! The accommodation was excellent, and we enjoyed shopping locally, catering for ourselves in the well- equipped farmhouse kitchen, and relaxing on the terrace with its amazing views, and inside the comfortable sitting room. The beautiful Umbrian countryside is ideal for walking - Helen, our hostess, sent us off in various directions on lovely walks, both short and long. We had planned a special week, bringing with us various skills and knowledge from our years of professional activities, and planned sessions to share knowledge and expertise: art, poetry, music, meditation. Helen also found talented local facilitators in dance and sculpture, and arranged outings into historic Amelia and to local restaurants to sample the local cuisine. Looking back over the time we spent at le Stalle I am amazed at how much we packed into those few days, how relaxed and happy we all were in that wonderful, relaxed environment in that little Paradise. A holiday to remember- a wonderful break in busy lives with the chance to try out new skills, and to live in the happiness of the moment.

Walter De Winter

Draans2

Ciara O'Brien

Gorgeous place

Enrico Girardi