My wife, four-year-old daughter and I have just returned from a glorious week at Podere Costantino.

Mara, Franco and family gave us a wonderfully warm welcome and where extremely helpful throughout, including a traditional Tuscan meal on arrival and - throughout the week - an endless supply of the most gorgeous peaches, apricots and tomatoes, all grown on the estate.

The apartment was - I imagine - typically Tuscan. Clean, cool and practical with a nice shady terrace. It's located on a quiet road, surrounded by vineyards and olive groves, and set quite high with beautiful views across to distant villages. There's wildlife aplenty - the morning chorus is incredible!

We were worried about taking our daughter somewhere so seemingly remote, as she's used to play parks on-tap, but we needn't have. The grounds of the property and the walks around it were more than enough to keep her occupied... and then there's the pool!

The surrounding villages are a treasure-trove. So much so that we abandoned our plans to make trips to Florence, Sienna and San Gimignano this time round, and settled for the short 30-minute trip to Volterra (incredibly beautiful) and a trip over the mountains to the coast. The rest of the time we just explored the nearby villages (and they all had play parks, so our daughter was happy!).

Then there's the restaurants, the wine... but everyone knows this about Tuscany.

www.agriturismopoderecostantino.it
Google map: bit.ly/doqfN2

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