Yesterday afternoon I drove Tom down to Perugia San Egidio airport for his flight back home to Herefordshire with Ryanair on their flight to London Stanstead.  The car park was very busy, we surmised on account of the building works at the airport, they are building a new terminal, and enlarging the apron it’s going to be very smart.

Perugia airport is an easy half an hour by car from Bellaugello with regular flights to Barcelona, Milan and London.  It is one of those delightful regional airports that are small and convenient, and much more stress free than the large multi terminal airports.  The check in was a dream, the girls at the desks, bright and cheery, and soon Tom was through to the departures gate.

I am sorry to see him go.  Tom had been here four weeks, and become a real part of the team and a great guy to have around.  He threw himself into a routine of early starts, heavy work through the morning, chillin’ afternoons and convivial evenings.  He has helped enormously and certainly got many jobs done that otherwise would have been ‘put off for later’  The pictures of his work in the greppo clearing some of our abandoned olive trees bear witness to some of his labours.

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It has been a while since I posted any photos on the blog, and if you have read my last post you can probably see why I have been unable to do so!

Anyway Bronwyn and Roberto all the way from L.A. were visiting locally and Bronwyn snapped these pics whilst they were here, and we thought to share them with you.

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Under the heat of yesterday’s sun we set off through the woodland down to the river beyond the village of Scritto.  Our fifteen minute walk down into a hidden valley brought us to two lovely rock pools, both surrounded by verdant lush vegetation, and  filled with clear clear water that cascaded over lichen covered rocks into the secret pools.

In a scene reminiscent of Room with a View, like Freddy, George and Mr Beebe  we stripped off and dived into the pool and frolicked.  The waters were cool and refreshing, the cascade with its backdrop of lichen, moss and acquatic plants made a great shower, and some excellent photo opportunities.

Around the pool there are an abundance of large flat rocks to lie out on in total privacy.  We came away thinking the pools to be just the place for a romantic couple to spend a balmy afternoon…….

If you are very lucky and kinda romantic when you are staying here at our gay country guest house in Umbria, I might just let you into the secret location of the arbour.  We could even pack you a picnic lunch!

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It has been a total oversight not to mention on our blog Alex and Greg at My Web Spinners who have designed our website here at Bellaugello.

The guys have worked hard and produced the excellent results you now see.

They too are opening their delightful home in the south of France as a gay guest house  check out their site on our links section; ‘Cinq & Sept’  I myself cannot wait to visit them, I simply need to find the few ‘stolen hours’ required!

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Finalmente  il sito in Italiano e fatto!!  vedi sul www.bellaugello.com

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The neighbouring region of Le Marche is just over the hills behind Gubbio.  The west side of the region is bounded by the majesty of the Apennines and to the east, the Adriatic coast with a choice of resorts like Fano, Pesaro and Sirollo.

Within an easy hour’s drive from Bellaugello you reach the beautiful city of Urbino with its splendid palace built by the Dukes of Montefeltro.  There is a real connection with Gubbio, too as one of the Dukes built a smaller version of his palace, here in Gubbio to house one of his favourite ladies just over the border and out of sight of his wife!!

I was last in Urbino in the spring visiting with a friend.  Naturally we went round the ducal palace with its large vaulted rooms,  shady cloister, and fine library.  Andrew decided the enfilade of rooms would have made a great racecourse for the original Fiat cinquecentos, I was inclined to agree, it would have been a hoot!

Anyway I digress.  Friends staying here at Bellaugello gay bed and breakfast went exploring the countryside and ended up in Urbino on the last day of the Festa del Duca.

They reported back that it was a medieval style festa, very atmospheric and well worth the visit.  The Festa lasts four days in mid August and celebrates, film, theatre, music and gastronomy, an inviting mix.  Check out the website link and come and stay here at Bellaugello gay guest house, and join in next year, maybe combining your stay with a day trip to Florence in nearby Tuscany.

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Italy abounds with fine produce, and to my delight it remains very seasonal.  Melons are not to be found in the winter,only in the summer when they are sweet and fragrant, currently peaches and apricots abound, much grown in the south of Italy.  The same is true of most fruits and vegetables, Spring is the time for asparagus……  Every town holds a weekly market throughout the year.

Anyone on a holiday is easily enticed by the produce on a market stall.  I always get a bit tetchy when staying in an hotel as I want to buy things and prepare a meal, and I can’t and they are not the same taken back in luggage to home countries.

That is why we have placed small cooking corners in our suites, enabling Bellaugello gay guest house, to be a self-catering option.  Yes, we do include on a daily basis a good breakfast and three times a week, dinner using local produce, but there are times when on holiday you may wish to self cater even in a gay holiday resort location!

You will find all the utensils, crockery and glassware required, including the all important corkscrew for opening that local Orvieto Classico, or Sagrantino di Montefalco and a table on your private terrace for that romantic meal.

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Tom, the English student who wanted manual labour to get fit for the forthcoming rugby season has been at Bellaugello for over three weeks and working hard, in the garden and grounds,  busy strimming, clearing round olive trees and carrying bags of cement and shovelling sand, so I finally relented and decreed a day away from Valdichiascio.

We headed off to Firenze (Florence in English) on the train.  Firenze must be one of the finest cities in Europe, art and fine architecture abounds everywhere.  The train takes you right into the historic centre of the city, arriving at Santa Maria Novella Station, itself a 1930′s wonder.  The forecast was for temperatures in the high thirties, fortunately there was a pleasant breeze, and Florence was not too busy.

I steered Tom in the direction of the Duomo and pointed out the wonder of Filippo Brunelleschi’s dome built some six hundred years ago, and until the early twentieth century the largest unsupported structure in the world.  From there we proceeded to the Piazza della Signoria, and the magnificence of the Palazzo Vecchio with its copy of Michalengelo’s David and nearby Ammannati’s Neptune fountain, celebrating the arrival of fresh piped water to the great city.  I always make a detour to the loggia which holds other important pieces of sculpture, including one of my favourites, the ‘rape of  the sabines’ by Giambologna, not for its subject but for its sheer muscaluture and fluidity of movement, and Cellini’s bronze of Perseus with the head of Medusa, scary stuff but the model must have been a real fit guy.

At this point it occurred to me I was surrounded by lots of naked men proudly showing their manhood, The Piazza della Signoria could easily have been a naturist resort of olden times as Bellaugello is today!

I left Tom to wander down to the Arno and over the Ponte Vecchio towards the Palazzo Pitti, whilst I went off in search of some eye candy and late sale bargains, much of the former but little of the latter….

Firenze is easily reached from Bellaugello and makes a thoroughly pleasant day trip.

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Amidst the frentic work pace today I did manage to steal a quick half our after lunch and find a quiet spot to soak up the sun’s rays.  Under the heat of the Umbrian sun I even managed to work on eradicating my tan lines, much preferring an all over naturist tan.  For that deeper tan, no more factor two, just organic Bellaugello olive oil, bliss…

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We had a good olive harvest last year.  Usually olives follow a pattern of one year good one year bad (how Orwellian is that?). Today we went exploring and to my delight discovered that the trees are heavy with young fruit.  Maybe not quite as much as last year, but it is still early days, we harvest in November or December.

We also started work on clearing a further line of trees.  These trees once formed part of a traditional olive grove, planted with olive trees every six metres with lines of grape vines in between and guelder roses at the end of the lines.  Ok so far?

Well all the plants survive but not in the correct places, so today began a great clear-up, cutting back rampant vines and creepers and pruning mountains of wild thorny roses.  Yes and the olive trees looked in good shape and will be brought back into production with a good prune this winter giving us further supplies of our own olive oil for our kitchen.

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