20 June 2008
The McNichol family - Donnie, Saira, Haris & Leena
Dearest Eric & Kathy,
We simply adore Villa nell Oliveto & Castelmuzio! The setting idyllic, the villa perfect, the pool divine [perhaps not when we first arrived....ooh chilly], the people charming ... all in all a perfect 2 weeks. Thank you for the welcome basket, for organising the cooking classes with Agnetta & for your warmth & hospitality... & the sublime olive oil.
We hope to be back. With thanks & fond wishes.
Saira & Donnie MacNicol
Cobham, Surrey, England
28 June 2008
What a fantastic holiday. The weather prepared by you was unbelievable
- wall to wall sunshine - but this was merely a complement to the Villa, such luxury. The swimming pool, there to fall into when one became too hot [or overflowed with energy], the views over the countryside wonderful, & the amazing towns & villages perched atop of hills, unchanged, apparently, for centuries. We could sit by the pool & read a book or do nothing, or go on exciting visits to exciting venues.
In other words, we all had an amazing time - all our home worries washed away.
Thank you so much from all of us.
Jonathan & Margaret; Mirian & Ed; Aemon & Louise, & Irene - We all hope to return
28 June 2008
The views are sublime
The villa is lush
In a great place
Which isn't rush, rush, rush.
The sky at night
A great delight
The birds all day
Play, play, play [as did we]
My favorite first time to see a fire fly - how magical!
Thank you, Louise
Hi Manola,
We just left Villa nell'Oliveto this morning and I wanted to write you to let you know what a fantastic time we had. In particular, Mara went above and beyond -- I mentioned to her that my grandmother had a fantasy of having a lunch outside at a family run vineyard, and she not only identified such a place, made all the phone calls, translated for us, sent confirmatory faxes, and gave us directions to get there.
It turned out to be the highlight of the trip. We had a private tour at Tenuta Valdipiatta, actually participated in the grape harvest and saw the first crush, then went out to the vineyard where we had a huge picnic lunch accompanied by incredible Vino Nobile and wonderful cheeses, for four generations of my family, in honor of my grandmother's 80th birthday. My two year old daughter picked grapes for an hour and ate most of them. The vineyard owner himself escorted us on the tour and presented my grandmother with an apron "for the Nona" after our lunch. It was an amazing experience and I am incredibly grateful to Mara for all her help organizing this on our behalf. I did not get a chance to thank her in person today and I hope you can convey our gratitude and appreciation.
We had an incredible vacation and the villa met the needs of a family group ranging in age from 2 to 80 with ease; it was comfortable, perfectly located, and gorgeous. We were so happy with everything.
Between the pool, the olive trees, the nearby playground and small coop grocery, it was perfect for our daughter, who had the time of our life. The villa has an unusually good layout for a large family group, allowing plenty of shared and private space. In addition, the recommendations in your book were great, especially for restaurants and suggested towns to visit.
Thanks again for everything.
Best,
Caitlin Reed
Hi!
We rented from you in Castelmuzio in May 2004.
We loved our visit to Tuscany and especially our stay at the villa nell Olivetto. We were pleased from the moment we arrived. I loved the touches of fresh flowers, fresh eggs and a basket of goodies waiting for us. Mark was accommodating with loan of bicycles, recommendations, cocktails at his home one evening, assisting with a meal provided to our villa on our first evening. the villa was superb! Our entire party was pleased. My husband and I have traveled several times to Italy but never rented a villa. We were more than pleased with our choice!
The only negative comment I have is that for a light sleeper, the bedroom doors provide little soundproofing. We took the second floor master bedroom as a result of your recommendation in this regard, but if there was socializing in that sitting room in late evening, it was a problem.
Nonetheless, our experience was beyond compare. It didn't hurt that the weather was perfect that week! To this day, 2 years later, we all continue to talk and reminisce about it.
Thanks!
Ellen
Dear Manola,
It has now been three years since you helped Rebecca plan for our visit/wedding in Tuscany. We stayed at villa nell oliveto and have such wonderful memories of the house, the wonderful friendly animals and beautiful Castelmuzio. It was everything I requested and more.
Glad to see you are still helping plan their perfect vacations.
Judy Bowman
Dear Manola,
Needless to say, we all had a wonderful
time in Tuscany, and could not have asked for a better
60th birthday! We loved Castlemuzio and the entire area
was the most beautiful of all the Tuscan landscapes.
We will be planning a trip back for certain.
Thank you so much.
Sincerely, Frank
I wanted to drop you a line with some
feedback on our holiday at Villa Nell'Oliveto. Our party
came from London, Shanghai and Tasmania - 6 adults and
4 kids (18 months, 4 yrs and 2 x5 yrs).
We had a wonderful relaxing week.
The weather was kind to us with only one
day of rain on the Sunday. We thought the accommodation
& setting were
great. I had stayed near Sarteano before so enjoyed
being even closer to Pienza.
Castlemuzio was a charming spot and
we had a great lunch at the restaurant in the village.
The layout of the villa suited our party - so many bathrooms
with big showerheads was a treat. The overall decoration
and facilities of the house were very good and exceeded
the standards of previous accommodation I have stayed
in Tuscany. We enjoyed many nights sitting around the
Terrace having dinner and peaceful sleep on the comfortable
beds.
We look forward to returning.
Regards, Ruth
Dear Rebecca,
Further to Anthony's email of 31st
August, I would like to add my thanks for wonderful
three week holiday. It was lovely.
Could you also thank your daughter
(Allegra?), who dropped by the pool during the first
couple of weeks and played with our children. In particular,
Allegra was around for my youngest's (Philippa's) birthday
(seven) and she very kindly gave her a present - I hope
it wasn't too expensive! This was very nice of her and
it was much appreciated.
Thanks also to Mara - she did wonderful
job clearing up after us. Especially since we had a
number of family barbeques - which were fantastic.
Best wishes for the future.
Chris
Hi Rebecca,
Well we have arrived back in the UK
everything unpacked and weather dreadful!
I am just sending you this email to
let you know what a fabulous time we had at Villa nell
Oliveto.
It is a beautiful place and the surroundings
were breathtaking.
I am sorry we didn't get to meet but
maybe we will sometime in the future as I would definately
come again!
I would recommend In Tuscany to anyone
interested in visiting Italy as I feel the holiday had
a very personal touch (flowers, hamper etc wonderful!).
Anyway many thanks once again.
Sarah James
Thank you, Gratzie mille!
I was a member of the group of women
who stayed at Villa nell'Oliveto from 11-18 June. Everyone
agreed that the villa was fabulous. We enjoyed the welcome
basket of food and everything was perfect.
Mara was so sweet and as one of our
group is fluent in Spanish we had no communication problem.
The location was perfect! We fell
in love with the adorable little town of Castelmuzio
and Camarlengo was a great restaurant; we ate there
four times.
The old dog and the cats got a lot
of attention and love from the two young women who came
with us. The white dog seemed to have a personality
problem.
This trip was a celebration of thirty
years of friendship and was our first but not our last
trip to Italy together. We all agreed that another trip
could never be as perfect as this one.
Thank you and continued good success
in your business.
Best regards,
Judi Connolly
Atlanta, GA US
Saturday April 10th ‘04
Dear Mark and Rebecca,
Thank you so much for sharing your
beautiful villa with us. We enjoyed an extraordinary
week and are returning home with memories to last a
life time. Should you ever find your selves in the U.S.
– particularly Chicago, please contact us; we
would love to have the chance to see you again. We will
let you know if we ever get to Italy again.
We have several friends who are very
interested in making a trip such as this, we will highly
recommend they stay with InTuscany. You have a wonderful
staff, Manola was most helpful clarifying our flights.
We wish you good health and love and
happiness! Arrivederci!
Peter, Lauri, Andrew, Will, Katie
and Maggie.
Ciao, Rebecca!
Just wanted to let you know how much
we all enjoyed our stay in Castelmuzio. I will miss
the olive trees, the brown hills, the amazing wines,
the pici with fresh porcini mushrooms, the chickens
peeking into our kitchen, the friendly people, including
you and Mark. The house was perfect. Grazie mille per
tutti!
Barbara Levine (Rob, and all the others,
would certainly agree if they knew I was writing to
thank you, and would certainly add a thousand other
wonderful things they appreciated and will miss!).
Dear Mark and Rebecca,
A quick note to say thankyou for making
our holiday very relaxing and enjoyable, the house is
wonderful, with such wonderful views and a great swimming
pool. We all thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Villa Nell
Olivetto and will be recommending it to all our friends.
Also thankyou for the dinner on our first night which
was lovely and also a thankyou for the use of your vegetable
garden - those tomotoes are delicious.
I hope you had a lovely time in Venice
and hope to meet you again when we
return to Villa Nell Olivetto.
Regards
Amanda
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