By Tom Phebey

At Podere Consani, a small group of farmhouses on a plateau in the Tuscan hills, there's no doubting you've finally got away from it all.

You reach the estate via a narrow lane that zigzags its way up wooded hills before petering out into a bumpy dirt track. This tranquil haven seems a million miles from the airport where only hours before we had queued and jostled.

But the beautiful medieval city of Lucca is only 20 minutes away by car and a little further, in the opposite direction, lie the coastal resorts of the Tuscan Riviera.

First to greet us was turbine-tailed Tabata, a black-and-white collie-style dog, followed closely by a miniature version called Quartuccio.

Podere Consani is more than just a holiday retreat – it’s an active equestrian centre, a wine-making business and grows loads of its own provisions.

Running it is Susan Beeby, who trained as a teacher in Leicester before taking a job with an English family in a beautiful villa near Lucca.

Susan married a local geometra (mixture of an architect and surveyor) who specialises in restoring old buildings and they eventually bought Podere Consani (literally a smallholding farmed by the Consanis), slowly creating the scenic estate it is today.

Shooing away the dogs, Susan led my wife and I to La Capanna, one of two rustic holiday homes adjacent to the family home in the main farmhouse.

La Capanna, a converted barn with plenty of beams and terracotta tiles, sleeps four in two double bedrooms and is set on two levels.

The main floor consists of a large sitting room and a kitchen leading directly onto the attractive swimming pool terrace where we spent many lazy hours. Downstairs, both bedrooms have ensuite bathrooms and access to secluded gardens.

It would be incredibly easy to pull out the sunbeds, uncork the wine Susan had handed us and not leave tranquil Podere Consani for a week. But there’s plenty to explore.

We slipped into a routine that involved exploring nearby and stocking up in the excellent supermarket, while ensuring plenty of rest and relaxation beside the pool and strolling through the olive groves of Podere Consani.

A day out in historic Lucca is de rigueur for any visitors to this north-western quarter of Tuscany. Lucca was a Roman military camp and little has changed since the Middle Ages when a network of narrow alleys and squares was constructed.

The city of 85,000 inhabitants boasts some of the best-preserved Renaissance defences in Europe – massive walls built in the 1500s with roads around the top and barracks for soldiers inside.

In baking sunshine we walked through a gate in the imposing walls to find ourselves facing a labyrinth of little streets which are worthy of some serious exploration.

Surprises abound – an innocuous passageway suddenly gives way to the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, a huge enclosed oval space occupying the site of an amphitheatre built by the Romans.

There are no fewer than 100 churches in this compact city and plenty of specialist shops to browse. While visitors are welcomed, Lucca is thankfully not spoiled by tourism.

In the other direction a 10-mile strip of beachside resorts, stretching from Viareggio to Forte dei Marmi, is about 30 minutes by car from Podere Consani. With acres of flat golden sand overlooked by craggy mountains inland, it’s an ideal playground for  children.

A day’s drive into the craggy Garfagnana area to the north of Lucca takes us to medieval Barga, known as the most Scottish town in Italy. There was a mass exodus from Barga to the central belt of Scotland in the early 19th century and many Scots trace their ancestry back to the Tuscan hill town.

The cafe owner who served us cappuccinos in the tiny central square demonstrated perfectly the adage that anyone who speaks English in Barga does so with a Glasgow accent.

Driving back along the tight and twisty lanes, we resolved to stop for a late lunch. The exterior of Valentino in the high hamlet of Fiano, not far from our holiday base, was inauspicious to say the least and we almost turned away.

I’m glad we didn’t because this turned out to be the culinary highlight of the holiday.

Ushered through the cosy main rooms packed with noisy locals, we were seated in a pleasant (if a little empty) conservatory and served interesting antipasti followed by succulent homemade ravioli with butter and sage, then a selection of the best ice cream I have ever enjoyed. Including wine, it cost 16 euros a head.

Back at Podere Consani it was time to chill out again on those sunbeds. And time to reflect that there can’t be many other parts of Europe where spacious beaches, scenic mountains, lush countryside and medieval towns are all clustered together within such easy reach.

Info

Tom Phebey was a guest of Simply Travel, which offers seven nights’ self-catering at Podere Consani this summer from £599 (four sharing), including return flights from Manchester and car hire.

Call Simply Travel reservations on 0871 231 4041.

www.simplytravel.co.uk

www.podereconsani.it