We are delighted to announce that we are about to start building work on our next property, one half of a former mill located in the rolling hills of Umbria, Italy.

Here's what it looks like at present (as you can see there is a lot of work to do!):

We imported (from Baltimore, USA) this 34 foot Airstream caravan which will be temporary site accommodation during the building works.

After over a year of wading through red tape, we have finally been granted planning permission to sympathetically restore and extend the mill by over 100 square metres in the traditional Umbrian / Tuscan style. Once finished, the cottage will be a spacious and luxurious one bedroom cottage with a heated pool.

Latest News

The mill currently has no utilities.

We have just accepted a quotation from Enel for the electricity connection which we need before we start building works.

We are aiming to be as green as possible with solar and photovoltaic panels. We have purchased a woodburner with a back boiler and also aim to install a rainwater harvesting system.

We are currently researching boreholes as we would like the water to be natural filtered spring water rather then mains water but we are not sure if this is possible at the moment.

Location

The cottage is located less than half an hour's drive from Perugia Airport, where Ryan Air fly direct from Stansted, yet the cottage is peacefully located and is not on the flight path.

Alternatively, the international Airport in Rome is only about an hours drive away.

The cottage, is situated in a quiet location, off the beaten track. It is located within over 3 acres of it's own grounds yet the nearest small town, Bevagna is only a few minutes drive away. There is a small fruit orchard to the front of the house.

Artists Impression

Here is an artists impression of what the house should look like once it is finished (all of the external walls will be in traditional Umbrian stone and the roof won't be red as it appears below!):

The left hand edge of the heated pool will be an infinity edge (in order to take full advantage of the view) which cascades down into a waterfall.

The view from the cottage across the neighbouring vineyards to the mountains beyond in early spring.

This is part of the rear garden with fabulous views accross the hillsides. The garden continues to the rear of the photographer and includes a small wood and olive grove which we believe needs some TLC but from which we are advised there are more fabulous views. At present we just need a machete to get to it.

This is the view from the opposite side of the valley looking at the cottage. The cottage can just be seen in the middle of the photo.

The local village, Torre del Colle, where there is an excellent restaurant and bar and which is a twenty minute walk or few minutes drive away from the cottage. This photograph was taken from the white country road leading to the cottage.

Once we start the building works we will be posting regularly updated photographs onto this page so that you can monitor our progress.