by Penny | 28 Aug, 2016 | French Odyssey by Bicycle, Hotels, Wine tasting
Sunday, August 27th – Day Twelve – Angouleme to Riberac Another Sunday, and sadly Riberac , like Blain, is suffering from an outbreak of permanently closed down shops. However, unlike Blain, it does have a few decent restaurants open on a Sunday in August,...
by Penny | 22 Aug, 2016 | Architecture, French Odyssey by Bicycle, Religious History, Wine tasting
Sunday, August 21st – Day Five – Bain de Bretagne to Blain, which was closed! I started the day with a run around the village of Bain de Bretagne. It is not a huge town but set on a hill so there was plenty of variety in the level of effort. As I ran past...
by Penny | 19 Jul, 2016 | Comedy, Films set in Italy, Ricotta cheese making, Saints, Social History, Wine tasting
Well this makes a change from Blogging about the stories of the Saints! – From 19th to 25th June Lisa Clifford, Conrad Williams, Morag Pringle (aka Emma Fraser) and I were out in the Tuscan Sun again with the Art of Writing. Another hugely enjoyable...
by Penny | 3 Jun, 2014 | Italy and the American Imagination, Music, Opera, Religious History, Renaissance Art, Wine tasting
Wine, Love Duets and Il Sole Mio’s This weekend in Florence we had friends to stay from the UK, and as they had shown an interest in wine we had already decided that a day out in Chianti would be enjoyable and booked a minivan as usual through Filippo Fattori at...
by Penny | 21 May, 2014 | Lead story, News, Social History, Wine tasting
This really is a magical time of year to visit Tuscany , the sun shines brightly and gives off a genuine warmth but the fields and trees are still bright with a new growth as yet unafraid of the ferocious heat that will burn them to a crisp when full summer arrives!...
by Penny | 7 Apr, 2014 | Books, News, Tuscan gardens, Wine tasting, WW2
Many Tuscan gardens in and around Florence are a mixture of Italian landscape and English formality. In the late 19th Century, after the Unification of Italy and Florence’s brief period as Capital of Italy, property prices in Tuscany plummeted and allowed the...
