Famed for its association with Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels, Volterra is a walled town situated in the Pisa province, not far from Siena and Florence. It’s believed the author wanted a fictional city “Volturin” in Tuscany that had a square and clock tower from which to set the series. It’s understood Volterra was used in the Twilight series but for the New Moon film, the Volterra scenes were actually filmed in Montepulciano in Italy.
We’d travelled for years before POD arrived one snowy Christmas Day. While our holidays have changed since she was born back in 2010 (jungle sleepovers are definitely out), POD is just as much of an adventurer are we are. Suffice to say, we always travel together unless one of us has a press or work-based trip. We didn’t even realise until recently but over the past 7 years, we’ve never been away as a couple. While this is partly because we don’t have childcare locally, we genuinely enjoy going away as a family of three. Recently, however, we got to go to Verona in Northern Italy without the small one. Don’t get me wrong we missed her like crazy and it was weird at times but we had a good time. It turns out you can squeeze an awful lot into a weekend without a small one in tow too.
One of the things we love about travelling is discovering places that are largely untouched by tourism. Driving around Asturias for two weeks, and Cantabria a few months prior to that, we explored many beautiful villages and towns. You might think this kind of trip isn’t suitable for kids but six-year-old POD relishes being an adventurer whether she’s collecting water from a spring, exploring a mountaintop or wild swimming with the locals.
While we were in Tuscany, when we stayed at the stunning Villa Le Capanne from Bookings For You, we drove over to Florence. It was just over 1.5 hours away from our wonderful villa and somewhere we’d wanted to spend a day exploring. Some of us had visited before and others hadn’t but we were all keen to discover more of this beautiful city. We had two tours organised with LivItaly, the first was a private food tour and gelato making class. The other (to be covered in another post) a walking tour of the city which included a visit to the David.
I’ve recently returned from the most brilliant long weekend in Tuscany with 12 of my fellow family travel bloggers. We’d travelled there to review Country Relais and Spa Le Capanne (Villa Le Capanne) which is a magnificent property from Bookings For You set in the Tuscan countryside. We knew we’d have an incredible weekend but I don’t think any of us anticipated quite how great a trip it would be. The Giovannini family made us feel relaxed from the off, their hospitality and kindness exceptional, their Tuscan cuisine exquisite and their attention to detail impeccable. If that wasn’t enough, we laughed until our sides ached and our cheeks hurt, we danced and we sang. We packed a lot in too, exploring the likes of Volterra, Siena and Florence during our four-day stay. We had a truly memorable trip to Tuscany which was pretty much perfect from beginning to the end.
The Canary Islands, off the coast of northwestern Africa, are well known for their all-year-round temperatures. With each of the 7 islands offering something different, Lanzarote is the most easterly offering a diverse range of landscapes. The fourth-largest of the islands, it’s just 60 kilometres long and 20 kilometres wide making it ideal to explore by car. The Doves love a good road trip so with our base a villa in the south, we set about discovering what Lanzarote had to offer a family of three.
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The Sierra del Sueve is a limestone massif located in the Central Eastern area of Asturias. A Northern foothill of the Cantabrian mountains, the range is situated between Colunga and Caravia in the North West and Ribadesella, Piloña and Parres in the East and South. Our base for two weeks was a rustic cottage surrounded by a private meadow and offering views of the Ponga National Park.
You know you’re going to have a great day when breakfast comprises of fresh coffee, Italian pastries, and Millionaires Shortbread. Melt in the mouth delicious they were too. The pastries were made by the Giovannini family who had travelled from Italy to show us how to make Tuscan food. The Millionaires Shortbread a Miranda Gore Brown (Great British Bake Off Finalist) recipe re-created by Jo Mackay from Bookings For You.
The Doves approach to holidays is very much based on discovery, exploration and adventure with authenticity at the heart. Often our favourite destinations are largely unspoiled by tourism, offer breathtaking scenery in spades and provide the best outdoor playground for our seven-year-old daughter. The kind of properties we love are full of character, rustic and often unique with a story to tell. Of course, having a great time is a key ingredient for our family holidays too.
We got our first taste of Northern Spain back in 2016 when we holidayed in Cantabria. Having taken a cruise ferry from the UK to Bilbao, it was only a two hour drive to our accommodation. Much of the area we explored over that two week period was untouched by tourism which is why we loved it so much – that and the incredible views every which way we turned.
