This year we were lucky enough to have some guests staying with us at harvest time. Kathy and Tom from Maine in the States who couldn't have been nicer and who spent a lovely morning harvesting the olives from our trees in the gardens at Villa Bastiola.
This year's crop wasn't great - the long hot summer meant that the olives were fairly small and not all of the trees had produced any olives. So the yield was low, but we managed to get just enough to have nearly 10 litres of delicious green/golden nectar of extra virgin olive oil to see us through the year.
Although Kathy and Tom couldn't fit much into their suitcases, they did manage to make room to take back a couple of bottles of the oil to enjoy at home, reminiscing about their holidays here.
The weather was gorgeous, no fog, so the olives were dry, blue skies and sunshine. Pretty cold at first, it soon warmed up and we were able to have a coffee break on the terrace!
We served a traditional Italian lunch for the workers, with crostini, oodles of pasta al forno and pannacotta to finish up.
Kathy and Tom have travelled extensively throughout Italy and particularly like Umbria. They had been to this area before and were keen to come back in time for the Truffle fair at Città di Castello at the beginning of their stay.
They really enjoyed the self catering apartment at Villa Bastiola and shared it first with their daughter and son-in-law and then with some old friends from the States. The two en-suite bedrooms and lovely kitchen, make for a really comfortable place to stay.
Recommended by Trip Advisor and Alastair Sawdays.
