La Villetta - restored farmhouse with pool

In case you were wondering, we haven't suddenly gone into real estate, or become estate agents for property for sale in Le Marche, Italy - but we have decided to move back into our lovely home La Chiesa di Santo Stefano which for the last few years has been used as a business offering luxury holidays, events and weddings.

As a result of this decision, we now find that we have two houses - and sad as it is, this doesn't make sense. One has to go - and after a great deal of agonising, we have decided that the one to sell is La Villetta, for no reason other than Santo Stefano is the one with the five golf holes!

La Villetta is a really beautiful house - and the name literally means a country cottage in Italian. It is a perfect description - albeit a country cottage with four luxury bathrooms and the best kitchen I have ever had! With our love of cooking and good food, the design of this kitchen had to be perfect - and with two ovens (one which can optionally be a steam oven), American fridge, no less than three sinks (one for food preparation only), wine fridge, dishwasher and washing machine - it really does fulfil a cook's dreams.

But however perfect it is inside, the thing we have enjoyed most about this house is the outside space. The kitchen leads directly out to the loggia - a large area completely covered by a tiled roof. It is perfect for outdoor dining, and for lounging in the shade when the sun gets too hot. And it's just a couple of metres away from the stunning swimming pool. This was another part of the property that was designed with the needs of family in mind - and it has a big area which is perfect for young children - being only 60 cm deep. It means they can play safely and keep their feet on the ground. Of course, there is plenty of deep water for everybody else - and an area for the serious swimmer to get those lengths in!

Set in the lovely Le Marche countryside, it is everything that a restored farmhouse should be. To find out more, visit http://www.real-italy.com/la-villetta/property-italy.html

And for the next few weeks, this blog will focus on changes we are making to the property to make it even more perfect - from new trees to new curtains! Contact us for further information.