During his first visit to Tuscany in 1997, Nicholas fell in love
with Italy...the beautiful landscapes, its friendly and passionate
people, its art and architecture, not to mention of course its food and
wine!
From then on he wanted to retire to Italy.
After numerous further holidays in Tuscany, plus a week on the Amalfi
Coast, Nicholas wanted to see a more 'real' Italy, away from the tourist
hordes and found in a specialist Italy holiday brochure just 2 pages
about a place called "Puglia" in the South, with its strange little
"pixies houses".
The holiday was booked and was fabulous, his "perfect Italy" just got
even better. Time spent gazing through estate agents windows (as we all
do on holiday!) showed that these fabulous conical houses came with
great chunks of land and were cheap, very cheap by UK standards. The
dream of retiring to Tuscany at 55 took a severe "knock"...he could buy
a piece of Italy in his early 30s!
Immediately after arriving back home he booked flights straight back out
to Puglia and 4 weeks later spent a week viewing potential holiday
homes.
The trip was successful, and after a few months of the legal bits he
owned a trullo in need of full renovation between Alberobello and
Martina Franca.
When Nicholas met Sarah the following year, she had never even visited
Italy. One weeks holiday to Puglia and she was as hooked as he
was...even though the holiday was in January! They immediately arranged
for renovation works to start on their future dream holiday home. Way
before work was completed they made the decision to take the leap and
move to Puglia permanently, not an easy decision but "life offers you a
thousand chances, all you have to do is take one" became their motto!
Since selling their properties in England and buying and renovating
other trulli, Nicholas and Sarah have had enough experiences, ranging
from very good to incredibly bad, to write a book...and so they are!
These experiences have provided them with very good reliable contacts,
expert local tradesmen, friends both Italian and ex-pat, enough for them
to be able to provide a holiday rental and property search service with
complete confidence. To be able to invite holidaymakers to this very
special part of Italy, and to be able to help others to find their dream
home in the sun via this website is the culmination of a dream.
As well as fulfilling this dream, Nicholas and
Sarah now handpick their own olives and by using the traditional stone
‘cold press’ method of pressing them, produce their very own Extra
Virgin Olive Oil. (Be sure to book your holiday for November if you
would like to help them out with the next olive harvest and take home
some of your handpicked olive oil!)
Nicholas, 37, has 8 years experience in estate agency in England, plus 8
years as a Financial Advisor, whilst Sarah, 40, worked for over 18 years
as an Insurance Broker.
They are now certainly not retired...but they are living 'la dolce
vita'!
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