Fab day! Visited the abbey badia de Santa Marie, near radda. Lived in by 12 monks for many years until Napoleon chucked them out. Had a beautiful, relaxing tuscan lunch of fish (fish finally after 6 weeks) overlooking the vineyards. Girls on their best behavior and so happy - chatting, coloring in, and Lana crashed in pram. Perfect! Toured the abbey's gardens full of lavender, roses and sculptured gardens, it was stunning! Taken down to the amazing cellar, even t...

Visited castellare de brolio, castle built in 1150, restored in 1800s, harmed again in world war two. Castle lived in by the family who have had it for 35 generations !! Picnicked in grounds and ran into Cathy and kids. Back at villa for swim time and rockmelon. Gorgeous light on the hills. Out for dinner in Rada in chianti with all of us. Bit of a fiasco in finding a place to accommodate the 11 of us but ended up at the perfect place, panoramic view, yummy fo...

Visited winery, near Rada with our Irish friends. Wines have been made in the winery for years for their own consumption but only recently cleared it to focus on wines for commercial use. Still do a few olive trees but one olive produces just one drop of olive, so loads of olives and work needed to produce olive oil! Very kid friendly intimate tour with just the two families. kids stuck their heads in the huge vats which gave then a big laugh. Lunch, as part of...

Chilled at the villa - journals, homework, pool. Visited our local village Castellina in Chianti where we checked out the Etrusian tombs (frankie wanted to know why there was no blood!) and climbed the medieval tower. Wandered through the village's unusual vaulted street (via delle volte) that runs around the old town walls and had dinner in the square, run by the stiaccini family since 1895. All very relaxed and easy.

My lovely Irish friends came over for swim and dinner. Their three girls and ours got on superbly. Lana loved being the boss of their Milly, who is just over one. Had a little ceremony for the baby rabbit who died, we buried him nearby. Prayers and tears of course.