Clark Residential

Oh God, we are locked in.” “What are you chatting about?” Having just taken his first slurp of carefully prepared home made cappuccino, my partner’s tone was quite obviously that of a person not wanting to be interrupted. “The gate, it’s locked.

It has got to be on the same power grid as the remainder of the house. I can’t get the vehicle out.” The house was in the grip of a power cut, related only by a sheet of poorly photocopied A4 taped to a tree at the pinnacle of the mud track leading to the property. We were surrounded. In early summer 2008, my hubby and I made a decision it was time for us to flee hotels in manchester for some time.

We had 2 doubtless difficult necessities, however : I wanted to be in a position to write, and my musician hubby required somewhere isolated enough to practise the trumpet without annoying any one. Cash was also an argument : we were unable to afford a short term rental contract on any accommodation acceptable for our wants. Some mates suggested house-sitting, so we registered our details with housecarers.com, one of a number of sites that put property owners in contact with potential sitters. 1 or 2 months passed without anything acceptable coming up, but in the autumn we found our dream eventuality : 3 months taking care of an agricultural BB in Puglia, southern Italy, that was closed for the winter while its owners, Leonie and Paolo, visited family in Australia. We’d be working, but it all looked suspiciously like an exceedingly extended, yet cheap, vacation. Emails were exchanged, references provided, two Skype talks took place, and 4 weeks later, at the end of Nov 2008, we were being shown around our new home, the gorgeous Masseria La Rascina. The BB a modest title for the plush six-bedroom masseria ( farm ), complete with annexe of 4 self-catering studios, swimming pool and lush gardens set in the middle of a 1,000-year-old olive grove is a 20-minute drive from Ostuni, the medieval Pugliese hill city known as La Citt Bianca ( White Town ) for its brilliant whitewashed buildings. Travel ten mins in the other direction and you reach the beaches of Puglia’s Adriatic coast, deserted and rough off-season but quaint however.