Reader review: My fabulous w&h holiday
Isabella Donnelly loved her cooking holiday in Tuscany so much that she started a blog about it…
They say good things come in threes. For me these were: three fabulous days of cooking on my first ever woman&home holiday to Tuscany; three pairs of w&h readers on the trip (including myself and my best school friend Tania), and the fact that our ages ranged over three decades – fifties, sixties and seventies.
I booked the holiday this time last year, after seeing it advertised in w&h, one of my favourite magazines. I was looking to start a new chapter in my life 15 years after co-founding a marketing company, and wanted to get away to learn something new. Going to Tuscany was the catalyst for my new direction – and one I’ll never regret. I decided to keep a blog about my experiences, initially so I’d have a memory of the trip, but that has led to a real passion for writing. It has also helped me keep in touch with the brilliant women I met there.
Here’s a brief extract; read more at isabelladonnellyconsultancy.com/blog
DAY 1 FEAR AND EXCITEMENT As I meet Tania at Heathrow Airport, we ask each other the same things: What will the other guests on our holiday be like? Will the villa live up to expectations? How much can we learn in a few days and could I be kicked out for being a bad cook? I’m terrible in the kitchen despite the fact my parents are Italian and were chefs. My husband says the closest I’ve ever come to making him an Italian meal is throwing a readymade lasagne in the oven. There’s A LOT for me to learn! The first question is answered almost immediately.
The other women on the trip – Anne, Pam, Mair and Eirys – are lovely and we bond on the way to the villa over what our favourite Italian dishes are.
The second question is also swiftly resolved – the villa, set in 160 hectares of vineyards and with its own (very chilly!) pool is also wonderful. As are our Flavours hosts for the trip – lovely Livia and the incredibly dishy chef Alessio. Next stop – the kitchen for our first lesson. Under their guidance, my first ever homemade pappardelle is passable and the evening’s meal, cooked entirely from scratch by us, is one of the tastiest I’ve ever had.
DAY 2 COOKING
UP A STORM Today’s cooking lesson involves spinach-stuffed ravioli and “happy” chicken with fennel seeds (known locally as pollastro affinocchiato) before visiting a local winery, olive oil producer and monastery in the afternoon. Once again in the kitchen
DAY 3 FABULOUS FLORENCE
Livia and Alessio take us on a whistle-stop tour of Florence’s main sights as well as San Lorenzo’s leather market, an undercover food market and a cocktail making class in the bar where the Negroni cocktail was created. We stop for lunch in the famous Palle d’Oro (Golden Balls) restaurant – nothing to do with David Beckham, as it dates back to 1860!
Our last supper is back in the villa and, after another cooking lesson, I realise my final question has been answered. I’ve passed and we’ve learned how to make 12 delicious dishes, including two types of pasta, two meat, one fish, one risotto, one side order of potatoes, two salads and three desserts! I can’t wait to impress my husband with a homemade – rather than readymade – lasagne.
So if you’re thinking of going on a w&h holiday – just do it. You never know how it will inspire you!