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Holiday villa with private pool at Tuscan Paradise. An historic private 4 bedroom (all en-suite)18C farmhouse with private pool in Tuscany overlooking an amazing lake sleeping 8. Additional studio for a further 5 not let independently to ensure complete privacy.

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How much harder could it be dealing with Italian builders? Having just finished a two year renovation of our medieval farmhouse in Kent, United Kingdom, we found ourselves at a bit of a loose end. Renovation is an all consuming passion, and we were ready for another project.

Italy is a country we have always loved, drawing us back like a magnet for holidays and short breaks. We seemed besotted with the place, the landscape, it’s friendly generous people and the attractive prospect of being able to eat good food in restaurants at reasonable prices and only pay 40 pence for a large bottle of water and a pound for a carafe of “vino della casa”.

We both have passions for our work – Robert is a freelance conductor and Professor of viola and chamber music at the Royal Academy of Music, and I am a potter.

We needed a property in Italy where we could both continue with these passions and still earn enough of a living to support ourselves and our two children – Millie (19) now safely ensconced in university pursuing her love of dance, and Luke (16) a viola player boarding at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School, Surrey.

We were convinced we could make a good job of a holiday rental villa with private pool, although neither of us had run a business like this before. Marketing would be important: Robert was confident in his ability to get a web site. I had my concerns about managing the business – all that extra washing and cleaning! In a nutshell, we needed plenty of accommodation and wanted to keep everything on one site. A place for ourselves to live, a large space to run chamber music courses, a room for me to entice beginners to the delights of throwing clay on a wheel and a suitable property for the holiday villa.

An English speaking estate agent was a necessity as neither of us spoke any more Italian than was needed to order a pizza in a restaurant. “Oh dear!” I hear you say, “Not more idiots who think they can carve their niche in another country without even a basic grasp of the language”.

We began to “Google”, sending clear instructions of our requirements to dozens of Italian estate agents but receiving only a handful of replies. Our first visit took us to the areas of Lunigiana and Lucca. Touring around with friendly agents we soon realised we would have to get used to covering hundreds of miles often over difficult terrain to come across no more than a pile of stones “with potential” priced at a premium for an English buyer. No such thing as a glossy sale brochure in Italy! Quite often the properties were not even for sale, but if the price was “high enough” anything was possible. Some “properties” had been empty and on the market since 1945. The locals had moved away drawn to the convenience of town living. Only “mad dogs and Englishmen” would resurrect these ruins.

Several trips followed consisting of more off road excursions. We became disappointed and disillusioned after our visits, not sure if we would ever find our Tuscan Paradise. Saturated by TV programmes about people “starting a new life” abroad, the draw of our Italian dream remained strong. We were determined to continue our search.

Our fifth visit was booked for the start of May 2004. We were refuelled with excitement when we arrived in the beautiful medieval hill top town of Anghiari and knew instantly that this was the area where we wanted to spend the rest of our lives.