UMBRIAN INTERIORS UMBRIAN INTERIORS Get the modern rusticlook in Umbria Cathy Hawker suggests how you might be inspired Contemplating a project? Love your builder by this stylishly renovated rental property “Establish a good relationship with your builder. Work with a detailed budget and always ask for a quote for any additional work, no matter how small and remember to keep a retaining payment until the council has released the Habitation Certificate.” ural Italy is not and terracotta tiles on the ceilings and somewhere you expect partially exposed stone on the door to find contemporary surrounds) complemented by the best of interiors fizzing with 21st century living (smoothly plastered R primary colours but walls painted calming off-white shades Il Granaio in deepest and efficient modern showers and basins Umbria, half an hour south from Lake set on simple, functional washstands). Trasimeno and within one hour of Perugia Don’t overlook costs for landscaping and airport, proves it can work a treat. irrigation which can add up quickly, says There is little on the outside to predict Rob. “Gardens cannot be watered from the what lies within. Il Granaio is a generously mains here and if you need to dig a well that sized (100m2) two-bedroom home, one of can add €5,000 to €10,000 to your budget.” four carved out of a sixteenth century farmhouse. The exterior, rather like Furnishing with style the extraordinary views across Once the bones of the building to Montepulciano in Tuscany, were in place, Rob and Jeroen is largely unchanged for turned to the interiors. centuries: rough Umbrian Il Granaio was always stone under terracotta roof planned as a rental property tiles front on to a private that provided an income yet garden shaded by olive trees. they did not stint on quality, Beyond lies a recently added believing that is the way to swimming pool, shared with the ensure guests look after the property three other apartments in the farmhouse. and makes them more likely to return. It is inside that is particularly eye-popping. So they spent generously on mattresses Il Granaio was completely transformed by its (€500 minimum advises Rob) and also How much did it cost? Dutch owners Rob Landeweerd and Jeroen garden furniture. Elsewhere they shopped Macco in 2013 to create a light-flooded and at high-street chains and specialist Cost of the property: functional holiday home that also manages furnishing shops. Throws, cushions and Why choose Umbria? €220,000 in 2013 to be wonderfully cosy. The open-plan living essential kitchen kit came from IKEA, made. Renovation costs room and dining area lead to a patio covered com and Zara Home with lovethesign.com Umbria, the green-heart of Italy, is Tuscany on steroids. by a simple porch and the small industrial- another favourite. The mountains are bigger, the valleys deeper and the landscape €5,000 for the bathrooms chic kitchen features open metal shelving The vivid blue kitchen chairs and several less tamed but the essential ingredients of olive groves, vineyards €6,000 - a new kitchen above tiled work surfaces. lights came from cultfurniture.com while and medieval hilltop villages are all in place. Why did Rob and One double bedroom and bathroom are the vintage rugs that soften the pale cotta Jeroen choose Umbria? “Twenty per cent of the Western World’s €20,000 to add the porch on the ground floor while up the exposed floors come from carpetvista.com. cultural heritage is within a two-hour drive: Florence, Rome and and large terrace Siena for example,” says Rob. “There is the international jazz staircase under a high eaves-style ceiling, Local Italian shops and markets were €5,000 - specialist plasterwork, there is a master bedroom and en-suite plundered as well. Favourites include Coin festival in Perugia, many thermal baths, Italy’s fourth largest crucial in old buildings bathroom. Home, a department store found in larger lake – Trasimeno - is within one hour and exceptional local The house avoids the problematic Italian towns and the outlet stores nearby produce includes white truffles from Fabro and wines such as €25,000 - interior finish darkness suffered by many old stone farm at Valdichiana valdichianaoutlet.it. Montepulciano and Brunello. Then there is hiking and biking and furniture buildings thanks to unusually high ceilings Il Granaio now rents for 12 and 16 in the Apennines and many natural parks.” and generous windows. The thoughtful weeks a year through Special Umbria Pure International (pureintl.com) sell property and plots across design throughout celebrates the beauty (specialumbria.com) with a weekly rent the Tuscan-Umbria border from Lake Trasimeno to Orvieto starting Total: €281k (£202k) of traditional Umbrian style (wooden beams of €800 to €1,250. ¤ from €225,000 (£161k). 92 | aplaceinthesun.com aplaceinthesun.com | 93.