Villa Staffieri is a lovely conversion of a very old building with wonderful views from the pool, garden and loggia. I would have given it five stars but we were very disappointed that the pizza oven which was described as 'fully restored' was in fact not able to be used. It had been a 'must have' on our checklist for this holiday.

However, the house itself is very well equipped and the owners clearly care about their guests having a good holiday. The bathrooms are very high quality and the insect screens and ceiling fans were very useful, especially in our second week when the temperatures went into the 30s!

The gardens and pool are very well looked after. My only sadness was that the huge crop of figs on the fig tree weren't quite ripe! Our favourite times though we're spent sitting by the pool watching eagles overhead or eating under the loggia in the evening with the BBQ on the go. All made even more special when it got dark and the fireflies came out. Just magical!

Castelplanio is a lovely village witha good play park which our one year grandson loved. The staff at the local pizza restaurant were very welcoming and the local bakery made the best doughnuts we've ever tasted! My husband enjoyed his walk up the hill in the morning, stopping for a coffee in the bar before collecting the warm fresh bread and doughnuts. We're still having withdrawal symptoms! Lots of wine producers locally too. We stocked up at Tenuto dell'Ugolino where the young owner was very keen to chat about the referendum result! We had an outstanding Sunday lunch at Croce del Moro; five delicious courses plus wine and liqueurs for €25!

We've visited the Marche before so we hadn't planned to go out and about a lot but we were glad we'd taken other guests' advice and visited the Frasassi Caves. They were amazing.

It's a beautiful part of Italy and I'd happily recommend this house as a base for a great holiday.