Experience the real italian lifestyle - la dolce vita

Read our News Update for this month further down this page - with updates on what is going on out and about and at home!

Top Michelin Star Chef uses our single estate extra virgin olive oil:

Sean Hope has held his Michelin Star since 2002 and co-owns The Olive Branch & Beech House in Clipsham, Rutland and the Red Lion Inn in Stathern,  Leicestershire. He chose our oil for his retail sales and to use in his award winning menus. His restaurant and pub have held AA two Rosettes since 2001, it is the 12th most mentioned restaurant outside of London (Hardens Restaurant Guide) and is the best Michelin Pub of the Year for 2008. Sean is also a TV celebrity chef and appeared in the BBC 2  programme 'The Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain'. Sean was one of a few chefs to 'beat' the hairy bikers with his recipe of Pork Faggots and Cider. 

This is Michelin Star Chef Sean Hope's endorsement of our single estate extra virgin olive oil:

"It is a fine balanced good quality extra virgin olive oil with a distinctive green/yellowy colour; it's slightly sweet with a hint of almonds & spices. I use it as a condiment and also in salad dressings. It is reassuring to be able to source this single estate oil directly from Greg & Sandra the English producers in Le Marche - Central Italy. We use it in our kitchen and bottles are for sale in our own shop".

The Olive Branch & Beech House, Clipsham, Rutland and the Red Lion Inn, Stathern, Leicestershire England. 

Our own single estate extra virgin olive oil: (Business P.iva.number  01661620433)

Single estate extra virgin olive oil describes exactly what it is! It is prepared by one producer directly from their own estate of olive trees it is not blended or mixed with any other oil,  bottled in small quantities and prized for its rich deep flavour and aroma. Our olives are hand picked to prevent bruising and fall gently into nets laid on the ground. Our own single estate extra virgin olive oil  has to comply with Italian & EU legislation and customers are assured of the highest quality cold pressed, unfiltered and superior 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil. 

Single estate oils are of the highest quality. Top chefs such as Sean Hope and anyone who enjoys the finest foods knows that a bottle of single estate superior extra virgin olive oil is an essential store cupboard ingredient.

All extra virgin olive oils are not the same! Although extra virgin describes the oils, they differ in quality as with wines. The best olive trees such as "Mignola", the ideal soil and certain growing conditions are essential in producing the best oils. Our olive farm is ideal as it has Mignola trees, the ideal soil, climate and the 300-500 metre (above sea level) location. The immediate farm area and the surrounding hills near Cingoli are renowned for producing one of Italy's finest quality extra virgin olive oils.

Olive oil is a magical ingredient and enhances all foods. It is best to save the oil as a condiment and appreciate its powerful aromas. The oil is delicious in salad dressings and poured over fish or meat before cooking. Pour over cooked vegetables such as asparagus, artichokes and fresh young peas and beans. We buy crusty Italian bread, cover with fresh sliced tomatoes, season and pour the olive oil over - absolutely delicious!

How to purchase our olive oil

Our two bottle and four bottle packs are becoming increasingly popular and are packed in 'bubble wrap' and padded envelopes  - discover why Sean Hope uses our olive oil! A few e-mailed comments received from purchasers are: 'I can see why the chef uses it', 'it's the best oil I've ever tasted', 'the best of the best, I have it every morning on my toast and I am spreading the word' and 'really fabulous, can I order some more'.

We are selling increasing quantities of our oil to guests. Those who drive to see us or have baggage in an aircraft's hold can take them quite easily - we bubble wrap the bottles beforehand. Guests who travel with just hand baggage (because of security limitations) cannot carry them - however, we now offer a 'wrap and pack' service where we bubble wrap and pack the bottles into padded envelopes and guests simply post them home!

If you are interested in purchasing our olive oil  - please e-mail us (minimum order 2 bottles to be posted) or telephone us and we can give you an instant quote for delivery to your door anywhere in the world.

News - settembre 2010

Last month was spectacularly hot with temperatures most days in the late twenties, early thirties and we even had a few days in the early 40s! We only had a few hours of rain one afternoon and when we wanted to visit the Moon in the Square fashion show in Cingoli, yes, the heavens opened and is was simply too wet that evening to go. That was it for the whole of August - great news for our B&B guests but our olive trees and garden remained desperate for water. Because of this we lost a couple of plants in our window boxes, two more lavender bushes have given up and another Leylandi tree which we had nurtured since 2002 decided it had enough of the heat and dry weather and died. Our vegetable plot has been very much the same, the courgettes have given up, the pepper plants have produced fruit but they are incredibly small and our cucumbers remain yellow. Parsnips, Broccoli and Cauliflower have yet to proves us wrong! We don't even want to mention our tomato plants. We are okay at producing olives, producing eating  grapes (we have buckets of them this year) and nurturing most flowers too. Mentioning olives!

Olive harvesting:

Our olive trees are now abundant with olives - perhaps not quite as many as in 2008 but enough for a good crop subject to all things us farmers fear - disease, high winds, too much rain or too much sun. This year we are already filling up November with past guests and friends who are determined to roll up their sleeves, put on their sun tan cream and join us for an experience of a lifetime. Picking olives is great fun, Sandra prepares the breakfasts, we supply the wine and after a hard day harvesting what better way to relax than to have a few more glasses of wine before taking a well earned pizza in the next village. Please let us know if you are interested in joining us as available dates are rapidly running out.

Such a lot to do:

There is so much to do & see during  the summer and August is no exception. There are festas, street markets, antiques fairs, exhibitions, concerts, tribute bands, entertainers, fairs, art exhibitions, fashion shows and so much to entertain visitors. The Comune in Cingoli (Comune offices are shown in the photograph to the left) prepares a long list of 'free' events throughout the summer. We have been very busy with the bed & breakfast and have had very few opportunities to find the time to go out! Many of our guests often walk or drive up to the next village for a pizza which they can eat either outside on the terrace overlooking our house and groves or in the restaurant itself! An added bonus for our guests is that they can have a 10% discount off the bill. However, a week or so ago two of our guests asked if we would like to go out for a pizza and the treat would be on them! We suggested that we ate in Cingoli. We called in to see Raffaela  who retails our olive oil in Cingoli and who has a small wine bar in the rear of her shop. We sampled some of her red and white wines and then took the short walk to a restaurant and pizzeria which is located in one of Cingoli's oldest palaces. The original aristocratic family still own the palace and nearby villa. We had booked an outside table beforehand and we sat in the warm clear air under the stars. The pizzeria has a reputation for producing lovely freshly baked pizzas and the long wait (it is normal to wait for some time because in Italy normally everything is freshly prepared to order) was very worthwhile. We drank locally produced red and white wine and after we took the short walk to St Georges's Square and chose freshly made ice cream and the time - well it was way past midnight.

We are now looking forward to the festa in Troviggiano and the fair in Grottaccia which take place early in September.

Marathon Man:

Roberto the 'English speaking' dentist who practices in Cingoli is also a  keen runner and recently explained that he had flown from Ancona to London Stansted to take part in the London Marathon and plans to take part in the Berlin Marathon on the 26th September.

Wine tasting:

This local area produces some fantastic DOC wines which many of our guests have not yet discovered! We generally prefer the white wines and our favourite is 'Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi' the vines can be seen on the outskirts of Cingoli, Cupramontana, Monte Carotto, Morro d'Alba and Jesi. Some producers are quite small and others have very large facilities. We have visited many of the producers. If our guests wish to 'try before they buy' or even just sample some of these delicious  wines without being obliged to purchase we supply them with a detailed itinerary with directions. We have a number of 'returners' who often ask us to accompany them on their wine tour! We usually buy our wines by the 'dame' (demi-john) these are filled up sometimes by gravity from the stainless tanks containing the wines and some wineries even have something similar to a petrol pump complete with 'fuel nozzle' and LCD display of the quantity and total price! 

Also about 15 minutes drive from us lies the village of Coste which is situated in the heart of the wine region. From the village you can see our road but not our house as we are behind the hillside and if you could drive straight across the fields you could be here in a few minutes. Guests arriving from Ancona airport often stop off at this little bar on the way to us for coffee, a beer or a glass or wine. If you choose wine which is a lovely Verdicchio they bring antipasti (plates of little bites) for you to enjoy. If you feel hungry the restaurant is very good and do meals both at lunchtime or in the evenings. They are closed on Tuesdays. And, just past the bar there is a supermarket and an all day pizzeria if you fancy just a slice of pizza and also another bar and restaurant.

At Home:

Home made jam:

Sandra had planned to continue making her lovely jam and spent an afternoon despite the high temperatures at the bottom of our groves collecting blackberries. She collected a large amount of fresh ripe blackberries and vowed to make the jam the next morning. Unfortunately, the heat led to them beginning to ferment overnight so the first collection had to be thrown away. Hopefully, we will try again during the next few days.

Le Marche:

Important factors for visitors to Le Marche are its unspoilt charm, natural beauty and warmth & genuineness of its people and the adventure of visiting areas and restaurants not yet discovered by tourism. Guests continue to comment on the peace and tranquility of this hillside when they stay with us.  They relax in the gardens or groves listening to the church bells and the sound of birds singing and as evening falls what better than to light some candles or lanterns and gaze at the starlit sky and the lights from hill top towns twinkling in the distance.

There are many festas, concerts, events and celebrations which are held throughout the year and inevitably sometimes they all want the same dates. If you are considering staying with us and have specific dates in mind please do book in good time as we hate to disappoint. Having said that, if we have gaps left between bookings we can sometimes give a good discount to fill up our calendar. We welcome guests from throughout the world.

September in Marche

September is slightly cooler but is still hot enough to sun bathe on any of the blue flag beaches or take a paddle or swim in the warm Adriatic Sea. It's normally a sunny dry month with temperatures at the beginning in the late 20's to early 30's and at the end around the mid 20's. We have a number of guest 'returners' who particularly enjoy this month and avoid the hotter temperatures of July and August. As the evenings are a little darker they take candles and lanterns outside and sit in our gardens watching the twinkling lights of distant villages whilst the stars shine above.  The skies are unpolluted and clear. There are fewer tourists and many Italians have returned to work and children start school mid-September after their summer break. There are still lots of festas and things to do and see. Locally there is the Grottaccia festa around the first weekend of the month, this two day event has live entertainment, bars and freshly cooked food and a lovely street market with lots of bargains and a grand firework finale. The following weekend there is the Troviggiano festa which again has live entertainment, lovely homemade cooking and often a few stalls selling antiques and bric-a-brac. At home our roses start to bloom again, Sandra continues dead heading them to stimulate them to flower up to Christmas. In the groves the olives are beginning  to swell in readiness to be harvested in November. 

October in Marche

This is a lovely month to take a look around this beautiful region. The roads are quiet and the hilltop towns and villages are no longer visited by tourists but just frequented by locals - it's a great time to sightsee and experience the real Italian lifestyle. The leaves on the surrounding hillsides are beginning to turn to gold, red and brown as autumn begins to arrive. At this time of the year many guests are keen to go walking and with temperatures only rising to the mid to late 20's it's not too hot to explore on foot. There are many places to visit and things to do and if you enjoy walking in the countryside there is a mushroom/truffle walk in Cingoli around the middle of the month which is well attended by visitors and the locals. In the daytime it could be hot enough to visit the coast and sunbathe which we have frequently done even at the end of October. Most nights are settled and it is still warm enough to sit outside and light some candles.  Towards the latter part of this month we begin to light the wood burners and what better way to spend an evening than to curl up at night in front of one of these with a glass of wine and the fragrance of burning olive wood. There is excitement and anticipation in the local olive groves towards the end of the month! There is local gossip, who is going to begin olive picking, when does the olive press open, will the sun continue to turn the green olives into a lush velvet black, ripe enough to produce our local extra virgin olive oil, which trees should be first for

To fill up our booking calendar we presently have a LATE BOOKING offer for any remaining dates in the months of September or October. Double en-suite on a bed and breakfast basis for just €49,00 euros per room per night for a minimum 3 night stay or only €55,00 euros per room per night for a 1 or 2 night stay, subject to availability.

Potential House Buyers:

Le Marche is a hot spot for house buyers with lots of renovation work being carried out. Most buy a property to renovate and engage the services of an architect or geometra who subsequently appoint builders to carry out the work.

We have renovated most of our house ourselves. Sandra was mixing concrete one Christmas Day wearing a shower cap to protect her hair from the dust as she emptied ballast, cement and water into our petrol powered mixer. We have changed rotten wooden beams and joists, replaced floors, installed frames for new windows, pointed 'metres' of stonework and the list goes on! Some of our guests who have seen what we have achieved had left us with the confidence to tackle some of the renovation work themselves and several are now busy transforming their ruins into habitable properties!

Buying a house in Le Marche is a very good investment and there are presently bargains to be had. We often have potential house buyers stay with us from many different countries. We are always happy for guests to gain from our experiences of buying and renovating in Le Marche.

Shopping Basket:

We are always being told by guests that they had no idea how cheap it would be to holiday here in Le Marche. The area is still relatively undiscovered and there are no 'tourist prices' in the bars and restaurants - just what the locals would pay! To give you an idea several local restaurants offer a fixed price menu from 12 - 15 euros per person and a typical meal includes bread, a first course which is usually a choice of pasta, followed by grilled meat (perhaps pork or chicken) served with vegetables in season or salad, mineral water, red or white wine and coffee. Restaurant prices for a pizza are around 6 euro each and pasta is also around 6 euro each (you could have one portion with two plates if you are not too hungry) with a litre of house wine at around 3 euro. In a bar a glass of house wine is around 2 euro with better quality wine around 3-4 euro and a bottle of local beer is around 1.30 euro with imported beer a little more. Cafe bars are open from early morning until late at night and serve coffees at 1/2 euro, pastries, sandwiches, panini and slices of pizza at very reasonable prices.

Local Restaurant News: Both local village restaurants who do a set meal of the day for 12 euros are giving a 10% discount to our guests.

HOW TO COOK WITH OLIVE OIL - there is not much space on this page so if you would like Sandra to e-mail you any Italian recipes please let her know - here in Italy, together with our own olive oil she uses wild herbs, herbs from our kitchen garden and fresh local produce.

Oil infusions: 

Herb oil - rosemary, basil, tarragon, mint, parsley & chives all work well in oil infusions either separately or mixed together - Lightly bruise the chosen herb in a pestle and mortar or with something hard such as a rolling pin. Simply place in a jar, bottle or other container, add the oil and shake well and then let the herbs fall to the bottom. Leave to infuse stored in a cool dark place for a least a week and no more than 4 weeks. Use as required. 

Olio Santo - a fairly mild chili infusion that adds a subtle heat to a dish. Also delicious sprinkled over cooked pizza - wash and dry 4 red chilies and bruise 8 bay leaves and place in a clean jar, cover with about 250ml of oil, seal the jar and store in a cool dry place - use as required.

Mashed potato with thyme oil - boil about 2lb of floury potatoes. Drain and return to pan. Add about 2 tbsp of milk and a little thyme oil and mash. Stir in or sprinkle with grated parmesan or Pecorino cheese.

Orange and Rocket salad  - a light and refreshing salad which is ideal to serve with spicy or rich foods. You simply use fresh rocket (which has a slightly bitter taste) and mix with  slices or segments of fresh orange. Make a dressing 2 parts of olive oil and 1 part balsamic vinegar, a little crushed garlic (optional) and add a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss well and leave to stand for a few minutes. Sprinkle with black olives (optional).

Zuccini a Scapece - Marinated Courgettes - a simple dish prepared all over Italy using the best of the season's courgettes which are eaten cold with salami, proscuitto crudo or cheeses. Use 4 courgettes and slice thinly.  Cook the slices in olive oil, you could also add chopped onion or sliced mushrooms as a variation, place them in a dish and add fresh mint (optional) just cover with white wine vinegar and leave for at least a few hours. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Serve at room temperature.

Peperonata - Peppers cooked in olive oil - cook 1 small chopped onion, 1 yellow and 1 red pepper that are cut into thin strips in olive oil, stirring continuously and cook until softened. Add 2 large chopped tomatoes or half a cup of passata. Add some chopped fresh parsley (optional). Cook on a low heat and stir frequently until pepper is cooked and mixture has thickened. Serve hot or at room temperature with any beef dish such as meatballs, sausages, beef burgers or steak. Delicious with thyme potato or creamy mashed potato.

Gregory & Sandra