This could be you!

For those who can be quick off the mark, Ryanair is currently offering tax free flights from Stansted to Bari on Saturday 16 June making it just over £100 per person for flights returning a week later.

On our new website Puglia Places we have availability in several of our lovely villas with pools in Puglia. Family favourite Trullo Juno has three bedrooms and a huge pool all for £1,200 per week, for all-round luxe Trullo Solari has four double bedrooms all ensuite and a lovely pool for £2,400 per week, or a hop skip and a jump away from Cisternino is pretty Trullo Oliva with three bedrooms and a cute plunge pool costing £1,200 per week.

Each of these gorgeous villas work out at £300 or less per person making it a very affordable holiday indeed, so be quick and get the flights while you can!

shelling beans

Our veg patch is starting to look more healthy with all the plants that Andy has sown. Today the first courgette flowers were in bloom, we’ve been enjoying plenty of rocket, our peas will be ready any day and our youngest loved her first experience of shelling broad beans. Mixed with mascarpone cheese they made a delicious pasta sauce – buon appetito!

Andy picking olives in the sun

Every year in November, traditionally from the 15th of the month, the countryside of Puglia is busy with the harvesting of olives to be made into delicious olive oil. There’s been quite a lot of investigation in the press recently about some of the dodgy dealings that can happen in this huge industry, careful reading of the label on the oils you buy is essential to make sure you’re buying what you think you are!

In comparison we’re a tiny artisan producer and we take great pride in creating a premium product from the olive trees on our estate. We hand pick all our olives, this involves a combination of dragging the olives from the trees with our hands (me and the children), climbing into the tree and shaking the branches so the olives fall to the ground (Andy) and using a whizzy thing on a stick that makes them fly off (my dad). Big  nets are spread under the trees to catch the olives and once the tree has been stripped they’re poured into crates and put through a shaker, a bit like a long sieve with springs at each end which we fling from side to side so that the olives are separated from the leaves and twigs that come down with them. As soon as we’ve got 300 kilos we go straight to the press so that they’re immediately milled into oil, we aim to go from picking to press with 24 hours so that we get the highest grade extra virgin oil. The press, or frantoio, that we use has a stone mill and presses them cold as is the traditional method – some presses wash the olives in hot water as it can increase the yield. What comes out is a beautiful luminous thick green spicy liquid that looks nothing like what you buy in the supermarket. This process goes on for days – picking, sorting and pressing – until the trees are bare and we can rest our weary arms.

Our delicious single estate, hand picked, stone ground, cold pressed, organic (uncertified), extra virgin olive oil costs £10 per litre plus postage (£5.60 parcel post) or free postage for two or more litres.

Abundant blossom

After a cold, late Winter it finally feels as if Spring is here and the countryside is being brightened by the almond trees in blossom. At last the sun is beginning to warm the air and everyone’s walking a little taller with the promise of Summer. But Spring is my favourite time of year here, the grass is lush and green, the wildflowers are everywhere in bloom and the sun’s rays are gentle. Although Rustic Puglia is already booked throughout Spring, lots of our other villas on www.pugliaplaces.com have availability. So if you fancy a Spring break look no further.

Our little lamb

Our poor ewe wasn’t able to recover from being attacked and died peacefully two weeks later. With a very lonely male left behind we arranged to buy a new female and the cutest little lamb arrived today to keep him company. She’s two months old and the two have immediately bonded. By the time our first guests arrive in April she’ll be much bigger, but for now we’re going to enjoy having a new baby here at Rustic Puglia.

Trullo Juno

Our own trullo is already booked, but if you’re looking for a week away in Puglia look no further than our sister site Puglia Places. Recently launched, we have ten hand-picked villas on www.pugliaplaces.com of which Trullo Juno and Trullo Oliva have availability for half term. Both have three bedrooms and two bathrooms, both have swimming pools and both cost less than £1,500 per week.

June is a perfect time of year to visit the region, it’s sunny and warm but not too hot and the wildflowers are in abundance making the countryside as pretty as a picture. So hurry, book them while you can!

Snow at Rustic Puglia

The beginning of Lent is marked by Carnevale and, although some argue that the history of carneval can be traced back to pre-Christian times, some of the best known traditions like carnival parades and masquerade balls are traced back to medieval Italy. With Lent traditionally being a time of fasting and piousness, one theory is that the word ‘carnevale’ comes from the Latin ‘carne’ meaning meat and ‘vale’ meaning farewell as meat was often forfeited during Lent. In nearby Cisternino there are four days of parades in the late afternoon where all the children dress up in costume plus a welcome break from school with three days’ holiday. This all coincides with some of the coldest weather we’ve had all winter – yet more snow at Rustic Puglia!

Puglia from space

The gloomy cold winter weather at this time of year seems neverending but this picture of southern Italy taken from the International Space Station brings to mind summer nights of lights twinkling and glasses clinking. Before long Puglia will be awash with wildflowers and we can breathe a sigh of relief that spring is finally here.

Trullo Oliva can be rented through Puglia Places

We’ve just launched a new website – www.pugliaplaces.com – which lists other holiday villas in the area. Whether you’re looking for a five star luxury stay, a stone house in the middle of an organic vineyard or a traditional trullo, we have it all. So if Rustic Puglia is fully booked, make Puglia Places your first port of call for a great choice of holiday homes.

Beavis in bandages

Winter is a hard time for everyone, but it seems even more harsh in the country when we see the animals out in the elements. Puglia has a big stray dog population and it’s in wintertime that they gather in packs to find food, when they’re particularly cold and hungry. Last Thursday our ewe was attacked by a group of about 10 dogs, luckily Andy got to her before she was beyond help but it’s still been touch and go for a while. Her hind legs and tail were badly damaged and the shock put her off her food, but with lots of care from Andy we’re hoping she’s going to pull through. She is lucky as she has a good home but we feel very sorry for all the stray dogs who are the real victims here.