Italian farmhouse

What were your first impressions of the property?
'All of the buildings were in very poor condition. The main house had been used in the traditional way, with the farm animals living downstairs and the tenant farmer and family living upstairs. Over the years, some work had been done, including installing an electrical supply, but we soon realised it would need to be completely gutted. There were no internal bathrooms, the kitchen was in a terrible state, the roof, the floors and windows all needed to be replaced. However, this didn't put us off, in fact we couldn't wait to get stuck in.'

How did you tackle the renovations?
'First off, before any work could begin, we had to sort out the legalities. Italy is notorious for its bureaucracy, but there is no way around it. You simply have to be patient when it comes to obtaining the necessary building permits. Even something simple, like opening a bank account, takes forever. However, Peter picked up basic Italian quite quickly and this undoubtedly helped in the early stages. When it came to the work itself, fortunately there are many very skilled artisans in Umbria. Looking back, the fact that we were amongst the first British people in the area possibly worked in our favour. I think people in the nearest village were quite curious about us to start with, and keen to find out more. Our older children were going through a stage of having spiky, died hair and wearing Dr Martens boots, so they must have looked like an exotic species. Once we got to know each other better, however, the locals couldn't have been more helpful and things began to move forward. 'Although we were still living in England at the time, we came over as much as possible to oversee and project-manage the work. In the end, we decided to make one of the smaller dwellings as comfortable as possible and stayed there while the main house was being renovated.'

What have you done?
'We stripped the house back to the bare walls and started from scratch. We redesigned the downstairs to make the main living area and kitchen open plan, using the original archways as natural dividers. We also redesigned upstairs to give each of the five bedrooms its own en suite. We also added a new roof and replaced the old windows. 'Wherever possible we tried to keep everything in keeping with the age and style of the home, but in some cases we had no option but to combine aesthetics with practicality. For example, much as we would have loved to use antique terracotta floor tiles throughout, they would have proved expensive and labour intensive in terms of maintenance. In the end, Peter heard of a hotel being built nearby and was able to buy its leftover new terracotta tiles at a very reasonable price. We also would have liked to restore the stone walls inside, but again it would have been very labour intensive. Instead, Peter's Cypriot background, where the trend is rough, plastered walls painted white, gave us inspiration. We decided to do this and I think it possibly worked out for the best as the rooms might have ended up quite dark in natural stone.'