Avis Casa Pietra - The Main Farm House

Siamo stati 7 giorni nella casa, 4 giorni li abbiamo vissuti senza acqua e senza che il proprietario facesse nulla per noi! Non avevamo acqua per water... per la doccia e per cucinareUn incubo!internet non funziona e sconsiglio a tutti di soggiornare in questa casa

A creatively restored farmhouse, comfortable and stylish. Set in a secluded but not totally isolated very scenic location. It caught both the sun and the breeze and the temperature was always pleasant. A car absolutely necessary -- supermarket about 10 minutes away by rough road and other destinations better part of an hour though within that there was a good choice of beach, mountains, scenic towns. Convenient to Pescata airport. The grounds a bit precipitous, steep staircases and drops -- not suitable for toddlers ot adults with mobility problems. The pool is a circular meter deep plunge pool, perfect for our 6 year old just learning to swim but would be frustrating for an older child and dangerous for a toddler. The house is well furnished, nice bath/shower rooms and comfortable beds. There is a good supply of English language books and DVDs. Only criticisms -- the electricity frequently cut out, not adequate for appliances in both accommodations. This is common in Italy however. Some of the kitchen equipment is tired and should be replaced. Towels also not up to scratch and it would have been good if beach towels were provided. It was reassuring that the owner is on the site and very ready to help as needed. In fact we scarcely needed to call on him but it was nice that he was available. He was always friendly and helpful. With these few reservations we would definitely recommend this place to friends wanting a peaceful low key holiday. T

The farmhouse is a lovely property, with elevated views towards Atessa. It is beautifully renovated, with a delightful mix of traditional and modern elements. All three bedrooms have ensuite bathrooms, each with their own style, and the main ensuite is huge, with stylish, blue LED lights around the bath and a skylight for a romantic and relaxing night time soak. There is a TV, BluRay player and a selection of DVDs, and WiFi, so you can take your own devices and DVDs with you to entertain you, and there are sun loungers for relaxing on the balcony. The pool is a freestanding round one, as can be seen from the pictures, and unheated, but in the summer is good for cooling off and admiring the views. There's also a hammock strung between two trees. Robert, the owner, is very friendly and helpful, and happy to provide whatever help or guidance is required, and regularly checked in to make sure we were OK. A few points that, although they should not be taken as negatives, are worth pointing out to potential renters of this property (because we hadn't realised them): 1. This property is in an area that is definitely _not_ tourist-y. It means you get to experience "real Italy" but we found that virtually no-one spoke English, or it was very limited, so be prepared. We did find one restaurant ("Civico 20") where the owner spoke good English but that was definitely the exception. 2. Don't rely on a normal in-car satnav for finding the property. It's on a very small, single-track rural road and our in-car system didn't recognise it. Fortunately, Robert's pin on Google Maps is absolutely spot on, so use your phone instead. 3. There isn't much to do in the area if you want anything beyond seeing the local scenery and visiting old towns and churches. The waterpark at Vasto is fairly good, but this property is best suited to just chilling out, with the occasional trip out for the evening. I guess the summary is, as above - "Beautiful property, friendly and helpful owner, off the beaten track". If that's what you're looking for, this is perfect :-)

The house was nowhere near the quality we were expecting. We arrived about 30 mins prior to check in and evidently caught the owner by surprise, Mr. Robert Chambers. He had asked us to return at 4:30pm which we did. Immediately, we acknowledged there was no pool as advertised and the property was far from manicured. It was upsetting to learn we had no pool given we were 60-100 miles from the sea and the weather was extremely hot & humid. When Robert showed us around the home it looked fairly clean but we did not examine it in detail. We were tired and had to drop off our bags and ventured out. We showered and went out visiting local family within an hour or so of arriving. When we returned to the home about 10pm and that is where the issues began to arise. Per the owner’s instructions we left the shutters closed on the home to keep it cool. Well, that proved to be futile. The home was so hot and it is very important to note there is no air conditioning or ventilation system whatsoever in the home and the owner fails to mention that is his advertisement description as well. Plus no ceiling fans anywhere! So to overcome the heat, we opened the windows and numerous bugs began flying into the home and that is when we acknowledged that the windows had no screens. We immediately had to shut them. The home was an oven all night long, we were too afraid to open them. As you may or may not know, bugs migrate to light in the dark. Also it is important to note that all doors had no weather stripping and bugs just infiltrated the home. We quickly came to realize that the home had probably been vacant for a long period of time and the owner did a poor job cleaning & preparing it for us and that is why he was surprised when we showed up early. The home contained numerous spider nests, numerous dead bugs under the beds, the guest room on the second floor had a very large unfinished adjacent attic that was not closed off which was also home to numerous bug infestations. We even found bugs sleeping in my children’s beds. They were physically crawling on the sheets and the pillows. It is amazing that the home did not have some type of rodent control and or extermination program. Needless to say that 1st night was enough to keep us all up the entire 1st evening. The following morning we went directly to the hotel. There was no hesitation whatsoever on our part. There was no way that we could spend another night there. I shared these concerns with the owner imme