Talking to friends from Park Street, the other day, about their Sorrento farm stay on the Amalfi coast I was reminded about our own desire to take the girls on a Pompeii and Amalfi Coast Excursion.
It seems that Sorrento, Pompeii and the other highlights of the Amalfi Coast are just made for the good folk of St Albans. It kind of fits our main criteria for living: culture, relaxation, good food, good wine and we can do it all under the excuse of educating the children!
Not only is Southern Italy far enough embedded into the Mediterranean sea to offer the near solid guarantees of sunshine that all Brits need and it has theis the quitessential holiday destination for well to do English families! After all, how can Sting and Kim Kardashian be wrong?
OK, maybe those two are not our primary holiday idols but Hollywood has done wonders for this area of Italy (and I am thinking more Under the Tuscan Sun rather than Up Pompeii!)
But it is one thing to live as a tourist from the 1950’s, quite another to live as a local. And that is why my chums’ adventures around Sorrento sounded so idyllic. One day they would be getting agricultural around the farm and the vineyards, being fed by the local family on produce fresh out of the ground, the next they would be cruising the coast road in an open top car heading to a little place that they had been recommended “just north of here”!
The Bay of Naples has long been a popular destination and they pretty much had the run of it. The farm on which they were staying was just a few minutes from Sorrento and just 10 minutes from Positano and whilst, for any other destination, a day trip to the Island of Capri would be the top highlight to a holiday, here they were completely spoilt by also being just a few miles from the fascinating cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
It is rare to find, in one small corner of this globe, such an embarrassment of riches, so the fact that it is just under 3 hours flight by Easyjet from Luton to Naples means that we really are utterly spoilt. That alone is worth the house prices in St Albans!
The only thing I would have to warn you against is trying to enjoy this area in anything less than 2 weeks.
For your interest, Antico Casale was the farm house providing the accommodation for the Sorrento Farm Stay, the rest of the holiday’s highlights were provided by 1000’s of years of history!