White Almond Sicily

Nothing beats the rewarding feeling of a holiday in the countryside and Sicily is the perfect destination for a gastronomic farm holiday. Last year I received a lovely email from best selling and award winning British author Jo Thomas who was planning a trip to Sicily with her family for a holiday and also to undertake research for her summer book "My Lemon Grove Summer" which was to be set in Sicily among the lemon groves. One of her questions was, could I recommend an Agriturismo near Catania for her families first night in Sicily, preferably one with citrus trees and where she could take a cooking class to get a feel for Sicilian cuisine. One immediately came to mind about a 20 minute drive from Catania airport. Whilst in London a couple of years ago attending the World Travel Market I had the pleasure of meeting Marco from " Il Giardino del Sole ", a biological farm with rooms and cabins boasting a sparkling swimming pool and they also did cooking classe...

"Is Sicily the place to start again?" Jo Thomas One of the things I love about writing my Blog is some of the wonderful Emails I receive from all over the world. Last year I received a lovely email from best selling and award winning British author Jo Thomas who told me that she would be travelling to Sicily with her family on holiday and also for research for her next Summer book. I was really happy as I was already a big fan of Jo's books and always hotly anticipated the next one to be announced. The first book by Jo that I read was 'The Olive Branch' which was set amongst the olive groves of Puglia in Italy which then inspired me to order her first book 'The Oyster Catcher' set in Ireland and pre-order her next book 'Late Summer at the Vineyard' set in France. Thereafter I have read 'The Honey Farm on the Hill' set in Crete, 'Sunset over the Cherry Orchard' set in Southern Spain and 'Winter Beneath the Stars' se...