July 2016
Yes thank you we had a lovely holiday in Menaggion Poggio Fiorito Loggetta.
The property had everything we wanted and was cool and welcoming - especially welcome in the unaccustomed (for people living in Wales) Italian heat. It was nice to stay in a property that was a home as well as a holiday house.
We had no car. This was no problem for our own holiday. Indeed we would not have wished to drive down into Menaggio everyday for food or activities as it looked as though roads were narrow and parking hard to find. There was lots to do and explore by foot and by other public transport if we fancied a change. We enjoyed buying food in the vegetable shops, delicatessen and bakery - something we don’t have the opportunity to do at home. However, the walk back up to the property does mean that you need to be fit enough to walk uphill for 2km or so (we are now fitter!) so if that is not the case, visitors definitely need a car. Otherwise, we were rewarded by lack of car and explored the town, the little streets, the val Sanagra, the buses (to return us from Aquaseria which we were too tired to return from by foot after walking the Antica Strada Regina) (there is a lovely little beach and unusual tiny play park in Aquaseria).
At first visit we weren’t keen on the lido but changed our minds - the lake needs to be swum in! We didn’t have swim caps so couldn’t use the pool but the lake was better. We were even able to enjoy the evening music from our holiday home (not sure if this was an advantage or not…) We didn’t use the cafe or the restaurant or any of the facilities except for the shade under the trees and the water and that was lovely.
Highlights?
The bottle of wine in our ‘welcome’ basket was a joyous discovery after our long walk trying to find the house. Thankyou.
The amazing thunderstorm on our penultimate night was awesome (I know this can’t be replicated to order but it was a highlight and we were safe). The roll of thunder and the continual light show was the best storm we have ever experienced and Paul made some brilliant videos on his little phone. We knew where the fuse box was because on our first night the electricity went off - another thunderstorm - and the box was easy to access and to find. We did have to discover that the switches worked the opposite way to our ones at home! At home a storm of that magnitude would almost certainly have meant loss of power. The views of the mountains from our outdoor table in the holiday home were fabulous - they changed all the time and we enjoyed that as we ate our evening meal.
We really really enjoyed the views (and the food and the service) at Locanda la volpe and La Magnolia Vecchia. We thoroughly recommend both - one for a walk and one for a nearby evening restauration.
We found Val Sanagra right at the end. It felt as if there were lovely walks there that we would have enjoyed exploring some more.
You might want to remind UK visitors that the shops (for food) close between 12-ish and 4-ish. We found that hard to adjust to because it meant thinking in advance!
I also found all you at Happy Holiday Homes very helpful when I was trying to find a place for us to stay, so thank you for that.
We have lots of photographs because the place was so beautiful.
Sarah, UK