When Sarah Gothard and her husband Dominic decided to move their young family to Tuscany, it was more than just La Dolce Vita that led them to convert a tenth century mill, as Sarah explains
When we decided to move overseas we had a checklist we were working towards: good weather with four distinct seasons, a place that was culturally rich in arts and history, had good food and wine, a range of landscapes including ski and beach, a warm and welcoming community, and affordable and spacious authentic properties. Italy, and more specifically Tuscany, seemed to tick all our boxes.
We decided to move our young family of five and two dogs to experience la bella vita. We had spent some time individually holidaying in Italy and Tuscany, prior to getting together, and those happy memories had stayed with us both. We started looking in early 2003 for a character property to own and renovate shortly after our youngest son, Indi, was born. We spotted Mulino di Sopra and viewed it in June 2003.
We were instantly drawn to this romantic dwelling, but also realised there was a long journey ahead of us to convert it into the family Tuscan home we had in mind. The previous owner had had the Mill for 14 years and lived in only the top floor of the property.
By February 2004, we exchanged contracts. Our mill is situated five minutes away from the unspoilt village of Civitella Marittima, 20 minutes away from Siena, It’s 40 minutes from the small ski and walking resort of Monte Amiata, as well as several beaches.
The old mill was in desperate need of love and attention – but had the basics to make our imaginations go wild with possibilities. Large grounds, a private road, little outbuildings to convert; it was a house full of character to make into our own Tuscan dwelling. It was like having an enormous canvas to create a unique home using the artisans of Tuscany.
My 7-year-old daughter, Georgia, summed up the feeling the children had when she first saw our new home, screaming ‘What a dump!’ I can’t say I blamed her, as our beautiful old mill looked light years away from how it stands today.
Built in 976AD, the mill had many foibles and complaints hidden to surprise us, but also came with huge doses of character and original features. Dominic suggested converting the downstairs into bedrooms, leaving the upstairs for the living space. This allowed us to access the terraces and gardens, which were raised on one side of the house.
Everything within the house was ripped out, and the roof also needed to be taken off in its entirety. We were thrilled to keep many of the original materials, such as the roof tiles and huge wooden beams to use during the restoration process. The renovation, as with most work done when you are living and renovating at the same time, was at times frustrating. The Italian attitude is “work to live” not “live to work”, which is to be admired but can lead to delays. We worked together as a family, with the children helping as much as they could, weeding the garden, planting seeds and gathering kindling.
We spent months with a kitchen in boxes and using the water outside for a shower – though obviously not in the winter months! Our son clearly remembers having baths in the kitchen sink.
Working with the local authorities and councils was amusing, bemusing and long-winded. We worked with a firm of very talented architects, but as we were on-site, we project-managed most of the work, which we enjoyed, along with the sourcing of materials.
The children, especially our eldest daughter Georgia, were initially a little confused as to why we had left a perfectly lovely home to live in a “dump”, but over the course of time they came to appreciate and love our home in Tuscany. All of our children are very trusting and embrace change. The biggest hurdle was the language. We had given our eldest daughter, Georgia, a year’s worth of Italian lessons but nothing can quite prepare a 7-year-old for a total change of language. It was definitely the hardest for Georgia, as she had to sit in class listening to all the lessons in Italian for 8 hours a day. The upside was that she was fluent within three months of arrival and often said to me, “Mummy, I’m not quite sure how to say this in English!”
Our second daughter, Tiger, who went into nursery at the age of three, was determined to teach the entire school English – with some success! The teachers got the better of her after a couple of months and Tiger was confidently attempting sentences within a couple of months. Our little boy, Indi, was very young when we moved, so grew up learning Italian and English in tandem.
The net result is that Georgia has an A* in Italian, gained at the age of 12, and she has little problem with Spanish, Latin and other languages. There is a confidence gained through being exposed to a complete change that you just can’t teach.
School is very traditional here, with old-fashioned values and a lovely sense of community. The teachers, called by their first name by the pupils, are protective and proud of their broods – reassuring to us as parents. The children wore smocks or aprons to school, which was a great source of amusement to begin with but turned out to be practical and cost-effective. Most schools are 6 half days a week but our children went to a school that was open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm. The school lunches are amazing, with locally-sourced fruit and vegetables, and are always nutritious and well cooked.
My husband Dominic and I work remotely, running our marketing consultancies in the area and internationally, taking it in turns to be with the children full-time. We are lucky that our partners and jobs allow us to do this.
Dominic is definitely more confident in Italian than I am, but we’ve immersed ourselves in the language and are able to manage most situations coherently, with a few amusing exceptions. Learning to speak a foreign language as an adult is at times humiliating and frustrating. However, I absolutely adore the Italians, the nuances of the language and the dialects.
We’ve made a lot of friends locally, young and old, including Italian, German, Canadian, English, Romanian and Swiss: we are lucky enough to have a complete blend of nationalities, many of whom are involved in the wine trade in Tuscany. The Italian people are welcoming, chatty and they get involved; it makes a refreshing change.
We are delighted with the seasons, especially the longer, warm summers. We love the Italian festivals and enjoyed discovering the sights and traditions of the local cities, villages and towns, such as Siena, Florence, San Gimignano, Montepulciano, Monteriggioni, Lucca – I could go on and on...
One of my favourite things is to call the cuckoos that visit us in the spring, and see the wild tortoises, which slowly amble up and down our track. Swimming in the pool in our garden is also a privilege; having the secluded quiet of the countryside to myself whilst swimming in cool waters is a joy rarely found anywhere else in the world!
Dominic and I also enjoy planning and developing the kitchen garden and love having our home-grown fruit and vegetables on hand for our meals – a complete first for us. We also buy seasonal local produce including wine, meat, fruit and vegetables. Local restaurants offer fabulous local cooked produce and took time to welcome us to the restaurant and into the community.
Anything I miss from the UK? Baked beans, which are a rarity in Tuscany, and also the huge variety of bread we get in the large UK supermarkets. European crisps are also quite limited in their flavours!
We are now, regretfully, planning to sell our mill and look for new horizons. What next? I’m not sure, but it’s going to be very hard to leave this place that we’ve all loved so much.
My advice to anyone thinking of following in our footsteps would be to live in the area for a period of time before moving. Always add at least a third onto your budget (but don’t tell the architect or builder); be prepared to get totally immersed in the community and get your hands dirty with your renovation. Have patience with the local authorities. It’s a journey you will never forget, and a very worthwhile one.
The Mill
Mulino di Sopra (“Mill Above”) is a 10th Century (976AD) mill house set within the Tuscan countryside (Civitella) that spans over 3000 square foot in 1.5 hectares of land. The property has been restored and renovated into a three-bedroom family home with swimming pool, landscaped gardens and a three-berth car port. On the grounds is a 588 square foot two-bed apartment in the grounds, a secluded study and a well that provides free water to the house and grounds.
Price: £1,033,080
Nearest town: Civitella Marittima GR and Sienna (40mins)
Mountains: Monte Amiata, www.monteamiata.it/en (40mins)
Beach: Fiumara, www.fiumarabeach.it (40mins)
Contact: www.tuscany-house-for-sale.com
