The Festa della castagna at Caprese Michelangelo takes place 14-15 October and 21-22 October. Michelangelo's birthplace, Caprese Michelangelo, is only two and half hours away from Lucca in the province of Arezzo, nestled in the Val Tiberina and 700 meters above sea level. The famous artist was born here on March 6, 1475, in the castle. His father was "podesta" and his house (photo above) is now a museum. You can also see the small stone church where he was baptised. Caprese Michelangelo is a picturesque village of 1400 inhabitants, a number which doubles in October with the famous Chestnut festival.

We decided to leave London behind for a year and come and live in Sunny Lucca to give our children (aged 9 and 3) the possibility to experience life in another country and connect with their Italian heritage.

Why Lucca? We didn't want a big city so as much as I love Florence and have many friends there , we chose Lucca as it is a quiet,small,beautiful historic walled city where everything is a cycle ride away. 

That was our first shopping trip, to the second hand bike shop.

Went to cooking class with my little one and made great rock cakes.

Some melted butter, 4 tblesp self raising flour (mix to breadcrumb consistency) Add some raisins, some chocolate chips, 1 beaten egg and a few drops of vanilla and a pinch of baking powder. Bake for 20 minutes and you have easy delicious rock cakes. You can add dates or nuts for variety.

I just thought I would post some quick recipes for half term to try and sneak in some veg. I have got good at that since my daughter won't eat anything green, or orange for that matter. In fact she only eats white food, bread, pasta, cheese with the occasional red, ie pizza. The next person who asks me if me and my husband eat veg and fruit (I love my fruit and veg) I will reply 'veg? What's that?"

Pasta all norma Sicilian aubergine pasta for 4

400 g pasta

2 aubergines

1 kilo of tomatoes

So the September mum and baby breaks went well. We had sunshine all month and the mums on the fitness breaks all lost between 1 and 2 kilos. I managed to loose a kilo without doing any exercise! Just eating all those healthy meals. Have sort of kept up the healthy eating give or take a chocolate or two!

The yoga and cooking breaks were great fun and busy.On one break we had ten adults (Dads came too)and seven little ones. Busy , lively and great fun,although hard work for our team. Fernanda said she was glad when the month was over, but the next day said she felt lost without all the children and couldn't wait for the next breaks to begin.

Paradise for Mum and babies in Tuscany.

This is what one of our mums wrote on her blog see  Flora's comments on arealholiday.wordpress.com/

I have just got back from 2 very different mum and baby breaks in Italy, the first was a fitness break where all 5 mums lost between 1 and half and 2 and half kilos. Alessia de Magistris is our personal trainer and gives a 1 to 1 session on arrival, taking weight and measurements and does 4 fun fitness classes outdoors in a stunning setting with Lake and hill views.