Whilst we do love Yoko, our campervan, we acknowledge that she is a little on the small side when it comes to living accommodation. After 7 weeks of continuously living in her, moving everything around to get anything and constantly tripping over each other, we decided it was time to treat ourselves to somewhere with more space. Combine this with our desire for a clean and warm shower, and we arrived at the decision to leave the confines of Yoko and book ourselves into a cheap hotel for a couple of nights.

The hotel was chosen mainly for it’s price, remote location and nice pictures on lastminute.com, rather than close proximity to any famous sights. The plan was simply to relax for a day or two in the beautiful Italian sunshine. When we checked in we were slightly surprised by our accommodation, mainly because, in my mind, a hotel is typically a single, multi-floor building with identically furnished rooms. Ours, however, is what must be converted farm buildings, painted deep Tuscan red and set around a pebbly courtyard with plenty of trees and olive groves on all sides. The receptionist showed us to our apartment, opening the grand wooden doors onto a spacious kitchen/living room, with dark wooden furniture and a huge dining table that, for those of you who know her, Claire Pulford would be proud of. To my delight there was also a modern, clean bathroom and comfy bedroom. Not bad for the money.

We’ve spent the last two days eating on our terrace, reading in deckchairs and relaxing by the pool. It is low season so we have the place almost to ourselves, yet the weather is still gloriously warm. As I type I’m waiting for daveb to make us the steak sandwich he promised, but I fear it may not materialise. Earlier he drank 3/4 of a bottle of red wine, followed by 5 beers and was last seen heading for the bedroom to sleep it off. And suddenly there was one.

We like it so much here we’ve booked an extra night. Good thing for Dave, he’ll be able to sleep of the hideous hangover I’m sure will visit him tomorrow!

PS Ironically the shower is only warm for 2 mins then switches to super cold mode. What does a girl have to do?