We first headed to Villa Pia with our three children (then 6 years, 4 years and 18 months old) on the recommendation of friends. What we found was to revolutionise our summers from then on: a real holiday for all of us.

Villa Pia is a large 18th century villa on the edge of an Umbrian hillside owned by Morag Cleland and her partner Kevin Begley. Until a few years ago they lived there with their children. They now live close by but are very much present and it still feels like their home. Villa Pia is not a hotel. Imagine instead being asked to stay with people who own a glorious, large house where all the catering and thinking is done for you. Much more relaxing than a hotel, less stressful than self-catering, that is Villa Pia.

As our rental car descends down the steep drive to the courtyard all the stresses of the journey disappear. The children leap out of the car and run for the toys and bikes in the courtyard and we are immediately told to help ourselves to a drink from the very well-stocked fridge in the farmhouse kitchen (complete with open wood-fired oven) before we are shown to our rooms. There are spacious adjoining rooms and family rooms big enough for extra beds and cots. All have bathrooms and some have extraordinary panoramic views.

It is easy at Villa Pia to eat your way from one meal to the next. Breakfast is a simple help-yourself affair (croissants, bread, cereal, fruit and juices) laid out in the converted barn from about 8am to grab at your leisure. By last year, my children were getting up and helping themselves while my husband and I followed at a somewhat more leisurely pace! Lunch is a highlight. A buffet of the most delicious salads – all made from fresh local ingredients. At tea time wonderful cakes or pastries are left on the kitchen table, for those who haven’t already wolfed down an ice cream from the local café, to help themselves. Children’s supper is in the barn at around 6pm. Dinner is a four course adult-only affair and takes place down the long table in the barn. The younger ones tend to be in bed by this time and the older ones play in the courtyard or in the surrounding area. Children pop in and out but it’s never a problem. Initially the communal element slightly alarmed us but we have met some interesting and fun people.

Villa Pia is a place where you can regain the lazy wine-soaked days of holidays before children. No one bats an eyelid if you put on a CD on or leave your dusty shoes in the hall after a walk. The kitchen is open day and night and you can help yourself from the fridge, or take fresh fruit from the over-spilling bowls. Once you have mastered the catering size espresso/cappuccino machine it makes delicious coffee which can be enjoyed whilst swinging in a hammock or in the quiet sitting room.

Villa Pia is for people who want to have a wonderful holiday with their children, not for those who want to get rid of their children. Every year my children have run amok with friends that they make of similar ages and we actually read books and talk to each other! The children make camps in the bamboo forest, swing on the log swings, play in the box maze or on the playground equipment and never comment on the lack of television. When the heat of the day gets too much there is a games room with an old ping pong table for the older ones and a playroom in the house for the younger ones. By the end of the holiday they have barely worn more than a few swimming costumes and a pair of shorts.
There are two pools, a large one and a smaller shallow children’s one, set away from the main house amongst the vineyards with a spectacular view across the valley. There is also a recently resurfaced tennis court. You can book beauty treatments with the visiting beautician which take place in a converted vault.

For the last two summers an art student has been resident in a studio in the Castle just above the main house. She oversees the children in age appropriate groups for a couple of hours of messy painting. The local Italian cooks do classes for adults and children. The adult one seems to involve drinking Prosecco in the middle of the afternoon while being taught in Italian (!) how to make home-made pasta and other delicious food. The children gather round a table and make biscuits and pizza.

Villa Pia is ideally located (right in the heart of Piero della Francesca country) to visit some breathtaking places. On the occasions that we have managed to drag our children from Villa Pia we have been on wonderful trips to Arezzo, Assisi, Cortona, Siena, Perugia, Urbino and Gubbio (a particular hit with all our children because you can take the two-man open cable car cages up the mountain to the Basilica of Saint Ubaldo). Only five minutes away, in Monterchi, is Piero della Francesca’s famous fresco, The Madonna del Parto, the only known picture of the pregnant Virgin Mary. It is also possible, although we’ve never attempted it, to take a train to Florence in 30 minutes. So every year we come back several pounds heavier, tanned and rested ready for another school year before our next annual pilgrimage to this idyll on the Umbrian/Tuscan border.

For further information visit www.villapia.com