The UK is starting to seem like North Korea. I keep reminding myself - we are a land of the free.
Until recently we still - unlike the unfortunate Uighur Muslims living in China - had the right to freedom of movement, freedom of thought, and freedom TO GO ON HOLIDAY WHEREVER THE HELL WE WANTED. Now holidays are being criminalised by the back door.
On Monday, we celebrated as travel restrictions were lifted, offering the exciting prospect of visiting a select handful of countries without having to quarantine on return. Portugal - one of the few accessible sunny spots on the short Green list - was a winner, taking thousands of bookings in a day.
Fast forwarding to 2001, we moved to
Poggio Etrusco, our farm near Montepulciano. The previous owner was from Amalfi and had brought with her a small lemon tree in a pot. After a number of years of living here, I suppose it had grown too much to move it and she was going back to Amalfi anyway.
Unlike Italy’s coastal areas, Tuscany’s winters are much too cold to plant citrus in the ground, so everyone brings the pots into a winter hothouse (called a
serra). Noble families with many lemon trees in large terracotta pots built a
limonaia, much like the