The best retreats that come with wilderness as standard, from Tuscany to Scotland

The best retreats that come with wilderness as standard, from a Tuscan hideaway with a wood where pigs roam free to a Scottish hotel with a two-acre vegetable gardenSarah Turner stayed at the Borgo Pignano estate in Tuscany, which overlooks the Castelvecchio nature reserve She fell asleep to the "sound of owls" outside her Sala Musica suite, which has a grand piano in one corner Many British retreats have a wild side to them, like The Newt and The Torridon of Somerset in Scotland
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Posted: 07:46 BST, Jul 29, 2022 | Update: Jul 29, 2022 07:46 BST
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High on a hill in Tuscany, the hamlet of Borgo Pignano has a very exalted form of self-sufficiency.
Not only does the wine come from its own vineyards, but its rare breed pigs are free to roam its woods before becoming charcuterie. At breakfast, the honeycomb that drips into small glass bowls has traveled a few hundred meters from the hives on the estate. And the wheat that grows in the fields below - the ancient low-gluten grain of Semolato Cappelli - ends up on the table as bread and pasta.
Not bad when you consider the owner of it all is a Cardiff lad.

Billionaire Michael Moritz was an early investor in companies such as Google and Yahoo. He has since turned to philanthropy, and he and his wife, novelist and sculptor Harriet Heyman, bought Borgo Pignano in 2000 when it was just a pile of dilapidated buildings surrounded by depleted farmland. It took over ten years before it was ready for the first guests.
Today with cleverly hidden solar panels and catchments of rainwater, it is an area.. .

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The best retreats that come with wilderness as standard, from Tuscany to Scotland

The best retreats that come with wilderness as standard, from a Tuscan hideaway with a wood where pigs roam free to a Scottish hotel with a two-acre vegetable gardenSarah Turner stayed at the Borgo Pignano estate in Tuscany, which overlooks the Castelvecchio nature reserve She fell asleep to the "sound of owls" outside her Sala Musica suite, which has a grand piano in one corner Many British retreats have a wild side to them, like The Newt and The Torridon of Somerset in Scotland

Posted: 07:46 BST, Jul 29, 2022 | Update: Jul 29, 2022 07:46 BST

High on a hill in Tuscany, the hamlet of Borgo Pignano has a very exalted form of self-sufficiency.

Not only does the wine come from its own vineyards, but its rare breed pigs are free to roam its woods before becoming charcuterie. At breakfast, the honeycomb that drips into small glass bowls has traveled a few hundred meters from the hives on the estate. And the wheat that grows in the fields below - the ancient low-gluten grain of Semolato Cappelli - ends up on the table as bread and pasta.

Not bad when you consider the owner of it all is a Cardiff lad.

Sarah Turner visits Borgo Pignano, a luxury countryside retreat in Tuscany 'which feels both utterly modern and yet remarkably Renaissance' Above is the estate's 'show-stopper' swimming pool, which was built from an old quarry

Billionaire Michael Moritz was an early investor in companies such as Google and Yahoo. He has since turned to philanthropy, and he and his wife, novelist and sculptor Harriet Heyman, bought Borgo Pignano in 2000 when it was just a pile of dilapidated buildings surrounded by depleted farmland. It took over ten years before it was ready for the first guests.

Today with cleverly hidden solar panels and catchments of rainwater, it is an area.. .