We started our trip by spending a day driving around Cap Corse and had booked into a Ferme Auberge, Campo di Monte, in the hills above Saint Florent, close to the village of Murato.
This was brought to our attention by a family member who had spent a holiday there many decades ago, when it had been basically camping in an old quaint farmhouse, lacking basic necessities like electricity!! They had to have a donkey to carry baggage up and had to walk 2 kms from the main road. It sounded exciting! Now it is in Trip Advisor as a great place to go for a true Corsican meal. And it showed beautifully decorated rooms.....
We passed by a church, St Michel de Murato, built in the 12th century, apparently remodeled later in apparently the Sienese style. This is on the recommended 'to see' list in Corsica, and we were glad we had not gone out of our way to see it....
We got to Murato, and found, with difficulty, the road going towards the farm and 2kms later found a sign for the farmhouse. The rutted dirt road we turned onto proved to be still quite a challenge for the next 2 kms and we were glad to finally arrive. The farmhouse looked beautiful and we were happy to think we would be wakening up to have a tranquil breakfast there...
However this was not to be. When we found the proprietor she said 'Oh, this is just the restaurant.... you will be staying in one of our rooms in the village'.... back again that twisty 4 kms. We obviously would not have booked to have a meal there and chosen to drive 4kms on bad roads afterwards. We like to have some wine with our meal. And this pertinent fact was never mentioned in any of the email communication!
They did agree that we could be picked up by them and driven back down after the meal and they did lead us down to find the room... which was basically in the basement of a building in the town, with very limited parking! The room was musty and when we commented on this they said a prior guest had left the window open and it had rained. However the walls showed damp intrusion. But it was beautifully decorated....
We were picked up to go back up for dinner which was a very hearty meal...... in a cosy dining room...
with plenty of wine....
Fortunately we didn't have to drive back down to the village....
When we mentioned to our driver that we had been very surprised to find that we were not staying at the farm, he did say a lot of people arriving are similarly taken aback!
Our breakfast of croissants was delivered to our door at 8am! However we did not have the view we had expected....
It was an interesting experience and had we actually been staying in the farmhouse we would have been delighted and enthusiastically recommending it........ it is a throughly charming location...... and the meal for 50 euros all inclusive was very good value, particularly for someone with a hearty appetite!
This was brought to our attention by a family member who had spent a holiday there many decades ago, when it had been basically camping in an old quaint farmhouse, lacking basic necessities like electricity!! They had to have a donkey to carry baggage up and had to walk 2 kms from the main road. It sounded exciting! Now it is in Trip Advisor as a great place to go for a true Corsican meal. And it showed beautifully decorated rooms.....
We passed by a church, St Michel de Murato, built in the 12th century, apparently remodeled later in apparently the Sienese style. This is on the recommended 'to see' list in Corsica, and we were glad we had not gone out of our way to see it....
We got to Murato, and found, with difficulty, the road going towards the farm and 2kms later found a sign for the farmhouse. The rutted dirt road we turned onto proved to be still quite a challenge for the next 2 kms and we were glad to finally arrive. The farmhouse looked beautiful and we were happy to think we would be wakening up to have a tranquil breakfast there...
However this was not to be. When we found the proprietor she said 'Oh, this is just the restaurant.... you will be staying in one of our rooms in the village'.... back again that twisty 4 kms. We obviously would not have booked to have a meal there and chosen to drive 4kms on bad roads afterwards. We like to have some wine with our meal. And this pertinent fact was never mentioned in any of the email communication!
They did agree that we could be picked up by them and driven back down after the meal and they did lead us down to find the room... which was basically in the basement of a building in the town, with very limited parking! The room was musty and when we commented on this they said a prior guest had left the window open and it had rained. However the walls showed damp intrusion. But it was beautifully decorated....
We were picked up to go back up for dinner which was a very hearty meal...... in a cosy dining room...
When we mentioned to our driver that we had been very surprised to find that we were not staying at the farm, he did say a lot of people arriving are similarly taken aback!
Our breakfast of croissants was delivered to our door at 8am! However we did not have the view we had expected....
It was an interesting experience and had we actually been staying in the farmhouse we would have been delighted and enthusiastically recommending it........ it is a throughly charming location...... and the meal for 50 euros all inclusive was very good value, particularly for someone with a hearty appetite!
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