We had a fantastic experience staying at Simona's. The flat was immaculately clean, airy (despite being there in August we didn't need to turn on the aircon), and comfortable. The farm itself is in a stunning setting, with views across the valleys to the surrounding hills and mountains with villages and towns perched up amongst them. Breathtakingly gorgeous.

You need a car to make this feasible, and the country roads are in a poor condition but if you drive with care, it sort of adds to the charm. Also, it's less than an hour's drive from Palermo, or about one and a half hours down to Agrigento on south coast, so night life and beaches are within striking distance.

If you want a really peaceful country retreat, far from tourism and in the heart of Sicily, this is absolutely ideal. All the locals were really friendly and you sort of fall into the sleepy rhythm of the countryside.

As for Simona - what an amazing host! She gave us all the organic tomatoes from her garden that we could eat, plus figs, other garden veg she had grown etc - it was just a shame it wasn't the orange season as we'd have had oranges straight from her trees too. Everything organic and fresh. And the olive oil - wow!

We got lost the day we were due to arrive (I'm not very technical with the GPS thingy on my phone) and kept driving past her driveway, but she texted and phoned several times to help direct us to her, and in the end told us to stay at the side of the road and she would come and find us in her car - driving up and down the road we said we were on. Absolutely couldn't have asked for someone more friendly and helpful and welcoming. She made us feel like we were her personal guests.