Baia di Sorgeto Residence, Forio

From the moment we arrived to Peppino's warm welcome with a glass of Limoncello we knew we were going to have a great holiday! We were looking for self-catering acommodation so we could be flexible in eating in if our 14 month old daughter wasn't in the mood for dining out and for us Residence di Sorgeto was the perfect choice. The location is great if you are after an off the beaten track, real Ischia experience with the choice to easily dip into the touristy bits for a bit of people watching (touristy for a good reason - Sant'Angelo is just beautiful). Sant'Angelo is a pretty 20 min walk away through lemon groves and vineyards - we did it once and it was beautiful but a bit of a struggle with the buggy in the heat so we opted for the very easy bus most days. Peppino gave us a lift up the hill in his car whenever it was a bit too hot to walk. Peppino could not have been more helpful - He told us about all the local secret spots - fantastic, cheap restaurants and quiet beaches. He lent us a cot, a highchair and a bbq and we were allowed to pick lemons for our G&Ts and fresh basil for our tomato salads. Panza, the nearest village is a real authentic little Italian village - tourist free with a lovely fruit and veg shop and fishmonger, so we cooked some gorgeous meals on our very spacious terrace. Our apartment (5) was huge, compared to lots of places we have stayed and had everything we needed to make it a real home from home. The big bonus here are the pools. They have their own thermal spring which fills the large swimming pool with chemical free theraputic, warm water which Peppino fastidiously changes every day. It was so lovely to swim everyday with our daughter knowing that the water wasn't full of nasty chemicals and actually made our skin really soft, rather than drying it out like a normal pool. My husband used the indoor pool, (like a large Japanese bath) religiously twice a day, this used the same naturally warm water and was fab when we had a couple of days of rain. We will definitely be back here next year - and that is saying something because we never go back to the same place twice! It was the perfect holiday.