NEW SlowTrav Favorites - Italy, France and United Kingdom vacation rentals!!!

Because we are receiving so many great vacation rental reviews, we are now adding SlowTrav Favorites twice a year. We added some in January and now we have a few more to add to the list.

SlowTrav Favorites are selected by the moderators based on reviews received and/or our personal experience. All favorites have to have a classified listing with us to show that they support Slow Travel and want Slow Travelers to book with them.

Note: We are also going to review all the current favorites and if we have not received reviews recently, they may be removed from the list - so send in your reviews, even if the place is already a favorite.

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And the awards go to (drum roll please) - new favorites added September 2006:


New SlowTrav Favorites for Italy

Appartamenti al Poggiolo: www.appartamentialpoggiolo.it
Apartments in village houses in the charming town of Montepulciano, southern Tuscany, near Pienza.

B&B Association of Rome: www.b-b.rm.it
B&Bs and vacation rentals (apartments) of all sizes in Rome. The minimum stay is generally 3 nights.

Behind the Tower: www.behindthetower.com
Apartment in central Pisa, 1bed/1bath. Book directly with the owner. The owner also rents Casina di Rosa, a village house in the Maremma, west of Siena.

Chianti Cashmere: www.chianticashmeregoatfarm.com
A house and an apartment on a cashmere goat farm in Chianti (near Radda). The one bed apartment is available nightly.

Papavero Villa Rentals: www.papaverorentals.com
US agency with vacation rentals throughout Italy. Listings in Venice, Florence, Rome, Tuscany, and the rest of Italy. Also some short stays - rentals for less than a week.

Rentvillas.com: www.rentvillas.com
Agency based in US with listings for all of Italy and many other European countries. They have their own listings, work with local agencies and represent some Cuendet properties. The website has good descriptions, photos and customer reviews. Online booking.

See the complete list of SlowTrav Favorites for Italy (vacation rentals)


New SlowTrav Favorites for France

Paris Perfect: www.parisperfect.com
Apartments of all sizes in the 7th arrondissement, Left Bank near the Eiffel Tower, the heart of Paris. The owner of this agency also rents apartments in London.

Rentvillas.com: www.rentvillas.com
Agency based in US with listings for all of France and many other European countries. They have their own listings, work with local agencies and represent some Cuendet properties. The website has good descriptions, photos and customer reviews. Online booking.

See the complete list of SlowTrav Favorites for France (vacation rentals)


New SlowTrav Favorites for the United Kingdom

Rentvillas.com: www.rentvillas.com
Agency based in US with listings for all of the United Kingdom and Ireland and many other European countries. They have their own listings, work with local agencies and represent some Cuendet properties. The website has good descriptions, photos and customer reviews. Online booking.

See the complete list of SlowTrav Favorites for the United Kingdom and Ireland (vacation rentals)


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I would like to personally thank each of these businesses for treating our Slow Travelers so well. We Slow Travelers really appreciate finding good vacation rentals - it makes the trip that much more special!!

Of the new SlowTrav favorites, two of the business owners are regulars on the message board:

- Gloria - Casina di Rosa who lives in Italy and runs two vacation rentals (Behind the Tower in Pisa and Casina di Rosa in the Maremma). Thank you Gloria for being a part of our community and for writing those excellent Pisa travel notes (with an equally excellent Google Map to be published soon). Pisa, More than the Leaning Tower!

- Suzanne Pidduck, founder of RentVillas, one of the original vacation rental agencies in the US (started in 1984). She was helping Slow Travelers before we knew we were called "Slow Travelers"! Thank you Suzanne for creating one of the main agencies in the US and for joining our message boards and giving out great travel advice. And for your interesting blog: rentvillas.blogspot.com

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Congratulations to all current and new SlowTrav Favorites!!

Hi Pauline!
Wow, thank you so much!!! I did not expect this!
Thank you, really!

I am sorry I have been a bit absent over the past few weeks ans that I am holding you back with the map. I am desperately trying to meet the deadline for my books. I will be back soon!!!

Thank you for this surprise and most importantly, for your help for the book!

Hugs!

Hello Pauline,
I am very pleased to see Helpful Holidays on the UK list.
As well as holding an excellent portfolio of properties in the West Country they are such an easy agency to do business with.

I see you are keeping Rural Retreats as a favourite. I think that's right but I wish they were more like Helpful Holidays. I find their attitude pretentious quite honestly which is a shame as they do have a super portfolio of properties.

I am pleased to see Grifoglia on your Italy list. Kerry and Pietro work so hard looking after their guests, ensuring a peaceful and relaxing vacation in Tuscany.

Wendy

PS to the above.
Of course what makes the diference is the pesonal touch just like Gloria's holiday properties there is much owner involvement with all the agencies/accommodations I have picked out except R Retreats!
Wendy

Pauline - kudos and many thanks for a valuable listing of these favorites. Great for personal use and for referrals to fellow travelers. It's so good to know when planning a trip to a foreign country that you can turn to agencies and rentals like these, with confidence.

I agree Wendy about Rural Retreats. I think the person who started the company has left, but am not sure. But, so many of their places are very good and they have such good coverage of the Cotswolds.

I think the solution might be for we Americans, to deal with a US rep for Rural Retreats. I know that Rentvillas www.rentvillas.com represents some of their properties and so do Great Trips Unlimited www.gtunlimited.com .

I have not emailed the new Favorites yet to let them know - we have been having problems with our Internet connection for the last few days.

Noticed Chianti Cashmere is listed. It is quite a place. The owner is a lady who "dropped out" from the US in 1972, went to Tuscany and lived on a nearby farm shoveling out barns. She bought the farm she now has when the owners died. She said the pigs were on the first floor and the chickens on the second. Long story short, she raises cashmere goats and markets cashmere wool products and cosmetics from a store on the farm and world wide. My italian friends who know her call her "una donna con palle." A remarkable lady, fascinating to talk who created a successful business from nothing in the middle of Tuscany. Jim

Pauline - I'm so flattered! Thank you so much for the recommendation and the vote of support!

I finally emailed our new favorites to tell them!