Marcia and Steve enjoy hill-hiking from their house in the Sibillini Mountains
Image courtesy of Marcia Higgs and James Crowall
Birmingham-based Marcia Higgs and Steve Crowall own a twobedroomed village house in the Sibillini Mountains area of southwestern Le Marche. They visit several times a year and make the house available to Marcia’s sisters’ families at all other times. What drew them to Le Marche? “When we both hit fifty we decided it was time to take up some sort of regular exercise that we both enjoyed,” Marcia explains, “and it turned out that hill-hiking was the magic ticket. We’d both had sedentary jobs for decades and it was a joy to discover the freedom of long-distance walking. A friend tipped us off about the walking trails in Italy, and we were soon hooked. Rolling up at an excellent, inexpensive restaurant at the end of every day’s walk, drinking fabulous wine and watching well-dressed people strolling around made Italy our favourite destination. We’ve hiked Tuscany, Umbria and Liguria, but it was Le Marche that we fell for most. We had an unforgettable holiday in the Sibillini Mountains, and decided we wanted a permanent base there.