Cascioni Eco Retreat

More than 180 species of bird have been recorded on the Stagno Saloni, a protected wetland of 30 hectares on the northern edge of Cascioni's land, and the retreat takes its guests out among them by canoe. Its own 18 hectares, in the Gallura countryside above Baia Sardinia, are olive groves and fields of old Sardinian wheat, Senatore Cappelli and Trigu Cossu, with myrtle and lentisk between granite boulders and bare rock peaks standing over the lot. A stazzo, the Gallurese farmstead, has been reworked to hold the shared rooms, and the bedrooms are in low buildings of rough ochre render under terracotta tiles. Inside it is oak underfoot and linen the colour of dry grass, and the doors slide back onto a veranda; in the Deluxe and Prestige suites, a garden and a pool of their own lie beyond it. The shared pool curves under a row of trees, and its water is filtered and sent on to the orchards, so even a swim is made to earn its keep.

Recommended for couples, and for families with children of ten and over, who would sooner be in the olive groves than at a kids' club. The retreat sets guests to picking olives and tasting the new oil and the honey from its own hives, and keeps electric bikes for going further. Ristorante Ulìa, under Salvatore Camedda, mills its own oil and makes its own bread and pasta; guests praise its dinners, and the breakfast, which comes with eggs from the estate's hens. The beaches are a drive, and a shuttle runs to the family's two other restaurants nearby. The retreat opens from May to October, and a guest who wants a stake in the place can adopt one of its olive trees, which stays behind to get on with the harvest.