Our family of 5 (including a 6 and 3 year old and 7 month old) stayed in Villa Katia-Rosa at the end of May. Despite what could have been a disastrous start to the holiday due to being stranded at the airport for 3 hours with no hire car (we didn't bring any credit cards to leave as security which was required despite pre-paying!), the situation was soon rectified due to the kindness of the housekeepers Tina and Richard. They arranged for their friend to fetch us in her people carrier (much needed with 3 children, lots of luggage and car seats!) and her son privately rented his car to us for the week. This was such a saving grace, as although we had to dip into our spending money, at least we had a car which was a must with being located in the countryside and with our intention to do lots of travelling whilst in Puglia!

The fridge had been stocked with drinks and enough food to make a lunch, which was very appreciated. The villa was clean, tidy and more than spacious for us all. We were very impressed with the lovely big pool - my 2 boys' eyes lit up on seeing it!
I appreciated the sun terrace for hanging clothes out to dry - it would have been lovely to sit up there with a glass of wine in an evening but with the 3 children we didn't quite manage this! However we did enjoy lots of al fresco dining and even made use of the BBQ - we cooked a lovely fresh sea bass and shrimps on it one day!
The housekeepers had decorated a few of the trees outside with twinkling fairy lights that came on when it was dark which was a sweet touch.

During our stay we did a lot of sight seeing and thoroughly enjoyed discovering new towns and cities in Puglia. My favourite was probably Ostuni, only 20 minutes away from the villa. I loved 'The white city' as it's known especially in the evening time walking around the historical centre. Nice restaurants and an amazing little Artist's studio where the Artist draws/engraves scenes of Ostuni's streets into local limestone - we just had to buy one as a souvenir of our time there!

We also visited Polignano di mare - a delightful coastal town with great views, Bari - capital of Puglia, Alberobello - very pretty picturesque town made up of trulli traditional cone-roof houses, Galipolli - another seaside town which I recommend (apart from the restaurant we dined in which sneakily charged us 13 Euros seating/service fee!), San Maria di Leuca - a quiet harbour town at the Southern tip of Italy, Brindisi (where we arrived at the Airport) - walked around the port/harbour, the local beach 15 minutes away (we unfortunately didn't get a chance to discover the natural beach the villa owner recommended but heard it's lovely) and of course the nearest town of San Vito dei Normanni (recommend Vulcano restaurant, made use of the supermarkets, petrol station etc there).
As you can tell from our expeditions the sat-nav provided with the villa was essential!

The weather was pretty good all week although we had a couple of overcast days with a bit of rain - hence why we didn't make it to as many beaches as we would have liked. Luckily we managed many hours in the pool on several occasions which was glorious, especially as we had it all to ourselves without being overlooked either.
Somehow we managed to set off the villa's security alarm a couple of times (!), once due to my husband accidentally forgetting to swipe the tag at the entry gate and apparently a silent alarm was activated to the security firm (alerted the housekeepers) without our knowledge so I'm not sure what happened there! The number to dial in case of the alarm going off (which was in the Guest information file) wasn't valid, so I suggest texting the housekeepers immediately to let them know all is ok if this happens to you!
Overall we had a superb week, sampled some brilliant Italian food, saw several glorious sights and really felt we had gained an all-round Puglian experience.
Thank you to the owners for all your suggestions and making our stay so comfortable. We will definitely recommend you to those we know!