It’s the kind of impetuous behaviour that helped John to woo and win Liliana. “We met on an aeroplane back in the days when there were still duty-free limits,” recalls Liliana. It was the London rain that finally did for John and Liliana Tunstill. “Each year of our marriage, John kept promising me the weather would get better,” recalls Liliana, who was born in Uruguay. “After seven years, the itch to move somewhere warmer became unbearable. You see, where I grew up, in Montevideo, there are beaches everywhere. And sunshine, of course.”The search for a place in the sun led them to an overseas property exhibition in London.
Their first house, purchased 23 years ago, had goats grazing on the loggia and a tree growing through the roof; since then, they have bought and sold an astonishing 227 houses. Most are within a 10- to 20-mile radius of the two main towns in the area – Umbertide and Citta di Castello.Whereas a more timid couple might have bought one or two places, just to test the water, the Tunstills bought in bulk. “We went up to a stand where a man was sitting next to a sign saying Northumbria,” says Liliana. “Out of curiosity, we asked him what he was doing at a foreign property show, and he explained that, in fact, his sign should read North Umbria.”
A quarter of a century ago, this was somewhere few Britons had ever considered living.
But when John and Liliana went out there in the early Seventies, they instantly fell in love with the area, the people – and the property potential. What will they miss most about it? ‘The views over the Thames, the fresh air and the fact that the whole house is bathed in natural light,’ says Peter.Get the specWhat’s for sale: Three-double-bedroom house, on four floors, in Chelsea riverside location, with patio, decked garden area and sun terrace.Serious kit: Rationale kitchen cupboards and units, Neff double oven, Miele fridge, Gaggenau gas hob; fitted plasma TV with surroundsound; four-zone centrally controlled Bose audio-visual system; concealed sensor-operated LCD lighting in stairs.How big? About 185 sq m, including open-plan kitchen/ dining area, generous living room, gym and master bedroom with en-suite bathroom and fitted walk-in wardrobe.Buy it: Cluttons, 020 7584 1771, £1,275,000.. ‘Because we have gone right up to the eaves of the roof and installed five Velux skylights in the vaulted ceiling we’ve been able to make best use of all the natural light to achieve an incredibly bright effect,’ says Peter.The bathroom is en suite but its free-standing bath and twin basins are only partially screened off by a limestone partition. A further potential bedroom to the back of the house currently serves as a walk-in wardrobe with fitted floor-to-ceiling closets while a short flight of stairs leads out onto a sun terrace.Peter and Kim are now planning to buy a new home in Spain and make do with a London pied-a-terre from which to oversee their business.
