Our hosts welcomed us when we arrived by motorbike, and waved us into the main courtyard, to park the bike right outside the door to our room. So just half a dozen steps and all bike gear, and luggage was in the room - nice for me and my arms.

As the Castelinaria website will show you, the bedrooms are all uniquely furnished and offer a feeling of luxury of an old chateau or castle, even thought the building is relatively new.

Our room 'Camera del Vescovo' was well appointed dark wood panelled room, with a large, firm, spotlessly clean bed, a old style bureau / desk, and 2 wing arm chairs and table set by the open fireplace. And no TV.

The bathroom was large, with a bath, and integral shower, and a small anti-room with a large built-in wardrobe.

The flooring in the bed room and bathroom is all stone which we found to be rather cold during our visit (in April) but there were a few nice rugs as islands of comfort. The only form of heating in the bedroom is a climate control system which was not up to the job of heating the whole room. Even though there is an open fireplace, there is no chance it will emit any heat - no logs or fire provided. I am sure it is a different propositon in summer when the stone floors will be an asset.

In the restaurant, the service was excellent on the 2 nights we were there, but strangely the choice of what we were to eat was already decided for us - there was only one fixed menu. This may be because we were visiting off-season, but really, we would have liked some choice as there are certain things we don't eat. As it turned out, the fixed menu was 25EUR per person each including house wine - which was reasonably good value.

The quality of the food was variable, depending on the course, from the most excellent antipasti, to poor and probably frozen gambas. Admittedly on the 2nd night (when we were the only guests) we were told in the morning that the evening meal would be meat dishes, and we had asked for fish instead .. so I guess the only fishy food they had was in the freezer.

Our hosts do not speak English, but are very welcoming. Senora Rosa is keen to make sure you eat all food presented, and that you try her home made jams, and ricotta cheese with honey, which was absolutely delicious - and I would go back and stay just for this every breakfast. Senor does speak french, which was the only way we could communicate effectively with the management.

When leaving we offered our Visa card to pay the bill and were told that the card system was not working - Senor said that this is often the way in Sardinia, so the only option we had was to ride into Orroli and find a Bancomat (the only Bancomat) to get cash. I don't mind having to pay in cash if I have advance notice, but find it intently annoying when faced with this situation with a fully loaded motorbike, and a long journey ahead. At least our hosts could have advised us earlier, or to have offered to take us in a car

In conclusion, we had a memorable time at Castelinaria, with mixed feelings about the whole 'package'. Would we go back? Yes, but later in the year during the holiday season when it's warm, and with a wad load of cash to pay the bill.

Note for bikers - there's a phenominal biking road from Orroli down to the south east at Villaputzu - fast sweeping bends, tunnels and high bridges, through great countryside. To find the hotel programme your GPS using the lat/long coordinates as the hotel is remote and I couldn't easily plan the route by any other method: N 39º 40.783, E 9º 16.500

We didn't plan to stay here. After visiting nearby Arrubiu we tried to stay at the adjacent Agriturismo but it was closed and so we tried our luck at Castellinaria. From the outside it didn't look enticing; it has a formidable perimeter wall which gives little indication of what is inside. We were off-season and they clearly weren't expecting many 'walk-ins.' Undaunted, the staff rushed to sort out a room for us and got us settled. The complex is roughly circular, with the bedrooms arranged so that they all face towards the middle of the inner courtyard. So effectively the views are of the courtyard rather than the countryside. I suspect that in high season when the garden is at its best this all looks beautiful but at the time of our visit it was a little scratty. Likewise there's a large water feature pool just outside the main complex but at the time of out visit it was mostly drained and exclusively used by tree frogs. Personally I'd rather have a half drained pool full of tree frogs rather than a full pool full of tourists but I suspect this may be a minority opinion.

The room itself was comfortable, but a little cold; in the heat of summer this would be welcome but in may we were a little chilly.

There were only two other guests there when we got there, and as there is no where else to eat locally, you have little choice but to eat in their restauraunt. This is not a bad things; we had, without any hesitation, the best meal of our holiday at this hotel.

It is hard to stress how unexpected and what a joy this meal was. Given the low number of guests and the fact that we turned up unexpected, we didn't have high hopes. But the food wasn't just good - it was excellent, unexpected, thoughtful and vey local and different. It included an antipasti which included ham wrapped round prunes, stuffed cherry tomatoes, salami and good breads; it was the only antipasti I had where some thought and creativity had gone in to it;

pasta course was also bery good and the main course was a first - very young lamb stew with local vegatables.- I guess it was incredibly young lamb as the flesh was virtually white and meltingly tender. Desert was local, hand made and good too.

We also stayed at su Gologone; the kitchen at Castelllinaria completely trumped the meals at Su Gologone; it was a really memorable meal of local food prepared very well.

Breakfast was also lovely with local cheeses and honey.

This was also (notably) the only hotel that bothered to put a bowl of fruit in our room (comlete with leaf garnish). In the morning there was fresh fruit again, and our hostess insisted on getting a sprig of leaves to decorate the plate - this was a level of attentiveness which we hadn't expected.

Alongside the very high standard of cooking we were fairly bowled over by the friendliness and hospitableness of the lady running the place. She was very very friendly, and really keen for us to enjoy ourselves. While this could verge on the intrusive, it was so clearly motivated by a desire to please and make sure we had a good stay it would be churlish to complain. She made us feel exceptionally welcome and valued throughout our stay.

If I ever passed through Orroli again I would be certain to stay at this hotel again. It is very very special.