Two weeks of sun sun sun and sea. The property is located in the Tuscany countryside, only a few (literally a few) minutes drive from the sea (Marina di Castagneto Carducci). The flat we rented is on the ground floor of a 2 storey house. Two generously sized bedrooms (1 twin for the kids and 1 double), bathroom, kitchen (with a gas cooker, oven and a fridge/freezer) and a utility room with a washing machine. The flat has air-con, a god-sent when the temperatures reach 35+ Celsius during the day, and stay above 28C during the night. The flat is really quiet (no windows on the road side of the house, but the road is barely used anyway). There is a spacious garden right outside the front door of the flat.
Given the location a car is a must (but once there a bicycle will do the job just fine). The shops are 4 minutes away in Donoratico (another village). As for restaurants, well, Marina di Castagneto has Ice-cream shops, bars, a very very good and inexpensive bakery/pizzeria. A very nice and affordable fish restaurant is at "Bagni Santa Lucia" (a privately run beach resort), and it is well worth a visit.
Florence, Volterra, Siena, are all easily reachable (if you can get off the beach that is). One should note that Marina di Castagneto is quite small, and after 8am finding a free parking space may be hard. The pineta (near "il Cavallino Matto") is a good place to park (but quite a walk away from the beach). We were early birds, and always managed to get a free parking space, in the shade, in a street named "via Siena". Alessandro and his family were incredibly helpful, and gave us a lot of information on where to go and when. Definitely recommended.