We wanted to do at least one winery visit while in Crete so found one close to the villa called Lyrarakis Winery. They offer wine tastings and a local Cretan food picnic so we decided to go on spec.

Luckily they were pretty quiet so after a brief wander around one of their cellars (it’s pretty much for show we reckon), a fuss of a local stray dog that’s moved in (so friendly and cute) and a welcome wine we were provided with a huge picnic hamper and taken off to the picnic area in the middle of the vines.

What a fab experience! We sampled three different wines with our brilliant picnic all explained by our host – accompanied by stuffed vine leaves, fried and stuffed courgette flowers, pork gyros in pitta bread, feta and spinach cheese balls and a mix of cold meats, nuts, cheeses, figs, bread and fresh feta and tomatoes.

For dessert, we had Greek pancakes stuffed with creamy cheese covered in local honey served warm with walnuts and accompanied by a glass of fizzy wine.

What a wonderfully relaxing afternoon, in 35 degree heat sat in a shady spot in a vineyard with the mountains in the distance.

And yes, of course we bought a few bottles to bring back to the villa….it would have been rude not to.

Tonight Mr Fogg has fired up the charcoal BBQ and is about to have a go at cooking what the butcher described as baby cow chops – veal to you and I. They look delicious