Spotlight on Sardinia

To many Richard Frost aka Frostie needs no introduction, but for those who haven't yet crossed paths, Frostie spoke to us about his time with Neilson and the place he currently calls home, Baia dei Mori Beachclub in Sardinia.

Frostie has worked with Neilson for 22 years now, summer and winters. His first winter was as a ski host/guide in Belle Plagne, France from where he went on to work in Quebec, Les Trois Vallees, Norway, Sweden and then Italy, starting in the west in Sestriere, moving to La Thuile in Val d’Aosta and then finally on to the stunningly unique location of The Dolomites, without a doubt, his favourite ski area in the world (well to date at least)!

His first summer was as part of our team in Nidri on the island of Lefkas and from Nidri, to the exquisite southern Dalmatian island of Mljet (also nicknamed the Green Island because of the abundance of the Aleppo Pine tree) before we opened a centre in the village of Lumbarda on the Croatian island of Korčula. Here Frostie spent a further five summers. Turkey was then calling and so he was off spending the next eight summers experiencing the delights of Turkey in Adakoy and Andriake as well as Phokaia.

Then two new centres were on the cards for opening in 2017 and Sardinia had his name on it…a beautiful and very natural part of Italy complementing his love of the Dolomites, very new to the British market and the opportunity to see, smell and hear the wind in the trees once again, Baia dei Mori Beachclub being centred in the coastal swathe of the Aleppo Pine!

Well pick up any travel guide book and you will see. An island the size of Wales, the second largest island in the Mediterranean, one long beach (the coast!) of 1,849miles, many beaches mirroring the beauty of those of the Maldives. Yet the highest point is Punta La Marmora at 1,834m, where there can be snow in the winter and there is actually 7km of piste!

Frostie savours the history and diversity of the island. With a colourful past, the now Autonomous Region of Sardinia has seen occupation by the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Iberians, the Savoyards and of course vestiges of these civilisations can still be found throughout daily life be it in place names, language (as well as Italian there are five minority languages spoken on the island), buildings and fortifications (remains of 7,000 of the Bronze Age ‘nuraghe’ are a regular sight) and of course, the food!

With 3 million sheep in Sardinia (that’s two sheep for every resident!), countless cows and goats, the island is a-wash with milk, which clearly is not a ‘keeper’ at high temperatures and so is processed and naturally stored as cheese…the island produces so much cheese in fact, that it is often referred to as the ‘cheeseboard’ of Italy!

The culinary surprises continue…everybody assumes that being an island in the Med, the core of cuisine is seafood but far from it, the indigenous population lived in the highlands for fear of piracy, so the ‘original diet is based around meat, dairy products and fruit and vegetables that will grow at a cooler, moister altitude.

The early 1950’s saw the arrival of tourism to the island with a migration of islanders and controlled development along the coast. This engendered a culinary change with seafood becoming equally as an important part of the island cuisine, mussels from the shellfish beds of Olbia, octopus and squid, ‘bottarga’ (salted, dried fish roe), tuna, lobster and sea-urchin.

All this…and so much more. Even after four summers, Frostie knows he has only just started to experience the full unique character of ‘La Bella Isola’, there is so much more to discover and certainly plenty of reasons to carry on returning to this Mediterranean jewel.

The island of Sardinia has been identified as one of the five regions of the world that have high concentrations of centenarians, currently 33.6 for every 100,00 inhabitants. Perhaps it’s the Sardinian diet?...i’s worth trying eh?

Firstly our wine offerings are clearly Italian but the wine menu itself is bursting with varieties, white, red, rosé & sparkling, that are all produced on the island itself.

Our club board dining experience at Baia dei Mori is definitely a fusion of styles. You wouldn’t be in Italy if at lunch and dinner you were not met by a sumptuous array of antipasti dishes which includes local cooked meats and cheeses, salads containing shrimps, prawns, mussels and Frostie’s personal favourites, ‘carpaccio’s’ of swordfish, tuna and beef.

For the next course pasta is the order of the day with an array of sauces including mushrooms, capers, clams, tomato and a host of fresh vegetables. After the pasta (Primi) it’s time for Secondi and a trip to the grill for beef, tuna, marlin, chicken or a slice of ‘porceddu’, local roasted milk-fed pig. Head chef, Buba, never holds back and some evenings we will be treated to a huge pot of wine cooked Olbian mussels or a fantastic seafood paella (OK Spanish in origin, but Sardinia had a period of Spanish rule in the past)!

Tuesday is our Sardinian night , one of our non-inclusive evenings, and even more traditional dishes from the island will be on display…’Zuppa Gallurese’ always seems a bit of a misnomer as it is far from soup-like in consistency, but much closer to a bread and butter pudding back in the UK, simply take out the butter and fruit and add…you’ve guessed it…at least a couple of types of cheese! There will be dishes made from our local pastas, malloreddus and fregola with lamb and vegetables, our local flat bread called ‘carasau’ and then for the ’turophiles’ (cheese lovers) heaven continues with two Sardinian desserts, sweet ricotta tart containing chocolate and/or fruit, and ‘seadas’, pastry filled with ricotta cheese, shallow-fried, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with citrus peel…all calorie-free of course!...holiday food ALWAYS is!

‘Buon appetito’ in Italian, ‘Appetitu’ in Sarda.