My personal highlights: 1. Feeling princess for a day. Flying over Lago Maggiore by Helicopter, landing under the garden terrace of the restaurant Rustico del Sole where we got spoiled with fresh cooked polenta al ragù. 2. Sleeping in a castle ambience facing a rice field where bird rarities play and sing you into the day.

Pure nature is a luxury nobody can resist

Having this value in mind the creators of “The Living Circle – Luxury Hotels fed by nature” introduced us to their new brand philosophy. It’s the union of goods and services that already exist. They are now made available to people that appreciate values combined with quality and luxury. These resources are created and maintained with plenty of efforts by all involved living circle partners. Because they care about the multifaceted demand of their guests.

What means luxury to us today?

Luxury is a word defined by different meanings today. It gives a variety of feelings to people. For some it may be related to money, for some to a rare drop of good wine or a selected piece of meat.
We may also agree, that traditions can throw us back in time. They make us sensitive towards simple things that got lost with the years.
A natural surrounding has great potential to make us feel happy and in balance again.

My heart goes bum

Experiencing these two days around the partners of  “The living Circle” I could understand best, what this philosophy means.
Seeing with my own eyes how giant spaces of hectares of land are cultivated with care and passion is inspiring and of course a lot of work. Unpredictable happenings steered by mother nature included.
The Terreni alla Maggia is located in the so called Delta of the Maggia between Locarno and Ascona. This is one of the property belonging to The Living Circle.

The agricultural fields stretch over ca. 130 hectares. The agronomist Fabio Del Pietro introduced us to production of goods as wine, grappa, rice, pasta, polenta and even some rice whisky. I have a complete new involvement with their risotto rice called Loto today. This rice cultivation is a rarity made in Switzerland only. The rice is harvested on dry fields. Several years of testing were necessary to get to this high quality gourmet food today.

The Living Circle partners in a brief

• 2 5 star hotels
• 2 farms and agricultural plants with production of own resources as wine, rice, milk products including own shops/selling channels
• several restaurants where the farm to table concept is lived day by day close to natural surrounding
• Located in Zurich/Zurich Oberland area & Ascona/Ticino area

Hotel Storchen, Zurich

Located in the heart of Zurich and established back in 1357 it is a hotel with a heritage of traditions. Today it is a charming house for guests that love to spend their night overlooking the Limmat river and the beautiful scenery of the Swiss Alps and get spoiled by a culinary menu prepared from Chef Cyrille Anzian.
The hotel offers 66 rooms and suites with a modern and stylish design. Hotel Director Jörg Arnold and his team welcome you to get involved into the Storchen lifestyle.
Farm to table is an important topic lived day by day by offering best fresh products at the breakfast buffet from the farm Schlattgut in Herrliberg for example. Get a risotto or polenta for lunch from the Terreni alla Maggia plants in Ascona. More details about the Hotel Storchen here.

Farm Schlattgut, Herrliberg

When looking at the family Ledergerber that manages the farm you feel the passion and love they put in the cultivation of these over 30 hectares of land. It’s their home, all animals are part of their family.
This is the home of 160 chickens, 40 cows, donkeys, flower fields, several vegetable and fruit fields.
The farm has a shop where local products as eggs, pasta and hand made jams are available. Its scenery and location over Zurich is great to celebrate family parties, weddings or have a brunch.
The Schlattgut delivers a variety of products to the Hotel Storchen. A great sustainable project is their photovoltaic installation that creates over 95.735 KWh per year.
More about the Schlattgut Herrliberg here.

Restaurant Buech, Herrliberg

Admire the Lake Zurich from up here and high peaks of the Glarner and Central Swiss Alps all the way to the Jungfrau Joch. This view is unique.
It’s more than 70 years that this restaurant is serving guests with a magnificent view and high level food. Get to feel a gentle countryside style in one of their private dining rooms. The spot is recommendable for family events or weddings, too. Restaurant Director Marc Wyss and his team take their guests into a world where time seems to have stood still. Get spoiled with local food delights. The arrangement and decoration of flower is a passion of Marc Wyss. His artistic vein is perfectly integrated in the ambience.

Hotel Castello del Sole, Ascona

“Your rendezvous with happiness”

This is a sentence found on their website before arriving here. Yes, it is a feeling of joy walking through that immense green park or the wide medieval corridors of the hotel. Feel calmness and inner peace and forget everything around you. The beach area is very inviting to relax on a chair and enjoy the sunset.
The hotel was built back in 1532, today it kept that antique touch added with classy and modern elements. Simon V. Jenni and his wife Gabriela manage the house with their staff since 2003.

Hotel del Castello offers 40 Junior Suites and 38 double/single rooms. Find a beauty oasis with a special Vino-Aqua therapy treatment using their own grapes. More than that, a Yoga and nutrition coach, an outdoor/indoor pool or a nice entertainment program for kids complete the services.
There are several restaurants within the hotel. The culinary section offers a variety of local recipes paired with a good mediterranean touch. In summer it is lovely to enjoy a barbecue outside. Chef Mattias Roock invites you to try the actual menu called “i sapori del nostro orto“. Products cultivated in the Terreni alla Maggia are used as well following the farm to table philosophy.

Ristorante Rustico del Sole, Ascona

Fly up here at 800 m. by helicopter, or take a hike. The scenery and the silence are enchanting. Antonio Ferrioli is the host. Together with the staff from the Castello del Sole they prepare delicious lunch up to 7 courses.
By the way, a rustico is a typical house from Ticino, where as the word says you feel a rustic warm ambience. Can you imagine how winter days are up here? Reading a book at the chimney breathing in pure calmness.

In 2018 sleeping facilities for 6 person will be constructed to offer a hideaway for a romantic weekend, a tranquil friends trip or even for company meetings. Find more details here.

Terreni alla Maggia

This land stretches over 15o hectares. 130 of it are agricultural land, the rest is where the Hotel Castello del Sole has its facilities and garden. As mentioned before, this natural heritage allows The Living Circle lifestyle with the own production of rice, pasta, polenta, wine and other delicacies delivered to different partners of the circle. Some of the goods are also distributed via Coop and Migros today. Additional details are available here.

Some facts to review

• The famous Tessin grape Merlot is cultivated on 9 hectares of land. Every year around 120’000 bottles are produced.
• The rise cultivated here is called Loto. The plants stretch on 80 hectares of land. Ca. 430 tons of rice resulted last year.
  This rice has the property to absorb water slowly. This makes it easier to cook al dente and difficult to overcook. The Maggiadelta and Magadino are the only locations of Switzerland cultivating rice.
• The polenta covers other 10 hectares of land, rarities as red or black polenta can be found.

Find additional details here.

Alls of these precious goods put together create the living circle of nature offered to guests that love to spoil themselves with best quality services, genuine products and enchanting surroundings.