My perfect introduction to Tuscany: Take a painting course in a luxury hotel amid some of Italy’s most beautiful rolling countryside

You could be forgiven for collapsing as you are handed a paintbrush by an award-winning artist from the Royal Drawing School, set in the gardens of a beautiful villa overlooking the Tuscan hills that have inspired some of the world’s greatest artists.

Fortunately, Fraser Scarfe is a patient and encouraging tutor.

When he takes us on a brief tour of the nearly 500 original works of art that adorn the walls of the stately Borgo Pignano hotel, he is so modest that I wonder which work is his.

They were all created by artists and alumni of the Royal School, founded by the King and artist Catherine Goodman in 2000 to help life drawing flourish. Every summer, a group of postgraduate students stay for a few weeks to paint under the supervision of a teacher and possibly leave a work behind.

Fraser gives us some pointers – don’t hold your palette out like a pizza like in the movies, rest it on your forearm, choose a small part of the canvas to focus on, draw big, bold outlines in pencil – and sets us up with paint and easel.

Kate Johnson (not pictured) travels to Tuscany and stays at the Borgo Pignano hotel. There she gets a painting lesson from an award-winning artist. One of his tips? ‘Don’t hold your palette like a pizza, like they do in the movies’

He gives us the confidence to start – and especially finish – our paintings, checks on us regularly and helps where necessary.

His simple dabs and brushstrokes transform my canvas and three hours blow by. Such a lesson can be arranged individually or in a group setting with a visiting artist from the Royal School.

It is just one of the courses in the 18th century Borgo Pignano.

The luxury hotel, an organic estate with its own vineyard, is set on a hilltop in 750 hectares of forest and has exceptionally glamorous neighbours.

Volterra is half an hour’s drive to the west, San Gimignano the same to the east, Siena an hour to the south, Florence a little further north. The Borgo, which means village, has been restored by its British entrepreneur-owner over a period of 20 years.

The Borgo Pignano hotel is located on a hilltop organic estate with its own vineyard, set in 750 hectares of forest. Kate writes: ‘There are horses to ride, playing fields for sports fans, a heated infinity pool [above]yoga, soap making with the herbal expert, wine tasting, e-biking, cooking courses plus spectacular terrain’

Despite all the traditional splendor; elegant dining rooms, exceptional menus, delicate frescoes, large libraries and billiard room, it is not stuffy. No one looks at a guest or whispers that he or she might feel more comfortable if he or she took off his or her baseball cap at breakfast.

There are horses to ride, playing fields for sports enthusiasts, a heated infinity pool, yoga, soap making with the herbalist, wine tasting, e-biking, cooking classes and spectacular grounds.

I take a walk of an hour in the morning. There is no human being to be seen and nature is teeming with life.

We are surrounded by a landscape so beautiful that you simply cannot keep your hands off it. It’s no wonder there are no televisions in the rooms and no one has ever complained about this. Nothing on the screen can ever match the view. My artwork certainly doesn’t do it justice — but it was a joy to try.