Arriving at Fukugami Farm Stay, the narrow roads between tightly packed in country houses are only just passable by car. This is your first clue that the villages and buildings here in Takato, a mountain town of the Ina Valley, are old. Certainly, old enough to have been designed without cars in mind.

Jun and Hitomi Fukugami moved to Takato three years ago. They actually bought their 100-year-old kominka (a traditional Japanese country house) here 8 years ago. They spent 5 years fixing it up at weekends before it was in a livable condition. Then they retired from their jobs as elementary school teachers in Tokyo and started their lives in the countryside.

Their beautifully renovated home is elegant and understated. And as I entered and checked in I was greeted with a warm cup of tea and a place by a log fire stove. Looking across the room I could see salted river fish being cooked over an irori, a traditional Japanese ash hearth, the centerpiece of the downstairs. One of these trout was to be mine for dinner. The second floor of the house was originally used to grow silk worms but is now where the Fukugami’s sleep. The downstairs is all yours. Their renovation has kept the old character of the house perfectly intact and most of the items are antiques. You may well feel like you have slipped back in time a little.

Fukugami is quite a private experience in that only one group can stay at one time. The thing that makes this place a little more luxurious than most private rentals is that the Fukugami’s are there to cook for you, look after you and teach you all about Japanese culture. If requested, they can teach you how to wear a kimono, do calligraphy, try natural dying, origami and sashiki (Japanese embroidery). Staying in Fukugami is somewhere between having the freedom and space of a private rental and staying with pampering, loving parents. You kind of get the best of worlds.

As I talked to them, they informed me that it was never their intention to start a farm stay, but once they had moved in, it wasn’t long before they began to feel like this house was supposed to be shared. They especially want to welcome foreign travelers.

I asked them why they especially would like foreign guests. They told me that during their careers as teachers they spent three years living and working in Brazil. There, local people took them in, helped them, and introduced them to the real-life culture of the country that they never would have found by themselves. This is what they hope they can give guests that visit them in Fukugami Farm Stay.

The main event of the evening is, without a doubt, dinner. Homegrown seasonal fruit and veg make up much of the ingredients in a gorgeous multi-course kaiseki dinner. Local craft beer brewed minutes from the guesthouse paired excellently, but what doesn’t go well with beer?

In the morning a hearty, healthy Japanese breakfast awaits. Most important meal of the day so they say. And as you depart Jun and Hitomi wave goodbye in keeping with good old Japanese hospitality.