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"Everything Spain” – see below Where2 click

Our holiday cottage accommodation was featured over 5 pages in the glossy magazine “A Place in the Sun’s Everything Spain”

We would like to thank both the editor and the writer Heidi Fuller-Love for their kind permission to reproduce extracts from the article as below.

The photo opposite shows the holiday cottage Águila.

Click photo to enlarge

“Nature has been kind to David Deacon and Chris Sampford in more ways than one. Their rambling farmhouse, Cortijo Los Nogales (Walnut Tree Farm) is situated high up on the slopes of the Poqueira valley in the Alpujarra mountains and has views to die for. On a clear day the Mediterranean glistens in the distance and sometimes the cloud capped mountains of North Africa can be seen”

“Framed by the snow-capped Mulhacén, one of the highest mountains in Spain and surrounded by 20 acres of land in the Sierra Nevada…Natural Park, their flat roofed house stands at 1,647 feet …. higher than Ben Nevis. The area boasts a wealth of bird life: golden and Bonelli’s eagles can be seen circling the valley, while other native wildlife includes wild boar, ibex, and colourful butterflies. The clarity of the air makes the scenery breathtaking and picturesque villages, such as Bubion, Capileira, and Pampaneira, shine across the valley. The area is crisscrossed with bubbling acequias (Moorish-built water channels) taking the snowmelt down to the valleys……….”

Click photo to enlarge

“They [sic Chris and Dave] run their cortijo as a guesthouse and attract a clientele of hikers, birdwatchers, horse-riders and nature lovers”

“…….Springsteen, the horse Chris brought over from England, pops his head over the stable door and gives a welcoming whinny. These days Chris rides with her guests, taking them on hacks along the rugged mountain tracks………… To the left of the stables, a sloping cottage garden, planted with runner beans, leads to another patch studded with bulbous onions and orange nasturtiums. Further down the slope there are pear, walnut, and cherry trees and a vast water reserve which doubles as a swimming pool in the summer”

Where2 is a magazine published in Granada for English speaking tourists. Dave Deacon is a regular contributor. We have reproduced two of the articles below. Copies of the magazine are in your holiday cottage accommodation

“We have now seen the seasons flow, mostly seamlessly across 18 months since we arrived, here in Andalucia. And the commodity, which joins the seasons and changes the most with them, is water. For readers from Northern Europe, who just turn on a tap, it is impossible to understand the importance of water in Southern Spain.

The subject of many a ‘coming to blows’ and thus most villages in our region of the Alpujarra mountains have a water council to arbitrate disputes. Having had a 7-year drought in mid 1990’s it is still possible to come across a little old man staring in wonder at a flow of water by the side of the road.

Water also heralds the change of seasons and as such we are now getting ready for the arrival of winter, with temperatures at night dropping to -5C. We look north to the mountain Mulhacén and the sister peaks of Pico Veleta and Alcazaba, covered in snow, across to Capileira just below the snow line and sometimes we open our front door to the white stuff.

The water by the side of our cottages changes from a generous trickle to a torrent threatening to overflow its 3 foot wide passage. This takes me back to last winter when we were, on a freezing cold day, getting the horses in from the field. Chris pushed by a horse, slipped and lay on her back in 3 feet of fast flowing icy water. Anyone viewing my attempts not to laugh would have assumed I was partway through an acute attack of wind. I failed! The horse too!

If you want to come and stay in our comfortable cottages or ride our horses I will try and get her to do a repeat performance. Winter or summer, spring or autumn you will love the spectacular scenery and tranquillity of the Alpujarras.”

"Article for March April 2006"

“We have about 15 acres surrounding our house and self-catering cottages, with a large orchard, full of many types of fruit trees, together with grapes, soft fruit and vegetables in season.

This, together with the 6 horses we use for our trekking holidays, and the building work we still need to do – such as new stables, means we would struggle without our Wwoofers. This organic organisation matches hosts [that us] with people who will work for their board and lodging. In the 3 years we have been here more than 40 have stayed with us. Hailing from countries all around the world, they have ranged in age from 18 to 55. They have cleared land, planted, weeded, built walls, exercised the horses, mucked out and groomed.

Sometimes either from inexperience or our poor instruction they have had us laughing till we cry – the experienced rider who when mounting put the wrong foot in the stirrup and wondered where the horse’s head had gone; the guy who was found trying to remove a socket head from a wrench with WD40 and a hammer – “just press the button on the top” he was told; the lass who planted 15 rows of onions upside down; the guy who thought he was an American Indian and shaved his head into a Mohican – he looked like part of a toilet brush and the uninhibited girl who changed her jeans in front of Ken causing him to blush furiously – he neglected to call me!”

Click photo to enlarge

Obviously we have picked the amusing incidents – they all worked very hard and have enriched our lives with their different and often controversial views. Many have become close friends and several return each year. If you are a future guest in one of our cottages or just coming for a horse trek, much of the work you see will be thanks to them.

Thanks all and the motto – why have a wwoofer and bark yourself!

The Alpujarra with a Difference: for full information on a particular topic click on the link below:

Home Page	Cottage Accommodation	Location	Tariffs	Booking	Contact
Walking Holidays	Working Holidays	Photographic Holidays	Painting Holidays	Car Hire	Getting There
Learning Spanish	Spanish Cooking Holidays	Bird Watching	Touring The Alpujarra	Chauffeur Tours	Dual Centre Holidays
Write a Book	Management Reflection	Horse Riding	Children's Farm Holidays	Guests comments	Airport pickup