The approach is an adventure in itself. A three-mile track (don’t bring the lamborghini) wends its way across tree-strewn dehesa and up to the farmhouse, remote in the hills and utterly beautiful; all you hear are the birds and the lowing of cattle. The single-storey building, wrapped around an inner courtyard with tinkling fountain, blends seamlessly into its setting. The ganaderia, dedicated to the rearing of magnificent fighting bulls, has been in Maria’s family for four generations.A pretty garden surrounds the pool, there’s a terrace for al fresco meals and at weekends it bustles with city escapees. Lovely bedrooms, beautifully and atmospherically lit, are in the old farm manager’s quarters, each with a gloriously warming wood-burner: beamed ceilings, Indian pieces, taurine prints, a few antiques, piles of snow white towels. Meals are delicious, fresh, brilliant value, served at tables in a room overlooking the paddock where the young bulls are fed. Vivacious, generous Maria, passionate about preserving the ‘toro bravo’ breed, is delighted to accompany guests on horseback – or 4×4 – for a tour of the farm.
