Where are we?
Our cortijo is located at 1300 metres above sea level in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the middle of nowhere. It is 6km from the nearest small village and 55km (about an hour) from Granada in Andalucía in the south of Spain.
What is Cortijo de la Plata?
It is a farm with 200 olive trees, 120 almond trees, a vineyard with 800 vines, a swimming pool, many different types of fruit frees, a large vegetable garden over about 33,000 square metres of land. There are 3 houses with enough space for 12 people.
What are we offering?
We produce a lot of organic home-grown food. Sarah is a good cook and we provide meals. We can offer activities for people who are interested in any aspect of self-sufficient living such as gardening, cheesemaking, sourdough breadmaking, soapmaking, etc.
The mountains surrounding the farm are very beautiful and we can take you on guided walks with different levels of difficulty.
What can you do here?
This is the perfect place to escape from the stress or distractions of the city, and to relax and unwind. You are surrounded by nature and the only sound you are likely to hear is birdsong. It is off the beaten track and only a couple of cars might pass a day. You could do absolutely nothing, just read books or laze around the swimming pool. If you would like to have a more active time, you could get involved in the activities of the farm. Sarah can show you how to make typical Spanish dishes such as gazpacho and salmorejo using our own tomatoes when they are in season, paella, tortilla, etc. and John can show you how to plant lettuces, grow vegetables, etc. There are plenty of places nearby which are worth a day trip such as Granada, Guadix, the coast or the mountains.
Eco Credentials
Our view of global warming is somewhat negative. The main problem is over population and human beings are probably too stupid to take evasive action and avoid the negative consequences of climate change. However, even though it is probably futile, we try to do everything we can to recycle, use less carbon, and live sustainably. We are completely offgrid and all the electricty at the house is generated by solar panels. For most of the year, the hot water is also heated by solar panels. Most meals are made using as much as possible of our own produce. We fertilize the ground with chicken manure from out own chickens and manure from local farms.
What do we produce?
Our main harvests are olives in December, which are milled to produce our own delicious virgin extra olive oil, almonds at the beginning of autumn, and grapes which we press to make red wine in September and which is normally ready to drink by June of the following year. At other times of the year, we grow all sorts of Mediterranean vegetables including abundant tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, peppers, corn, etc., and other vegetables such as cabbages, cauliflowers, onions and garlic. We also have a number of fruit trees including figs, apples, cherries, and a good variety of soft berries such as strawberries, rasperberries and blackberries.
The history of Cortijo de la Plata
This place has probably had human settlements for many millennia. There are natural springs and the surrounding forests were too far south to be affected by the last ice age. It would have been very easy to hunt wild boar and wild goats and food would have been abundant. In the fourth century AD in Roman times, there was a lot of iron ore smelting just opposite our farm. There is still a lot of "slag" on the ground from these times. It used to be incredibly isolated and the road which comes up here and gives car access was only built in 1995. Our farm was populated until the 1960's. The family who lived here lived a very poor but maybe happy existence living off the land. Most of the people in the village went to find work in Germany or Switzerland in the 1970's and a handful of them still survive. Paco the previous owner built a house where the goat shed used to be and we have extended the property since we bought it in 2007.
