Head to the hills
Should I write about it or will I keep this discovery all to myself? What if it gets unbearably busy, expands, loses its magic?
Pink-washed Finca Buen Vino emerges out of the oak and chestnut woods at the end of a winding country avenue, in the middle of the Sierra de Aracena Nature Reserve in Andalucia in Spain.
We arrived close to midnight, almost too tired to eat, but the warm and spontaneous welcome revived us.
Jago and Sam carried our bags upstairs, a huge fire crackled on the hearth in the drawing room.
Would we like a whisky or how about a little bowl of soup? We had a delicious leek and potato soup with homemade breads and a selection of Spanish farmhouse cheeses a cabrales, manchego, a creamy melting torto wrapped in its traditional band of lace and the famous tetilla.
In the morning, the view across the hills, thickly wooded with sweet chestnut and cork oak, was spectacular. Here and there are olive groves, walnut trees and orchards of plums, peaches and figs. Wild rocky escarpments are covered in cistus and tree heathers. Stone-walled mule tracks meander from village to hamlet, perfect for walking or riding.
Breakfast is thick unctuous home-made yoghurt, local honey and crunchy granola, dried fruit, homemade jam and Seville orange marmalade, freshly squeezed orange juice, lots of hot toast, bacon, and eggs from their own hens.
After Sam and Jeannie Chesterton were married in Scotland, they left for Spain where Sam had been living in a remote candlelit cottage. Drawing on their experience of running shooting lodges in the Highlands, they wanted to make their home in a wild, yet accessible, place of great natural beauty.
Finca Buen Vino is set amid 150 acres of woodland in the Huelva area of southwestern Spain.
A happy combination of Latin and Anglo-Saxon influences, the house is filled with an eclectic mix of furniture, paintings, pottery and books. Five bedrooms are reserved for guests, all are charming and distinctive.
The small, winter dining-room is pine-panelled and entirely candlelit, and dinner is eaten together with fellow guests. It was beautiful in December but I've been told in spring the valley below the house is filled with white heathers, primroses and the song of nightingales. In summer, you can dine late under the stars, while crickets chirp and the jasmine unfurls its scent. Most weekend nights, there is a village fiesta to go to nearby. Summer days can be spent beside the spectacular pool where, with advance notice, a barbecue lunch can be served.
The whole experience was exciting because I could at last learn first-hand about the rearing of the famous black pigs and the production of pata negra, the finest cured ham in the world. The village of Jubugo, famous for the production of jamon, is just a few miles from Buen Vino, but there was no need to venture there because Sam and Jeannie's pigs were gorging on the acorns under the corn oaks. Sam cures the hams himself, slowly and painstakingly in the time-honoured way. We ate slivers of jamon with salted almonds and delicious Aracena potato crisps and picos for tapas every evening, never tiring of the exquisite flavour.
We donned our walking boots and walked across the hills to Linares de Sierra, a little village with narrow, cobbled streets.
We had a delicious, simple lunch at the local Los Arieros restaurant: ijado al aceite very thinly-sliced pig's liver, cooked with sweated onion and extra virgin olive oil tiny vol au vents with black pudding mousse and fresh mint, succulent pig's trotters and quese del cabra con miel. The latter can be easily reproduced at home using a soft Irish goat cheese like Ardsallagh.
We did another 6 hour walk through breathtakingly beautiful terrain. We stopped for lunch of jamon, salsichon and local cheese in the village pub in Cortelazor. This part of rural Spain is totally unspoilt, the people are friendly and welcoming, the food honest and delicious. Sam and Jeannie also have three tranquil cottages in the wood, each with its own swimming pool, an idyllic spot.
If you crave urban adventure, the city of Seville is just an hour and a quarter away Jeannie and Sam offer a series of cooking classes at intervals throughout the year, with trips to see sherry being made, the historic sights of Seville, etc.
Check out their website for more tempting details: www.buenvino.com or contact Sam and Jeannie Chesterton, Finca Buen Vino, Los Marines, 21293 Huelva, Spain. Tel 00 34 959 12 40 34, fax 00 34 959 50 10 29 or email:buenvino@facilnet.es.
Quesa de Cabra con Miel
Goat's Cheese with Honey on Toast
WE ate this at the local restaurant in Los Arieros in Andalucia
1 slice of sour dough or yeast bread
soft goat's cheese,
(eg. Ardsallagh, St Tola, etc)
honey
thyme leaves
TOAST or chargrill the bread. Cut the slice of toasted bread into strips of about one inch thick. Reassemble the slice as you transfer it onto a small baking sheet. Top with slices of goat cheese. Sprinkle with some fresh thyme leaves and drizzle with honey. Pop back under the grill until the cheese starts to bubble, serve immediately so simple, but truly delicious.
