Our yurts are individually decorated and extremely spacious and comfortable.
Choose between five very different styles of yurt. The Mongolian yurt is in a quiet secluded clearing and is handpainted in burnt orange with traditional motifs in green, blue and gold. The Afghani yurt is more romantic with bent willow poles and a deep red ceiling, making it cosy and intimate. The Jaipur yurt is made of coppiced chestnut and is light and airy, with dappled light filtering down through the cork trees. The Safari yurt has a lovely view of the meadow, and is decorated in rich earthy colours. The Maimani yurt, named after its large Afghan kelim from the village of Maimani, is also made of coppiced chestnut, and is larger, with closer lattice and more roofpoles. The yurts are all set up as double rooms with comfy beds, and pieces of traditional Mongolian furniture and exotic textiles.
The camp runs on solar power and the yurts have overhead and bedside lights as well as sockets for charging mobile phones and laptops. They all have private bathrooms with hot showers and ecological loos. We provide towels both for showering and for swimming, and olive oil soaps handmade especially for The Hoopoe.
Each yurt has an acre of private meadow with seating area, or you might prefer a hammock in the shade of the giant cork trees. Birdwatchers and botanists alike will find plenty to fuel their passion. This is our fifth year on this bit of land and each year we clear a little more of the scrub and see the wildlife return. In spring the meadows are carpeted with a huge variety of wild flowers, and every year we discover new ones we have not seen before. The bird population has also increased. The mixture of open meadow and forest provides the perfect habitat for dozens of species of birds, and during the migratory months makes it an ideal stopover for many more. If you are lucky you will see a hoopoe!
Garden list compiled by Duncan in May 2007 (spotted from his yurt):
Birds: Black kite, Egyptian vulture, griffon vulture, sparrowhawk, goshawk, honey buzzard, buzzard, golden eagle, Bonelli’s eagle, booted eagle, short-toed eagle, kestrel, lesser kestrel, wood pigeon, turtle dove, cuckoo, tawny owl, rednecked nightjar, pallid swift, common swift, bee eater, wryneck, green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, swallow, house martin, wren, robin, blackbird, blackcap, Sardinian warbler, western Bonelli’s warbler, melodious warbler, firecrest, crested tit, blue tit, great tit, short toed treecreeper, spotless starling, jay, house sparrow, chaffinch, goldfinch, greenfinch, serin, corn bunting.
Butterflies: Bath white, large white, clouded yellow, brimstone, Cleopatra, Spanish festoon, Queen of Spain fritillary, Moroccan orange tip.
Join us four nights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) for a three course dinner with plenty of wine, under our pergola lit by Chinese lanterns. All food is from our kitchen garden or locally produced, and flavoured with herbs from the garden.
Breakfast is continental, with a fresh fruit salad, honey from local hives and homemade jams and marmalade. We offer sandwiches, paninis, meat and cheese platters and salads during the day, and hot tapas on non dinner nights. We have a fully stocked bar which is open until 11pm (11.30pm on dinner nights). We can also do pack lunches for excursions.
Book in for a full body massage, a reflexology session or some invigorating yoga, or simply relax on a sunbed beside the pool.
Our pergola overlooking the pool and the mountains beyond is a perfect place to watch the sun go down in the evenings. Lounge with a cocktail, play backgammon or smoke a hookah in the Turkish style seating areas, decorated with antique kilims. Once a week we hold a "film night" under the stars.
The local area has plenty to offer. Ride out into the countryside from the neighbouring stables, visit ancient caves with paleolithic paintings, go on a birdwatching trip, or take a tour of one of several sherry bodegas in Jerez.
Our track has now been resurfaced all the way down to us so it is now an easy ride in any hire car!
This winter we have had a borehole drilled which means we now have more water for the garden. We are going to turn the pool and pergola area into a really lush oasis, so we will be redoing the lawn around the pool, and also doing a lot planting around the banks and the pergola.
We have moved the Safari yurt to a new spot closer to the pool area with a lovely view down the meadow. We felt that it had lost some of its privacy now we have moved our home up the hill.
We will be serving hot tapas, as well as sandwiches, paninis, meat and cheese platters and salads, on non-dinner nights.
We are opening on 6th May this year, a month later than in previous years. The last two Aprils have been very wet and as it can be disappointing to have rain on your holiday, this season we will be opening with warm sunny days and the meadows in full bloom.
We are a small residents-only hotel. The privacy and safety of our guests is important to us, and for this reason we are sorry but we are not open to non-residents. We do not allow pets.
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