This delightful, thoughtfully renovated cortijo has a wonderful history attached to it. Originally two cottages set within a corn field with a threshing circle, this property was the focal point of village life and harvest celebrations. Each year, local farmers would bring their corn to be traditionally processed by donkey on the threshing circle and at the end of the harvest the villagers would gather to party. There are still locals who remember going to fiestas at this house.
The house has a priveleged position on the hillside with wide open views of the surrounding countryside and mountains. Now, the wheat is gone and almond trees have taken its place, but the love the locals have for this location remains.
The current owners have put a lot of thought and attention to detail into renovating the two cottages in to one large property. Everything has been done to a very high standard and with care taken to preserve the cosy nature of a traditional cottage but bring it bang up to date with a high ceilinged staircase leading to a minstral gallery, a fantastic quality kitchen with Brazilian granite worktops and en-suite bedrooms.

The Detail:
An open plan layout gives the space; the clever division, without walls, of the space makes it cosy. We see a lot of houses and there a very few with that wow factor when you walk in. This house has that.
There is a covered porch at the entrance which is a wonderful spot to have breakfast or evening drinks while enjoying the view and the cool cross breeze.
Entering the house your eye is immediately taken up the gorgeous staircase to the wrap around minstral gallery. There are four large en-suite bedrooms, three with showers and one with a bath, on the top floor. Two en-suite bedrooms on one side of the gallery, these bathrooms share a gas water heater, and the other two en-suite rooms are the other side of the gallery and they also have their own shared gas water heater. This is one example of many of the owners attention to detail by thinking about the needs of family and friends by putting in extra water heaters. Most houses only have one to serve the whole house, this house has four.
All the windows have mosquetera to stop those pesky insects getting in while allowing the breeze in. The ingenious thing with the windows is you can take out the window panes during the summer heat and have the mosquetera in place so you don’t need to keep opening and closing the windows. All windows have appropriate safety bars.
All the bathrooms are beautifully fitted with Andalucian pottery sinks and gorgeous tiling in the showers and the bath.

Ground Level:
To the left as you walk in is a very useful office space and large under stair cupboard. You can never have enough storage.
The principle bedroom is on the ground floor and is U shaped with an ensuite. This very spacious room is a perfect space for anyone who struggles with stairs.
To the right of the staircase is the sitting room with wood burning stove, a dining room with space for a large table, and a gorgeous kitchen, perfectly designed for the space, and separate laundry room. I particularly like that the owners have used the same Brazilian granite for the worktops, backsplash and kick-boards. The also finished off the sitting room side of the kitchen with matching wood panels to complete the stylish design.

Outside:
The house has electronic gates and an automatic light sensor over the porch so you never have to return home to find it in darkness.
The driveway is currently unfinished but needs very little doing to it.
The current overgound pool is great but the best thing is permission to install an in-ground pool with safety features and terracing around. It’s very difficult to get permission to build a pool in the countryside now so this is a big plus.
Next to the overground pool is a gorgeous outdoor kitchen/chill out area. When you view this house you can easily put yourself in this spot and imagine a chilled beer, glass of wine and some tapas followed by a dip in the pool then listen to some music.

Important Stuff:
Rarely for a house in the country will you find mains water and well water. This house is that property. You will never be without water here which in times of climate change is an important thing to consider. The well water is perfect for filling the pool and the water to the house goes through a de-limescaling unti to soften it.
The wood burning stove has a double lined quality metal stove-pipe. This prevents build up of resin which is a potential fire hazard.
Outdoor storage for logs.
Satellite TV and WIFI
Outdoor loo
Spanish neighbours
500-600 almond trees - this year will be the first harvest for these young trees but a local farmer can harvest for you and will pay 25% of the income to you. Or you could do it yourself and compete with the Californians! NEWS: This years almond crop is producing around 10kg of almonds per tree. Almonds are fetching 1€/kg this year. When the trees are mature the anticipated crop should be around 25kg per tree so they could fetch a nice income for the new owners.

This house is a must see house. You need to want to live in the countryside to appreciate this house but it isn’t far from the large town of Alcala la Real.
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