Gaucin Guestbook: Comments from some of our guests

Sitting here at end of a perfect week we have these memories:

Searching for la Molinda at the far end of Benalauria only to find it was 20 feet from where we parked the car. Still it meant we found the beautiful and tranquil square

Day trip to Tangiers –Book the fast 1 hour ferry as that takes only 3 hours. Hate to think what the 3 hour ferry takes.paid 43 euros to Nautus for the ferry, lunch and a whislt stop tour round the city.well worth it. returned loaded with goodlies but not carrying nearly as much as the other passengers.It certainly was an eye opening experience.

Raciones at Bar Paco Pepe

Sept 8th – following the procession around the village for Santa Nino with the whole village, a 20 piece band and firecrackers. Dropped out exhausted after 2 hours and it was still going strongh and hour and a half later.The locals certainly have stamina .They then partied into the night until 6am
The mule/donkey braying at the top of the street
The way the mountains change colour during the day
Treating ourselves to dinner at La casabalanca
Hundreds of goats milling round the road near Manilva
Our favourite beach bar  il Castillo at Playa de la Duquesa
Peace on the terrace and the view
Wandering up and down the back streets of Gaucineating ice lollies and photographing doorways, flowers, blinds and balconies
Daphne Jean,Dave and Eric

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to stay in your part of paradise .thank you for marmite and rooibosh tea and the foresight to leave eggs,bread and cheese for us late Sunday arrivals! We have enjoyed every minute. Highlights have included; The cats The castle and the ermita at the top of the hill The Mondrian palace and the bridge at Ronda, The cable car in Gibralter, Whale watching, Sunset over Tarifa, And playing on the beach at the bottom of the hill
The Smiths

Thank you so much for a wonderful week here – our stay hasn’t been long enough but we did visit a feria in Benarraba Ronda by spectacular train journey, Tarifa, ..The mirador is my favourite area in the garden -  The whole garden and house are beautifully created and have enabled our sons to read(unusual to say the least) and us to gaze at the vista, butterflies, booted eagles, flowers, patterns with delight. It’s been fun losing ourselves in Gaucin on a daily basis…..Whale watching (details in box file) was a fantastic experience for all of us.

Your house is an absolute delight – extremely tastefully furnished and comfortable. One always gets a ”feeling” in a house and this is one of welcome and relaxation.  We all had a lovely time star gazing from the top terrace and counting shooting stars and the weather has been wonderful all week so we have had all meals outside.

Bee eaters and eagles have been thrilling – do you really get humming birds here? Swallow tail butterflies, gekkos and huge moth-like monstrosities have been fun!
Many thanks for letting us share your little piece of heaven….
Sarah

We have spent a wonderful week here because of the recommendations of our good friends and your kindness in sharing your delightful house and charming Gaucin with us.
There are things we would especially commend to other guests;

Walking  we have walked each morning using the local walks leaflets in the house file. It has been very hot and a half day walk has been quite sufficient.

Learning to siesta an art worth working at for those of us who spend all days in England “on the go”

Swimming at the municipal village pool, at camp salitre and in river below Algatocin – terrific – thanks for telling us about this

Eating at village restaurants 0- la fructose, Casablanca, and Hotel nacional – a great experience and very reasonable – worth going behind the curtain for – don’t be put off by people in nighties

Other things we enjoyed
Cuevas de la Pilate
Village band concert in the square
Flamenco at the taverna
Playing – spot the Brits round Gaucin
Looking at Gibralter and the Atlas mountains
David and Chris

Wonderful birdwatching . we saw 31 species including bee eaters, all 3 eagles (Bonnellis, booted and short toed),Thekla lark, woodchat shrike and little owl. Weather perfect – warm with slight breeze. Also fabulous wild flowers.
Penny and Madeleine

‘All of nature wild and free’ – mother nature has done a great job of habitat here. The vultures and eagles are both staggering and enormous. An absolutely beautiful sight in the height of the heat. Amazing. The mountains are teaming with life. Birds, some I recognise, some I had to come back and look up. Goats, horses ,cows, lizards, gecos and apparently silver foxes. I didn’t see any live linx but passed a dead one on the road….
This has been a wonderful retreat with a mixture of exploration and time for solace and meditation, particularly the mountain walks. Wonderful time before beginning a new career. One big thank you.
Steph, Kayleigh, Judy, Gerald and Lewis

Thank you for providing the base for our wonderful holiday. We don’t know you but we feel treated as privileged guests. We particularly liked…
Toys for the children, The village festival, Nooks and crannies in the house, Breathtaking views, Estapona, Tarifa

We felt challenged by…..
which cats to feed , the unconscious colonialism of  some of the Brits living here, witnessing the mother of all domestics at Martins restaurant…..

Funnily enough the challenges were somehow reassuring. We felt that we had seen the underbelly of Gaucin in our time here as well as the spectacularly wonderful bits.

Thank you for enabling us to share in this beautiful and restful place that you have so thoughtfully and lovingly created.
Hilary

Well what can one really say…we were absolutely gobsmacked when we arrived to such an amazing house and location….We’ve loved everything and had a relaxing and inspiring week.

The swimming was great, in the river, here in the village and at Salitre. No turtles spotted but relieved to miss the water snake. Visited Ronda – what magnificent cliffs and paddled our way along the endless beach at Estepona.

We have to mention the stars from the top terrace – how amazing!

It was pretty hot so we didn’t do the walking we might have done. However on our  final evening we followed the guided walk – excellent instructions. A view of Cortes. Wonderful light, superb scenery and herds of goats jingling about.

We are in awe of your organisational skills to create and maintain such a beautiful place. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Ali and Kathryn

Today the bull ran and it was very exciting. A man got chased up a telephone box. And everybody screamed and rushed around. At one point the bull rushed up a side street where we were standing and we screamed and rushed round too.but we felt a bit sorry for the bull. (from George)
Nikki, Chris, Rosa and George

What a glorious place to take time out. weather superb, locals charming and stupendous views. The garden is unforgettable with its happy proportions of sun and shade.Picking lemons is an added bonus. Eat out if you must but better still buy fresh produce from the market and cook it yourself. There’s plenty of good cheap Rioja around to have with it.

After my visit last Autumn I wanted to return in Spring to see the wild flowers. We found 45 different species on one foray on the roadside going to Ronda – Lovely – and blissful sun every day to make them smile and the orange blossom and jasmine in the garden.
Gill, Ruth and Shirley

Wow, what a place. Every day the Riff mountains of Africa changed; the views from the patio are stunningly delightful.
We visited the excellent outdoor market at Sabanillas on Sunday – a large market with Moorish-Spanish items and fruit, vegetables and roasted chestnuts.

On Monday we had a real drive around taking in the Nacional reserve des Cortes dela Frontera – fantastic national park with ‘scalped’ cork trees and knuckle whitening driving. Drove for over an  hour without seeing anyone – bliss.Drove through many of the white villages en route and had a poke around in a few.

Drive to Ronda breathtaking – came back via Belogan Road – well worth it .
Sophie and Jim, Peggy and Neil

What a fantastic place. The bliss of buying ingredients from shuttered shops and market stalls. The fish and seafood are great. I’ve prepared anchovies prawns, unknown fish and the lemons here taste like no others. We did, of course, also enjoy our trips to Tarifa nad round trip of Arcos, Jerez and Cadiz. We were in Jerez  on Friday for the fair of the horse and witnessed the sherry ‘toffs’ on beautiful horses and most of the town kitted out in flamenco dresses and dancing Sevillanas. We’ve had a truly marvellous Andalucian experience.
Bridget and Brian