Set in beautiful wooded countryside,
the original building of "Molino Nuestra Señora de la Luz", (the
Mill of our Lady of the Light), dates back to 1754, with additions built over
the ensuing centuries.
Its architecture is typical Andaluz, with its roots in
the ancient Roman idea of building around a central courtyard, thus creating a
quiet, shaded and fragrant heart to the building where one can sit protected from
the hot summer sun by old vines, in delightful silence disturbed only by a gurgling
fountain.
Owned by the same family for centuries, time has in many ways stood still here,
with genuine, old style, unhurried Andalusian hospitality offered by Doña Consuelo,
the lady of the house, and her staff. Don't expect Holiday Inn-style receptionists and porters rushing around, it's what the Spanish call formal. Grace rules over efficienty here.
The fourteen rooms offered in this property are as carefully and gently looked after
as you will be. Each of the rooms has a modern en-suite bathroom and is decorated individually
according to the family's taste and talent, sporting such details as their home-crocheted
bedcovers.
Breakfast is served by the fireplace in the huge, traditional dining room, dominated
by its dark beamed cathedral ceiling. Lunch is not provided but dinner can be
arranged, provided that it is ordered in time (by 5 pm) to allow Doña Consuela
time to go into town for the shopping. Authentic, home-cooking is guaranteed,
prepared by the lady herself.
You will be invited to sit by the fireplace with a cocktail in the dining anteroom
while your meal is being prepared, and ushered into the dining room with it's long wooden
tables to eat. A drawing room with a fireplace on the second floor is the perfect
place to snuggle with a warm after-diner cognac, or if you prefer, a gentle game
of billiards. If that is too taxing you can exercise your wits instead, at the
chess table. One serves oneself at the bar but please keep track
of one's own consumption for later billing.
The vast central courtyard is a lovely place
to while away the afternoons, there are splendid gardens and a big, inviting pool
too. All around, as far as you can see, is rural tranquility.
A three kilometre road runs through the sunflower
fields that surround the hotel, down to the main road from where it's easy to
travel to either Arcos de la Frontera or Grazalema and further afield, to Seville,
Jerez or Ronda.
