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Featured place: Posada del Valle, northern Spain

Submitted by richard on 27 January, 2007 - 10:07.













Photo © Posada del Valle.

Much of the north of Spain is known historically as Green Spain, which has more to do with a wetter climate than a commitment to saving the planet. But if you look carefully, there are some genuine green gems between the Cantabrian and Basque mountains.

Posada del Valle is a 19th-century stone farmhouse near Arriondas by the Picos de Europa national park. It was once the home of a parish priest, but now the English owners have turned it into a certified organic farm where rare breed sheep graze among 18 acres of wild meadowand the electricity is bought in from renewable sources.

There's juice from the apple orchard, fresh home-baked bread and veg from the terraced garden for evening meals in a glass-fronted dining-room.

The posada is close to the sandy beaches of the Cantabrian coast, but go to the many inland rivers for canoeing and canyoning, or into the mountains for horse-riding and mountainbiking. The farmhouse is a 3km walk from Arriondas, which is four hours by bus from Bilbao, two hours from Santander.

· Rooms from €58 (+34 985 84 11 57, posadadelvalle.com).

This article, by Richard Hammond, was first published in the Guardian.

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