Self catering apartment in Extremadura, Spain
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
We are fortunate enough to have, within 10 minutes of the town, the largest solar park in Europe (roughly 82 hectares). This helps reduce consumption from more conventional sources. Solar power is used very much locally, although neither solar panels nor turbines can be used within the protected Monument zone of the town.
All our restoration projects have showers and half-flush toilets fitted as standard, and we are now almost 100% converted to energy efficient light bulbs. Our guests are encouraged to recycle glass paper/cardboard plastics, using special bins provided.
We are accessible by bus and train, and we have timetables for both on our website to encourage our visitors to use public transport. We work from home to minimize costs and avoid transport pollution.
The gardens and land were designed to incorporate the collection of rain water by collecting roof water, linking paths & roads, to fill underground covered storage tanks (thereby minimizing evaporation) to create grey water with which to water the gardens. The water storage capacity is about 600,000 litres (132,000 UK gallons) of water. The tanks are completely camouflaged with Astroturf.
The garden’s water requirement is almost self-sufficient and garden watering is automatic, measured in minutes and by using high velocity low consumption water sprayers together with micro drip feed systems. Wherever possible, we only spray our plants to cope with mildew and the like, and we send most of our garden waste for organic composting.
Community
For many years, and with great pleasure, we have been using the same local companies. These include builders, electricians, plumbers, blacksmith, stone mason, architects, surveyor, garage, plasterer, carpenter, horticultural engineer and more, who all work as a team. We also employ local cleaning staff and subcontract our laundry locally, and we buy produce from specialized local shops.
We encourage friends and guests to use our very good local restaurants and visit the Thursday market. The market is brimming with local fresh produce including vegetables, fruits and nuts. Also available are fresh local meat (some of the best in Spain) and fish, together with numerous textiles, leather goods, plants and flowers, to mention just a few.
We are members of an organization called Conserva Trujillo (Save Trujillo) which seeks to rekindle local people's pride in their heritage and reduce vandalism. This involves a whole range of activities from restoration and monument cleaning projects, offering painting and games competitions aimed at the younger ages.
We were recently involved in awarding prizes for the best kept and restored houses, and visited schools to give short lectures to local youngsters. We also arranged a free guided tour around the town’s old quarter and monuments.
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