We started to develop the land from virtually a blank canvas in April 2006. The land only really had the 9 cork oak trees and a few other small trees and shrubs. The oak trees are a real asset, not only for their looks but also the shade they give that is much appreciated in the summer months.

Our house (casa la dehesa) is big enough for the two of us, we have 1 bedroom, bathroom, walk in larder and a large and light open plan living room / kitchen. Because of the climate we like to spend a lot of time outside, we have a comfortable bbq area and swimming pool.

All our electricity is provided by photovoltaic solar energy. Four of the panels at the fore of the above picture are mounted on a tracker that automatically follows the suns path to maximise the amount of light we can gain during the day. We also plan to install a wind generator in the future to maintain power in the batteries on those occasional cloudy days. We do not use any appliances that use a heating element, eg haidrier as this can quickly run down our stored energy. All our water is pumped from a well, we save as much rainwater as we can store.

 

We have a 2000 sq m plot of land that borders a type of land known as la dehesa, this is a derivative of the mediterranean forest ecosystem. This consists of pastureland featuring herbaceous species for grazing and trees like the cork oak (alcornoque)


This land is used for raising bulls, grazing cows & pigs (that love to eat the acorns from the cork trees) and during the season it's used for hunting.