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FOOD AND PHILOSOPHY
House-party in the Pyrenees
The greater the diversity of people the better,
and we warmly welcome people of all ages and walks of life.
Many people choose to come on their own and it is a
personal challenge to create a warm and open atmosphere where everyone can feel at home.
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Part of this is our open-house philosophy,
so please help yourselves to food, wine and washing machine whenever you want. (By the same
token, do remind me to water the flowers or raid my dwindling stock of English teabags if we run
low!). Although all meals are catered for, and we often have lunch at a local restaurant,
don't hesitate to join in if you want to, but only if you want to.
Help serving the wine, laying the table or making the salads is
always happily received and we do find that the more our guests get involved, the more everyone
gains from the experience. As far as the
Spanish language holidays are concerned giving a hand
cutting the garlic or making a tortilla can be a great vocabulary exercise!
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Phil and Paul's tortilla competition
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We would like to pay tribute to
some of our past guests' great culinary contributions: Jean's wonderful blackberry and apple crumbles,
Angela's devil's pasta sauce, ajoarriero and Peter's fantastic curries. Phil and Paul's
tortilla competition will go down in history! We use local produce whenever we can and pick up
fresh eggs, cheese, tomatoes, lettuces, courgettes etc. from my neighbours' farms. Cherries,
apples, peaches, blackberries, walnuts and figs can often be picked straight from the trees.
We host only small groups of up no more than 10
people and, naturally, provide absolutely everything - single rooms, unlimited food, wine and Patxaran,
restaurants, walks and professional Spanish language tuition without supplement.
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Georgina Howard
A language teacher and writer - I started these
projects with an old Ford Escort called Fred, a Spanish - English dictionary, a pair of walking boots
and a bag of English tea bags. A dream that I would not let die.
Over a decade later I live here in a tiny mountain
hamlet with my bossy young daughter, Marion, who is brought up in a Basque farming
community and is helping to shepherd the sheep on my neighbour's farm as I write.
I am also writing another book - my first two;
'Freedom to Choose' and 'Breaking the Language Barrier', played their part in bringing me here. The
next will - I hope - pay homage to the beauty of the Baztan valley, its enigmatic culture and the wonderful
people we have found.
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Office hours with Manolo!
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