“I left everything and set up a rural hotel”
"Everyone told me I was crazy, who was going to come here" . The story of Jimena Santalices , like almost all that inspire us, begins like this. The "here" from which he speaks to us is a hidden, very green Galician nook in our peninsular northwest corner, almost in the tripoint between Lugo, Leon and Asturias . And in full Biosphere Reserve , is where Las Cabañas de Ancares were born, which are reactivating this area through a responsable tourism who comes from the Netherlands, the United States or France. And this is how, what was previously remote and isolated for some (those doomsayers who did not believe in their dream), is now an earthly paradise for (many) others. “ People who come from such hyperconnected backgrounds feel very different when visualizing themselves in the midst of this immensity.”.
His philosophy is pause. And the landscape helps . "It's super wild. When you open the window, you only see mountains. We are surrounded by ancient valleys ”. and accompanied by two donkeys , soon to be joined by a pony and chickens.
The Cabins of Ancares
This rural accommodation, made up of two stone cabins that will soon be four, is in Old Cabins , a village of 8 inhabitants in the Sierra de Ancares , 4 and a half hours from Madrid, 2 and a half from Santiago de Compostela and 2 from A Coruña. And a half hour drive from anywhere else nearby.
“Geographical conditions mean that everything has changed very little in the last 50 years. Here people live in a very primitive way: from their cows and their vegetable garden ”. That is why it is the ideal environment for anyone, wherever they come from, to make peace with nature. “ What we offer is an absolute disconnection , but at the same time a reconnection with the simplest pleasures: going for a walk, picking your own lettuce from the garden, making bread again as before…”.
Because here you don't just come to sleep. A village baker gives workshops where, in addition to bread, they make the Galician empanada that the hunters ate for breakfast: a typical delicacy stuffed with bacon, potato, chorizo and pepper. You can't leave without trying the high mountain honey , which has a very particular flavor of heather and which they extract from their own honeycombs, which belonged to their grandfather.
Literal definition of "The landscape helps"
“I realized that in Galicia we have a stigma: we do not give value to our rural. When I was little there was a lot of tourism in this area, but then it was lost”. That's why I wanted to recover all that and that people come back , to show the world this special place where their great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents have lived. Because what today is Las Cabañas de Ancares, It has belonged to his family for more than four centuries. . There, his grandparents had an inn with rooms, which is still active today (run by other owners). "My grandmother was a cook and a very good hostess."
A few months in Australia, in search of adventure, were her spur: “in 2017, when I went to the antipodes, I saw the value they give there to rural experiences , how they transmit it, the care they put into it, the aesthetics… That shocked me and I was clear that I wanted to do something like that”. And when she came back, she wanted me to come here. “Luckily, my mother supported me. And my husband also wanted to return to Galicia. We were both looking to rediscover ourselves with a more leisurely way of living . The idea had been in my head for a long time. What if I set up something on my own? Something that came out of me, that was honest and that could give me that point of personal satisfaction. I wanted to feel fulfilled in a project of my own”.
The lunches in the Ancares look like this
At that time, she loved Madrid (she studied journalism there and lived there for years, working in the world of fashion and entertainment), “but the load of stress and the city weighed me down. This is why the Australian experience was so revealing: I discovered a way of living that captivated me ”. She was inspired by places like The Farm in Byron Bay: an orchard and orchard farm that doubles as a restaurant and shop, which is both the full rural experience.
And now, Jimena lives between Lugo (she also manages the communication and marketing of wineries in the Ribeira Sacra: Via Romana, the Méndez-Rojo winery group and Vinigalicia) and this little village where she has built your own dream of harsh winters (and sometimes isolated, due to the snow) but pleasant springs, when the whole mountain is dyed pink by the heather of the valley. This is one of those places where little matters, beyond the here and now.
One of the rooms at Las Cabañas de Ancares
Address: 27664, Lugo See map
Half price: From €90/night the house for 4. And the one for 8, from €110 per night