Hoyas del Cavadero, Fontanales, Gran Canaria
Buzz Trips opinion:
The perfect base for exploring the rural delights of Gran Canaria’s northern interior, PosHada is a small, boutique hotel set within a traditional Canarian finca where owner, Fermín, treats his visitors with such individual care that you feel like weekend guests in his home. All polished wooden floors and white walls, traditional Canarian architecture is teamed with beautiful period furniture and bohemian panache to provide eclectic style amongst the rolling hills and valleys where peace and tranquillity are assured.
If, when you think of Gran Canaria, you imagine endless sand dunes, hordes of sunburnt tourists and T shirts that say ‘My dad went to Maspalomas and all he brought me back was this lousy T shirt‘, think again. Head inland and north and you’ll find a Gran Canaria that rarely makes it onto the web pages of popular travel agencies. Here, the views can change from mountainous to floral valley to pine scented forest in less than fifty footfalls and paths weave their way across exposed peaks and down ancient ravines. High above the north west coast of Agaete, a 20 minute walk from the hamlet of Fontanales and set back from a quiet road, the Rural Hotel PosHada is a beautiful rural hotel combined with a restaurant where comfort, style and great food accompany the hush in the very heart of that idyll.
Rooms:
Big on character and minimalist on décor and coat hangers, each of the eight rooms is individually themed and named so that you could find yourself sleeping in the Music room where LPs adorn the wall cupboards; the Photography room which is black and white or the Cinema room with its widescreen views from the terrace. In contrast to the traditional stark, white walls and wooden floors of the bedrooms, bathrooms are beautifully tiled in vibrant colours – our Theatre room had a blue and white harlequin design.
Tiny, cottage windows face out onto the mountain, the garden or the distant sea and all have high speed Wifi and a small selection of toiletries including Fuerteventura-made goats’ milk soap which you can also buy to take home.
Facilities:
The large, open plan lounge, kitchen and dining room area is where guests enjoy meals and relaxation and the warmth of the fire on chilly winter evenings while smaller lounges are perfect places to find solitude and comfort in which to curl up with a book. Outside, there’s a pretty garden in which to take in the country air and a small pool with decking and views over the sea in which to soak up the winter sunshine. There’s also an adorable dog named Hada, the family pet who, given the opportunity, will follow you to the ends of the island.
Breakfast and dinner are served in the dining room which doubles as El Buho restaurant and are prepared and presented by Fermín with meticulous care. A welcome change from the unsophisticated fare of many Canarian rural hotels, Fermin’s dishes are as inventive as they are delicious. We particularly enjoyed dinner which included home made courgette soup; fresh penne with tomatoes, mushrooms and basil, and Greek yoghurt with toasted almonds and pine nuts in palm honey. The fresh, fruity breakfast with unlimited aromatic coffee and home made orange marmalade put a spring in the walking step and kept us going strong until a late picnic lunch.
PosHada Rural Hotel, Hoyas de Cavadero, Fontanales, GranCanaria; tel: 0034 928 554 636; double room plus breakfast from €69, dinner €15 per person
Andrea (Andy) Montgomery is a freelance travel writer and co-owner of Buzz Trips and The Real Tenerife series of travel websites. Published in The Telegraph, The Independent, Wexas Traveller, Thomas Cook Travel Magazine, EasyJet Traveller Magazine, you can read her latest content on Google+
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