Located in the Natural Park of the Sierra de Hornachuelos and nestled amongst 3.000 acres of privately owned land, surrounded by cork oaks, oaks, olive trees and Mediterranean scrub as far as the eye can see, idyllic Hacienda de San Bernardo offers a large and luxurious accommodation in the heart of Andalucía, a pituresque region that enjoys over three-hundred-and-twenty days of sunshine a year. Ideal to celebrate your wedding or event, a family gathering or a business mettings
As soon as you enter the main gate of the property, leaving behind Hornachuelos, you will realize you have arrived in a very unique place. After a 2 miles drive on the estate private road and continuing on the driveway borded by cypress trees and eucalyptus, the secluded haven of villa San Bernardo with its orange trees courtyard and fountain patio will open up to you. You will be mesmerized by its unique peaceful atmosphere, surrounded only by nature and hosted in a very special home filled with family history.
Hacienda San Bernardo offers the perfect environment to combine a calmed stage in one of the most emblematic country palaces in Andalusia with intense tourism in the most interesting cities and areas in Southern Spain. Is ideal for groups of friends or families who want to enjoy old style living in the exclusive environment of a country residence which has lodged the Kings of Spain and the European aristocracy.
The Manor House
Refurbished at the begining of the XX century to host H.R.H. King Alfonso XIII, in spanish style with italian influence, the two floored building is divided in two wings.
The interior of the palace is reached through a terrace, with arches borne by capitals made in white marble, sustained by two black marble columns.
A large hall with a unique brick carved chimney and a spectacular two armed stairway leading to the top floor.
Breakfast is usually served in the dinning room, located on the left handside, with a big table for a maximum of twenty seats.
The Living Room
The elegant living room, with its original coffered ceiling in the Arab style, hides another impressive chimeney with the family coat of arms carved in stone, giving this area a great personality. This room gives an easy access to the orangetree gardens and the small and cozy chapel, where the family prayer takes place.
Eight bedrooms with bathroom en suite
Every bedroom enjoys fantastic views over the beautiful gardens and the property. The eight rooms have twinbeds, one can be turned into double bed. The last works accomplished brought more comfort to the new wing, a good heating for winter stays and a brand new bathroom in every bedroom.
The new wing can host 16 persons in the eight twin bedrooms with bathroom en suite.
Seven extra bedrooms
The old wing, in traditional style, allows space for bigger groups, increasing the house capacity with 13 beds more. This wing shows the original style the house had in the 20′s. Seven single bedrooms and three twin bedrooms, sharing two bathrooms, in lovely old style, and a smaller one with a shower. They all enjoy lovely views and are a little fresher in summer.
The Cozy Gardener’s Cottage for four
A detached romantic cottage, newly refurbished, served as home to the property gardener. Enjoys total privacy and spectacular views over the rose garden and the main house of San Bernardo.
Private entrance and garden, offers an ideal rural environment that allows close contact with nature. The gardener’s cottage is a single-family holiday house with a chimeney full of charm, whith one double bedroom with romantic canopy bed and another with twin beds, and folding bed. The capacity is 4 people with a maximum of 5 people (one in a folding bed).
Ideal as a base for a family holiday in the countryside, surrounded by wild nature. A perfect place for walks, wild animals watching, observe the rutting deer, or spend a weekend relaxing with friends.
San José Cottage, a Guard’s Place for four
A detached spectacular cottage, just refurbished, home to the property Main Guard. Enjoys an exceptional location with spectacular views over the valley. The Guards cottage is a single-family holiday house, full of charm, which consists of a warm drawing room with chimeney, two twin bedrooms, that share a large shower room. The capacity is 4 people with a maximum of 5 people, using a folding bed.
Offers an ideal base for contact with nature for a family holiday in the countryside. A perfect place for walks, wild animals watching, observe the rutting deer, or spend a relaxing weekend with friends.
The cottage is located close to the property entrance, 500 meters from the village of Hornachuelos. Perfect place to enjoy a peaceful stay, with family or friends, and paint, draw, birdwatch, or simply read! No wifi, no telephone, no televisión: Just you and nature!
The Gardens
The Manor House is surrounded by four different style gardens. From the entrance gate with the owners family shield, a path running along a eucalyptus lined embankment, gives way to the first garden, the Orange Tree Garden.
More than 25 sweet and sauer orange and lemon species, grapefruit and mandarines were planted at the begining of the century. A delicate sweet fragance and a parfumed taste of varieties almost lost nowadays, is specially intense in april and may during the blossoming season. This will be the perfect shelter from the summer sun, and the ideal place to enjoy a book or a candlelight dinner.
This garden leads to the Main Garden, in the French style, presided by a white marble italian fountain surrounded by boj and roses.
In the back facade, the Rose Garden, designed by the French architect Truffaut in 1914, and the Olives Garden, in which the swimming pool is located.
The swimming pool
In the last years, the Marchess de La Guardia builds a swimming pool, where the old pond used to be. Close to the Orange tree Garden, on top of a small promontory, its discreete ubication secures a total privacity and previleged temperatures in the hottest hours of the day, due to the light breeze blowing almost constantly.
Enjoy the amazing view of the palace from this point, the ideal spot for painters and photo fans.
The Estate
The building stands on the grounds of a private estate, Hacienda San Bernardo, with more than one thousand hectareas within the Sierra de Hornachuelos Nature Reserve. It boasts a diverse Mediterranean vegetation, mainly of cork oaks, holmes, gall oaks, carob trees and scrub land with a great variety of rock rose, rosemary, kermes oak, and lentisk.
It’s exceptional landscape, together with a broken and sinuous topography and great botanical and hunting wealth, bestow on San Bernardo inestimable resources for the practice of activities such as hiking, horseriding, birdwathching, walking, as well as all kinds of open air sports.
An enormous untouched natural beauty invites to explore the many paths and enjoy the lovely landscape. A unique place to experience the life in contact with nature and bring children closer to open air activities.
Hacienda San Bernarrdo makes hunting a main resource due to the privileged location. The hunting species par excellence are the deer and the wild boar; there is also a great number of rabbits, hares, partridges, pigeons, thrush and ringdove.
The Hornachuelos Mountain Range Nature Reserve
Located at the Sierra Morena of Cordoba, with a surface of 67,202 hectares, it is a wide protected environment, continued with the range nature reserves of Northern Seville and of Aracena (Huelva). Considered biosphere reserve, the park remains almost virgen.
Its climate is warm and temperate (10-25º Celsius all over the year raising to 40º in summer), with draughts in the summer and a few scattered rains in the fall, winter and spring.
The park’s vegetation consists mainly of holmes and cork oaks; it constitutes the second most important Black Vulture refuge in Andalucía. These birds live together with the Tawny Vulture, the Imperial Eagle, as well as some Black Stork and Lynx specimens.
Declared protected area in 1989, the Hornachuelos Mountain Range has traditionally been considered a singularly important hunting area both nationally and internationally, which makes hunting one of the main tourist resources in the zone. The hunting species par excellence are the deer and the wild boar; there is also a great number of rabbits, hares, partridges, pigeons, thrush and ringdove.
Within the nature reserve, a number of sites of historical interest attract international visitors. These include the old Monastery of Santa María de los Ángeles, where the masterwork of the Duke of Rivas, “Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino” is set, and which would serve as inspiration to G. Verdi in composing his Opera: “La forza del destino” and the Carmelite Convent of San Calixto, where kings Baldwin and Fabiola of Belgium spent their honeymoon.
As cultural attractions, the roman rests near posadas, the arab castle of Almodóvar del Río.
Interisting links:
- Junta de andalucía →
- parquesnaturales.consumer.es – Sierra Hornachuelos →
- Parques Naturales de Andalucía →
Facilities and services
The Manor House
- Telephone
- Television with DVD, located in the old reading room, in the first floor, allowing privacy. In this room was installed one of the first telephones of the area, on ocasion of the first kings visit.
- Central heating and hot water.
- Fully equiped kitchen with microiwaves, dishwasher, freezer, two refrigeratos, washing machine and iron.
- Cooker available, baby sitting, laundry service.
Garden and swimming pool
- Five big round tables for then seats
- 30 iron chairs and ten deckchairs for the pool
- A coal barbecue
An Estate with staff at your service
San Bernardo offers a staff that will make your stay a unique experience, allowing you to relax and forget about domestic duties. Usually, cleanning service is included in the rental fee.
A maid and cooker take daily care of guests. The quality of the kitchen for the typical Spanish dishes (gazpacho, tortilla) is very high. A property guard will be responsible for guests and will guide them in the property and during their entertainments, if that is your wish
If you wish to sightsee or visit the cultural spots in the surroundings, while the youngest children enjoy the swimmingpool, do not hesitate to request the babysitting service that will make them enjoy the contact with nature.
