Picture an orchard of orange and tangerine trees encompassed by the curve of a wild river as it snakes through a valley of cork oak and pine forest. Overlooking and opposite each other - to the North and the South - are two mountains, the Hacho and the Crestillina. A ruined Moorish castle, illuminated at night, perches on the summit of a third mountain – the pueblo of Gaucin. Within the polarities of the river, forest, two mountains and the castle lies the orchard – The Huerta, which means fruit garden.
Few come here without being touched by the tranquility and apparent remoteness of this place. Wildlife abounds. The guardian spirits of the Huerta – the owl, the deer, the wild pig and the eagle, are around us in the forest. There are bee eaters, hoopoes, kingfisher, vultures and nightingales.

The river itself is fringed by alder, poplar, and wild cane. The Genal River is as pristine a river as you could hope to find in western Europe. Clean enough to support otters. There is no town or industry up or downstream to pollute. The Rio Genal is as yet a virgin untouched by the demands of the Costa del Sol, it flows freely, depending on winter rains. But even in hot Julys crimson adelfas gaze at their own reflections in still bathing pools and there are shingle beaches on which to sunbathe.