It is difficult to say anything about this cortijo prior to the middle of the 20th century. The main part of the building has thick walls constructed of stones and mud, with a cement-type covering. And there is the “era”or corn circle beside it which suggests pre 1900 when the timber was cut down for usage in the kilns and the rain reduced in volume: thereby making the growing of corn for threshing far more difficult…

By 1950 it was lived in by the Alonso Lopez family when Rafael was born. It was Rafael who sold the cortijo in 2001 to Frank & Sheena Selkirk

Prior to 2001 the cortijo was part of a 10 hectare “estate”. This is the building when initially viewed by Frank & Sheena in November 2000

At the turn of the century the cortijo was still very basic: concrete floors, small windows, little roof lagging and vines supported by scaffolding posts.

A major refurbishment was required, and this took place over a number of years: with some change of use (goat shed to bathroom etc), some new structures.