The Finca

The Finca

The finca lies in the bend of the lower reaches of the Barranc de Lloret where the land dips about 30 metres below the surrounding plain. This is a serious advantage when the gale force winds blow off the mountains or down the Ebro valley and race across the plain with such force that it is difficult to keep upright. On days like that the finca suffers a lot less and can be quite calm depending on the winds direction.
Down by the barranc the land is quite level, then the last third of the finca slopes up to the plain in a series of terraces, some narrow, but with a couple of wide terraces at the top.
In the early days, we were surprised to discover about 100 beehives on one of the terraces.
A major feature of the finca is the aquaduct with its little bridge. The aquaduct used to supply water to the mill and was fed from a large reservoir that was built in the middle of the finca. The reservoir collected rainwater that ran down the slope of the hill, where the road is now.
As little as 50 years ago, the climate was wet enough for the barranc to have running water in it all year round, so keeping the reservoir full obviously wasn't a problem when the mill was built about 200 years ago.

After wielding a chainsaw for a while we made some impression on the wilderness and uncovered some interesting finds, like the hunters hide that was built into on of the walls next to where we were planning to build our Almacen (barn).This is now the dog's kennel and the area round it and the tree is fenced in.