Finca Arboleda.com

The weather on Monday and Tuesday was fantastic for picking the Olives, 20degs and sunny, today a bit cooler with the chance of a shower tonight. We have about 500kg and will load up the trailer and head for the press in Arboleas in the morning. The haul is down a bit this year and it seems a general trend in the area, a couple of neighbours have thrown their harvest in with ours as we need 500kg to get a single pressing of local organic extra virgin olive oil.

I´ll report the amount of oil we get tomorrow.

The date is set, November 20th, the day we plan to press our Olives. It’s not our biggest crop but they look very healthy and we hope the weather will be kind between now and the 20th. We will pick them between 17th and 19th depending on the weather.

We have a few local friends who have offered to help but we have space in the Villa and Apartment if you fancy a week away from it all.

Strange times these aren’t they, we have noticed a slow down this year for Autumn bookings but next summer is starting to book fairly fast now.

What’s it like here now?….wet but warm, but we have to have some rain don’t we. Last year October was also wet but the rest of the winter was very dry.

Between showers I just went to pick some Figs and Apples and found the first ripe Satsuma of the season..gorgeous, fresh, sharp and sweet.

The flight companies are falling over themselves to get you to spend money, Murcia, only just over an hour away looks a good bet why not take a look, all the info is on the web site or send a mail if you need some help.

SAN JUAN about 20 minutes up the coast from Finca Arboleda has some fantastic beaches. They are sandy and very gently sloped making them ideal for small children and not so strong swimmers. They are also popular for snorkeling.

Just had my Mum to stay for a few weeks, not bad for 88 is she. We made a couple of trips up to Bedar, fantastic views and you really should try the shoulder of Lamb at the Miramar restaurant, it’s to die for!

Miramax are going to make a movie about the Palomares incident here in January 1966 when the mid-air collision of two United States planes led to the release of four nuclear bombs over Almería province.

None of the bombs exploded. Two were recovered intact from the sea.

The film will be called ‘Thank You, Bob Openheimer’ and will be turned into a romantic drama, focussing on the United States soldier who is sent to the Andalucian fishing village after the bombs have fallen, where he starts a romantic relationship.

As soon as I confirm Brad Pitt’s booking in the apartment I’ll post the dates here.

Well not actually here but he was in Mini Hollywood in Tabernas for the filming of a pepsi ad but that was in 2003 before we were here.

Sexy Beast was made just down the coast at Agua Amarga and has some nice shots of the desert area, beware although a great movie the language is extremely colourful to say the least, Ben Kingsley as you’ve never seen him before.

I’ve added an aerial shot to the Finca Arboleda page of the web site, not great quality but it gives an idea of our layout and the pool looks nice!

Today is a pleasant 30 degs after a couple of weeks of mid 30’s. As you can imagine it’s a bit too warm to do much apart from cleaning on change over days. We’ve got the Olympics to pass a few hours and the Football season starting.

Did you see Dragons Den on Monday with a guy trying to start a business flogging Olive Oil via a club that cost about 250 pounds a year for 12 bottles. You could rent the apartment for a week at Christmas and take home 12 bottles of Oil and still have change from 250 quid!

What is happening outside? Figs galore, I picked 20 kg last Monday, mistake, what do you do with 20 kg of ripe figs, answers on an email to…

The Chickens are currently tucking into the first Pomegranates of the year, they had split as they tend to do at the beginning of the season, no wonder our eggs are so good with the diet they get.