Please Note!

Shopping List for Self-Caterers

With many shops in rural Spain being closed on Sunday, or if you have a late flight on Saturday and are unable to shop on your way to Cencerrita (latest opening is 10pm) - you may need extra supplies.  We will help you sort it out.

Dinner - especially the first night!

Cooking a meal when you've had a long day travelling isn't a great start to the holiday - for 12 euros a head, we will cook your dinner for you!  It will need ordering a week in advance and then, when you arrive, just let us know what time you want to eat and we'll bring it up to you to eat it wherever you like: by the pool, on the roof terrace ...  A basic but tasty menu is available: Menu.

Arriving

We always meet our first time guests at the turn off from the Las Cruces road, 9 km from Cártama Estacion, to show the way to Cencerrita - getting lost on the last leg to your holiday destination would not put you in the holiday spirit! For this reason, we ask that you let us know your flight times so that we have some advance idea of your arrival time ... and then finally a phone call as you leave the airport (or the supermarket if you are shopping) so that we can be there to meet you at the same time you arrive.

SatNavs and other route finders:

At the risk of seeming very old-fashioned, we highly recommend you follow OUR directions rather than those of these (normally very useful) devices.  We've had guests going up the wrong way of one-way roads in Estacion de Cartama, guests going via Malaga when coming from the North (adding many more kilometres and much more time) ... and getting lost because roads just aren't where the TomTom says they should be!  We send you directions from wherever you are coming and then meet you, show you the way and then go through some hand drawn maps with local landmarks etc for use during your stay.  If your route finder can record, then it may be worth doing that on the way - otherwise, please follow our directions and maps!

Rural Living

You are staying in the remote Andalusian countryside and will encounter a totally different way of life from the towns – but isn’t that one of the reasons you want to visit?!  The nearest villages (Álora or Cártama) are 13 kilometres (8 miles) away and take 20-30 minutes. Please bear this in mind when planning any sightseeing - don't be too ambitious when planning your itinerary as even in a car, places like Granada take 2 hours and Seville 2½ hours.

The final leg of the road to Cencerrita is a typical Spanish track, whether you approach from the Álora or Cártama direction.  It is mostly in good repair, but a good deluge of rain can change things.  None of our guests have ever hired a 4x4 - though a car with high ground clearance would be nice - such as the Ford Fusion, Citroen Berlingo and Renault Kangoo.  Most guests seem to have either Renault Clio or Ford Focus which are more than adequate.  It seems that the higher the category of car, the lower the ground clearance is - this is not the place to treat yourselves to a Porsche .... We run a 4x4 Opel Frontera, but generally, mostly for economy (the Frontera is a serious diesel-holic) we use our Peugeot 206 which we find is pretty much up to everything we can throw at it!

Smoking

Unfortunately we have had to we’ve had to bring in a “no smoking in the house” penalty (the damage deposit is forfeit) – it’s so hard to get rid of the smell of smoking for the next guests – it was the only way we could ensure the house would smell fresh for everyone. Providing due care is taken, particularly when the countryside is tinder dry at certain times, smoking outside is not a problem.

Cigarettes/Cigars are not available in supermarkets so, if you haven’t bought any from the “duty free”, you will need to find one of the specialised licensed shops who keep normal opening hours (for Spain!). There is one of these on the top floor of the parking at Malaga airport and also one in Éstacion de Cártama. (Please remember smoking is not permitted IN the house!)

Privacy

We take the matter of privacy very seriously – it’s why many of our guests come here. Cencerrita is certainly in the most beautiful spot ... you are not just next door or overlooked by anyone! The Finca (it’s an old almond farm) has over 28000 sq metres and, apart from La Cencerrita, there is a small cabin and our little cottage – both of which are well away from you, suitably screened by distance and the slope of the mountain. Just so you can see, on the left is a photo looking at the Finca from across the valley. See! No close neighbours! The finca is well off the beaten track. No one uses the track leading to your house - it is for your sole use. The only time you would be “disturbed” is when we must clean the pool and chemical the spa for health and safety reasons, this takes a little less than an hour every 3 days. Generally we do this early in the morning before guests have woken – a time convenient to you can always be arranged.

We do understand guests’ wishes for privacy – this is one of the main reasons we created Finca Cencerrita! We are regularly assured by guests that they have never found such seclusion anywhere else. However, with us living not so far away, it does also mean that if you have any problems, help is not too far! (We’ve had guests lock their keys and phone in the car, another had a flat battery ... trying to explain, possibly in Spanish, how the hire car company can find you is pretty much impossible!)

Should you wish to see the cabin’s website, click on Casita Maria.