A two-hundred-year-old stone house in the hills above Casares — where a wood fire, a wide garden and a very good bottle of Rioja have been the whole plan since day one.

The Atmosphere

The Jazz Rooms

Two hundred years of stone walls, dressed in blue paint and old jazz posters.

Guests dining under a garden canopy at The Forge Restaurant

The Garden

Lunch that runs long, under the olive trees

Stone paths wind between olive trees, terracotta pots and a canopy that filters the Andalusian sun into something soft. Lunch here runs long and unhurried — and, as regulars keep telling us, is very easy to fall in love with, whichever table you land at.

Shaded, year-round

Covered terrace seating for lunch in any season

No rush

Long tables, slow service, the way a Sunday should feel

The Menu

The full à la carte, course by course

Home-cooked Mediterranean food with a distinctly English backbone — from Serrano ham and Caesar salads to Moroccan tagines, Durban curries and a chocolate mousse Mike won't put down for anyone.

From the cellar

Rioja Reserva, Rueda Verdejo and Somontano reds — chosen, and often opened tableside, by the house.