Andalucia - Land of Artists & Writers

For centuries, Andalucía has captivated the hearts of poets, writers, and painters. From the 18th through the 19th centuries, artists from across Europe journeyed south in search of something different – something wilder, more romantic, and deeply authentic. They found it here, in Andalucía’s jagged sierras, sunlit plains, olive groves and whitewashed villages.

Writers like Washington Irving found inspiration in the halls of the Alhambra. Artists like Gustave Doré and poets like Bécquer were moved by the haunting beauty of old towns, the flavour and intensity of flamenco, Garcia Lorca by the raw emotion of the Andalucian spirit. For me having spent the greater part of y life in the north of Europe it was the light that drew me in. Here, we can see so far, our boundaries are distant. On clear days in winter we can see Morocco’s Atlas Mountains from some of our properties in the Sierra Nevada. These artists weren’t just tourists – they were pilgrims of the imagination.

The spirit they discovered is alive and well today. Whether you’re standing on the terrace of a restored cortijo in the Alpujarras, wandering through cobbled alleys in the Albaicín of Granada, treading on acorns in the marvellous Sierra de Aracena or looking out across the vast plains of Seville, it’s impossible not to feel a quiet sense of wonder and a connection with nature.

When I came to live in Granada 24 years ago, it was always the interior of the country that fascinated me. The beginnings of [Another Way Of Life](https://www.anotherwayoflife.com), were based on modest rural dwellings, often in a state of decay or ruin. This was my apprenticeship, my chance to understand how life was lived, often on a subsistence basis, as recently as the fifty yers ago. Spain has become a very modern country in short time and we have been able to provide this former modest cortijos with a new purpose and now we also offer a rather different type of country house and estate, much grander, but often equally in need of a new role. In short another way of life. 

We offer a chance to live in the very landscapes that once stirred the Romantic soul. From off-grid fincas and Moorish-style townhouses to historic cortijos and country estates, each property tells a story and invites you to add to it.

The landscape that inspired artists, and we should not forget, musicians has changed little and the essential Andalucian spirit remains. There is an openness and friendliness to the people, lacking in many countries. If you seek a life in a modern country with excellent communications but where the pace of life is less hurried, Andalucia should be your destination. Ignore the coasts, where you could be in any Mediterranean country, and come to live inland, among nature.

Come to the land where culture and nature are inseparable, the land that inspired writers and painters, and still does. We are proud to have added, over the past 20 years, a number of well-known poets, painters, writers and musicians to the artistic population here in this most beautiful yet accessible part of the world. Perhaps even more important, many of our clients who weren’t artists when they arrived, have been inspired to pick up the pen, the brush, the instrument after they arrived.

Why not join them?