Can Saladrigas is undoubtedly the nicest of the new batch of rental properties I have seen for some time. A truly attractive house on a walled & very private property, with a gorgeous pool and BBQ area and terraced garden in an idyllic spot. At the risk of sounding crass, I guess the reason why this house was so nicely restored is the fact that the owners are loaded and while the wife has good taste, the husband is a local construction magnate and can afford to do things right. Just the perimeter wall going around the property would have cost a fortune, even more than the cost of restoring the old stone house. Here no expense has been saved to give this place lots of charm, from the huge ceiling beams to the different terracotta floor patterns to the sculpted stone and tilework, it is all very attractive if you like that sort of thing, and my wife and I certainly do!

Location: Can Saladrigas is 3.5 km south of Sils and the important restaurants situated there, with excellent midday menus for 12 Euros, all included. Sils is where I offer half a dozen other houses and is well documented in these pages, and I can send you about 10 pages worth of detailed travel info on this area, including 6 or 7 excellent restaurants, shops, spas, sport activities in the area, etc. For now, suffice to say that this houses is set 1.7 km off the main paved road, the dirt track leading to the house is in good shape, and it takes about 5 minutes to drive through the woods and fields past some other houses to Can Saladrigas. That ensures privacy. Sils, 5 minutes away heading north, has lots of shopping, farmer´s market on Fridays, a tennis club, and of course, the commuter train in to Barcelona (1 hour, 7 Euros) and Girona (15 minutes, 2 Euros). Heading south is Hostalric, also with shopping and restaurants.

The grounds: this property is set on a hillside so the owners have terraced the property into about 5 different levels, meaning you have plenty of nice walks on the different levels, each with its own character, without even having to leave the walled property. On the top level above the BBQ area and covered parking area (4 or 5 cars) you have a walk through an herb garden, below that is the main house level, which includes a large esplanade in front of the house and a play area for kids (dollhouse, sandpit, ping pong, minigolf, etc) behind the house. Below that the pool level, with 14 lounge chairs plus a teak table and chairs that can be moved to sun or shade, stone surface or grassy area under magnolias - as you prefer. Below the pool level are two more terraces on a stone walkway separated by plants and aromatic shrubs. The extensive birch and pine woods you can see around the property are also owned by your hosts, as far as the eye can see! You can't see any other houses, which is great!

The house: the big old medieval-looking studded and wooden planked doors open onto a small vestibule designed to keep cold out in winter and heat out in summer. This is where you can hang up your coat or take off your boots. Beyond that is the main entrance hall, with the staircase going upstairs to your left, a small salon to your right, and the hall leading in to the main part of the ground floor straight ahead. To your right is a cozy sitting room - see dark red-colored sofas - with a selection of games (chess, monopoly, etc) a flat screened TV with digital channels in VO and DVD player. On the walls and in the old trough there are some nice decorative items, reminders of the old farmhouse that we here since the mid 1700s, like an old butter churn, a mule´s harness, some cow bells, etc... and on the wall there's a payphone for incoming and outgoing calls for saving on the cost of cell phones. When you book I´ll send you the number. There is also ADSL & signal emitted from the router in this room.

Just beyond the entrance hall is the elegant main salon-dining room, with a large stone fireplace, another flat screen TV with digital box, and fronted by a 3 person sofa and two large lazy chairs. Behind that, the large dining room table is nicely halogen-lit, with chairs for 16 guests and an old-fashioned but safe wooden highchair for babies. Adjacent to the table is an elegant old commode with plenty of glasses, cups, cloth napkins and table covers... and holds the small stereo, with CD, radio, and USB port.

Around this central living/dining room there are four massive brick arches leading to rest of the downstairs: one archway coming in from the main arch coming in from the entrance, one leading to the kitchen, one to the WC for the salon with toilet and sink but no shower, and the last archway leading to the two downstairs bedrooms separated by the downstairs bathroom.

Let's start with the kitchen, which has a breakfast table seating around 12, a very large (almost USA sized!) Samsung refrigerator, and there is a clothes washer, a dishwasher, a three electric burner stovetop supplemented by a portable two electric burner unit for outdoor cooking, extractor, microwave, and a lot of little appliances, from toasters to juices to tea kettle, coffee makers, thermos, electric grill, etc... as well as a huge selection of dishes, casseroles, pot and pans, all very new and modern and practical, except perhaps the very pretty old fashioned block marble sink, which looks great, but is not as practical as the usual double sin - but the dishwasher makes up for it. A wide door leads directly from the kitchen to the outdoor BBQ area, a very wise and important passageway between the kitchen and the gorgeous outdoor dining areas. Outdoors there is even a WC near the kitchen so you don´t have to go indoors to go... another wise feature, especially for beer drinkers. So again, there are two downstairs WCs, one for the salon/dining room, and one for the outdoor bbq kitchen area.

The bedroom distribution, ground floor: the downstairs bedrooms and bathrooms are like this:

• bedroom 1) has two smallish double beds, 135x190cm
• bedroom 2) has two single beds, 90x200cm.
• Between the two bedrooms is a bathroom with nice beige tiles and a shower stall and a large bucket for bathing babies...

Upstairs there is a central living room around which the four upstairs en suite bedrooms.

• bedroom 3) has a double bed, 150x200cm, and bathroom with shower
• bedroom 4) has a double bed 150x200cm and a single bed 90x200cm and bathroom with shower
• bedroom 5) has two single beds, 90x200cm and bathroom with bathtub
• bedroom 6) has two small double beds, the old Spanish size 135x190cm, and a bathroom with shower stall.

All the upstairs bathrooms have elegant old-fashioned blue, white and grey tile work.

There are 2 cots and 2 high-chairs available for babies.

As you can see from the photos all but one room are good sized and the rustic decor is appealing. But where Can Saladrigas really excels is the very high-quality of the exteriors, a very large garden with a lovely fenced pool, two covered porch areas for drinks and meals, a mini golf course, a dollhouse, a dartboard area, a sandbox for tots full of toys, a baby foot or fusball or table soccer (depending on where you come from) and of course ping pong. I really don't think I've seen a garden better prepared to entertain guests. You might have to drive almost a kilometer off the main road to get here, but the dirt track is in perfect shape, passing farmlands and old houses and a campground along the way, and the distance from the main road affords privacy.

This is the sort of house, like all the houses we work with, where you just want to relax and enjoy every minute of your stay in the quiet & gorgeous private setting. Often guests come to the area with a list of things to do and places to see but once they realize how nice the houses really are, plans change as guests realize the best thing about the whole trip is the house itself, and of course a week or two goes by very quickly when you are in paradise! One last thing we like: the owner comes by every morning at 7am to quietly clean and treat the pool and take out guests' garbage. This is service upon quality, a winning combination anywhere!