Home Overview far Approach Overview close 1 Overview close 2 Overview close 3 Driveway Flower Field 1 Flower Field 2 Flower Field 3 Sunning cork trees Signature cork tree Sea view NW Egrets View NW View N View E View ESE View SE View S View SW Animal Farm 1 Animal Farm 2 Animal Farm 3 Animal Farm 4 Spring 1 Spring 2 Eastern lane Jungle path Gnarled cork oak Pasture Pasture Flooded Waterhole Corgo in Fall Corgo in Flood New Pond 1 New Pond 2 New Pond 3 New Pond 4 Works 1 Works 2 Satellite Image Map Weather Star Visibility

In the spring of 2004 a dam was constructed to create a small reservoir in the North-Easterly corner of the property. Before the bulldozers could start their edifying work, a top layer of sand and mushy clay needed to be scraped away and put aside - later used to cover up debris and clothe the dam's flanks. Great care was taken to leave as much land as possible intact, and to create flowing shapes that blend in with those of the undulating fields. By next spring time, it is expected, all bare earth will be covered anew in flowering herbs. View of the finished dam towards the West. A true stroke of luck was finding a spring at the bottom of the new reservoir. Once the earth had been scraped away to a depth of 3 m (10 ft), clear sweet water started to well up. Evidently, this source is fed by the same vein that feeds the spring in the woods, which lies between the cork trees just to the left of the dam, at the top of the Easterly barranco. The newly found spring is not very strong, but with a further bit of luck it may yield just enough to make up for evaporation from the reservoir - which would be great, if only because shore plants (like the yellow irises that grow in the arrozal) love a steady water level. In one or two years we shall know.