If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR170.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
La Dehesa de Don Pedro is a family-run boutique hotel set in a converted 19th-century farmhouse in the grasslands of southwestern Spain. What was once partly a barn and stable quarters for livestock is now transformed into a suite of delicately renovated bedrooms and lounges for discerning humans (although you’ll still spy horses grazing outside). Inside the amply proportioned building you’ll find antique furnishings, neat parquet and tile, and a palm-planted courtyard giving access to peaceful guest quarters. Highlights include the saltwater infinity pool glistening in the Spanish sun, and the restaurant, offering ample grazing of a more sophisticated kind: authentic Mediterranean cooking made with hyper-local produce.
La Dehesa de Don Pedro has 16 rooms, including five suites.
Check–Out
Noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
Prices
Double rooms from £160.14 (€187), including tax at 10 per cent.
More details
Rates include a buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurant.
Also
All of the communal spaces, plus one of the ground-floor guest rooms, are wheelchair-accessible.
At the hotel
Small gym area and free WiFi. In rooms: underfloor heating, air-conditioning, hairdryer, bathrobes, and Damana bath products.
Our favourite rooms
The guest rooms at La Dehesa de Don Pedro have been brought to life by well-known Spanish design company Las 2 Mercedes. Each room has its slight decorative differences, but you can expect clean white walls with peeps of exposed original brick, an artfully placed antique dresser or desk, and pristine parquet concealing toasty under-floor heating for cooler months. We loved the Junior Suite Familiar, with its two ample king rooms, each with its own ensuite shower room. But our favourite was the Suite Deluxe, with main bedroom views of rolling countryside on two sides, plus a cosy separate single bedroom.
Poolside
The open-air infinity pool is open from 10am to 7pm and offers glorious views over the countryside.
Spa
Guests can use the bijou spa with sauna and Jacuzzi for free.
Packing tips
Hiking gear and sunhat for exploring the Extremadura countryside.
Also
Staff can organise treatments in the peace and privacy of your room. Simply ask in advance.
Children
Mini Smiths are welcome to stay at La Dehesa de Don Pedro and extra beds can be added to suit. Note that there’s no crèche, babysitting service or specific children’s activities available onsite.
Sustainability efforts
The hotel has its own well-water supply and a water-treatment plant onsite, and renewable electricity is generated on the grounds to independently power the hotel. The underfloor heating throughout the site is generated using an aerothermal heat pump, and double-glazing and aluminium window frames help retain heat and insulate the building. There’s a recycling programme and an external partner collects waste for proper processing. The hotel supports surrounding communities too, by employing local people and creating more professional opportunities for women in the region.
Without doubt, an open-air terrace table, making the most of that arresting rural landscape.
Dress Code
Your best agri-chic – casual, comfy ensembles that look the part on the sunny terrace, as well as on a meadow stroll.
Hotel restaurant
Las Mesas serves a buffet breakfast (from 8am to 11am), plus lunch and dinner. There’s a large log-burner on one side, a high, vaulted, wooden ceiling and exposed stone walls. In good weather, enjoy your traditional Mediterranean meal, including handed-down family recipes, outside on the generously sized terrace. The leg of lamb keeps diners coming back for more, and there’s also the unmissable Iberian pork, a local speciality. Seasonal veg, fruit and salad comes courtesy of the immediate region.
Hotel bar
You can relax with a local wine in several restful locations here: try the convivial main living room, its narrower, more intimate sibling, the stone-bound courtyard or the poolside terrace.
Last orders
Breakfast is from 8.30am to 10.30am, lunch from 1.30pm to 4pm and dinner from 8.30pm to 11pm.
Carretera BA-067 km: 33,5 (Ctra. de Pallares a Santa María)
Monesterio
06260
Spain
La Dehesa de Don Pedro hotel occupies a 550-hectare rural plot near the town of Monesterio in southwestern Spain.
Planes
Seville Airport is around 90 minutes away by car. You can either rent your own wheels or arrange a hotel transfer in advance.
Trains
Sevilla Santa Justa train station is around a 90-minute drive from the hotel. Transfers from the station are available on request.
Automobiles
It can be useful to have your own car at your disposal when visiting the area, and you can park up in the spacious private carpark outside the main entrance. If you’re driving from Madrid, Mérida or Seville, take the Ruta de la Plata (A66) and take exit 722 for Monesterio towards Pallares. Continue along the EX103 to Pallares, then take the BA-067 road towards Hoya de Santa María de Navas. You’ll find the hotel at the 33.5 kilometre marker on the right-hand side. Another route from Seville is to take exit 747 from the Ruta de la Plata towards El Real de la Jara, but note that this road is narrow and winding, and not as comfortable a drive.
Worth getting out of bed for
La Dehesa de Don Pedro is well placed for countryside pursuits. Once you’ve hauled yourself out of the hotel pool, you can explore a landscape ripe for running, hiking, horse-riding and cycling. You could even book onto a buggy ride, a star-gazing experience or a trip by hot-air balloon. It’s a 30-minute road trip into gastronomic hub Monesterio, where you can sample its world-famous Iberican ham, cheeses and olive oils, or visit a local winery. In an hour and a quarter you can drive into Seville to visit the Alcázar Real, the city’s formidable Moorish palace, or shop for artisan ceramic or ironwork souvenirs.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this tastefully revamped farmhouse hotel in Extremadura and unpacked their Sevillian ceramics and fig bonbons, a full account of their upscale farmstay break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside La Dehesa de Don Pedro in Monesterio…
Stocky, renovated farmstead La Dehesa de Don Pedro occupies a generous, grass-carpeted plot spotted with low shrubs and mature oaks. You’ll notice the quiet first, then the young vines, which have started their climb across the white façade. Inside, the renovation celebrates the heritage of the building, but brings it up to date with its heat-pump-powered underfloor heating and savvy insulation techniques. Guest rooms, accessed via a large internal patio, strike an authentic rural note, with natural materials on show, traditional antiques in place, and bright bedspreads and headboards bringing some colour to each bling-free space. Understated white drapes flank the windows, making a star of the neatly framed meadowlands outside. A short walk from the main building takes you to the more chi-chi pool area, with its expansive terrace, saltwater infinity pool, and views over the dark green contours of the neighbouring hills.
