Winding up the coast of Sotogrande, Southern Spain, NH Almanera is a bewitching haze of pine, eucalyptus and giant palm trees; of sudden vertiginous plunges with tiny red flags that ruffle on pure green fields; of golden sands and pinkish sunsets that fall in the tides along the Straits of Gibraltar. You get closer, and you hear the laughter of those that play good golf, eat good food and know a thing or two about the benefits of deep breathing and dreaming very deeply.
You wake up to views of conifer-lined greens and pearly blue lakes, with mellow horses trailing around fragrant gardens on the fringes of the ocean. You leave your chalet-pad, the one with the king bed and the deep, deep bath, and there is a five-star breakfast waiting, and later there are hydrothermal bubble treatments and yoga sessions at the Elysium Spa. The group I arrive with split off after champagne in the hotel lobby; those professional-eyed types that came to refine their approach shots; those smiling sun-kissed lovers of the mud treatment and tropical rain shower; and those ambiguous, undecided few that catch a buggy ride through the almost perfect silence of Los Pinos, Las Lagos and The Cork Oaks – 27 hole’s of course designed by renowned golf architect Dave Thomas, full of par 3’s and 5’s that hang tight to every hazard in the book.
I marvel as someone swings a club – a really beautiful thing in the winter sun, a thing that obviously requires well crimped shoulder blades to give it the proper edge. To the Spa then…
But I was distracted, and on scoping out the club house and bar, I found that the golf tribe had stopped off to sharpen their blades. Here, everything strikes the eye with the nonchalant gait of the champion; its all dark leathers where you sink to drink the pre-golf martini and talk handicap’s, making out as if you know all about the ‘greens being in brilliant condition’ and the ‘course being just a three iron from the spa’; if not, you might admit that you came to trek horses through the romance of starlit wildernesses, or perhaps, you still don’t know, and you came ‘to just chill’, with a reserved demeanour as you reflect on a solid year, shimmering at the bottom of the glass.
I wanted to talk golf, I really did, but what do I know? And so my next stop was moments away at the Sotogrande Golf Academy, where I stood with other startled amateurs as some suave gent who we knew was a professional hit it 400 yards on his knees while telling us about hip and forearm placement; he soon had the sun-kissed spa-hards hacking the ball out of the turf and then I managed 250 yards, and thought it a good time to celebrate with what one euphoric chap said was ‘the most fun you can have with bubbling mud on your back’ – a beauty treatment that made me shiver as if my whole body was floating above itself in the scented Jacuzzi afterwards.
After a five-course lunch in the Club (Andalucian hams and cheeses and gourmet sensations that need no prior adjective to tempt the palate), I caught up with the ‘real’ golf, the victors standing off to the side, looking just a little too confident to convince me to take up my new swing just yet. Instead, I walked a little distance to find the horse whisperer, a Nordic-looking ex-Polo player called Ferdie with a gilded smile that makes these rare South-American breeds dance over high white gates, and canter Flamenco style to the sound of his clicking jaw as my white beauty stopped and chewed the wild flowers of twilight.
You could cycle to Gibraltar; Marbella is forty five minutes away, and from my horse, now cantering down the hill in search of her stable, through the mistiness, I could see the exotic souks of Tangier across the sea, and decided that the next day I would catch a boat and make it back in time to take on the professionals.
Telephone: +34 95 6582000
Email: almenara@sotogrande.com
Website: www.nh-hotels.com/nh/en/hotels/spain/sotogrande-cadiz/hotel-almenara.html
NH is currently offering a 5% discount on the best available rate. Please note that this is subject to availability.
Monarch offers year-round flights to Gibraltar from London Luton and Manchester airports with fares, including taxes, starting from GBP 38.99 one way (GBP 69.99 return). For more information or to book, visit www.monarch.co.uk.
