La Torre del Visco

La Torre del Visco grew out of a fortified farmhouse in the Matarraña district of Teruel, whose tower is dated 1449. For centuries it was an isolated farm in the Tastavins valley, until neglect left it half in ruins. In the early 1990s, Jemma Markham and her husband Piers Dutton, who lived in Madrid and worked in publishing, spent two years searching for a farm with the potential to become a hotel in a remote valley in Aragon. They found it here, in a district then unknown to tourism, and restored it to open as a country hotel, a pioneering project in the area. Piers died in 2013 and Jemma has continued to run the house, which is a member of Relais & Châteaux. The commitment to home-grown produce took shape in 2022, when the restaurant received the first Michelin green star in Aragon for its commitment to sustainable gastronomy; in 2024 came its first Repsol Sun, collected by chef Rubén Catalán, a native of Maella. The Michelin Guide also awards it a Key as a place to stay.

The house keeps the logic of a fortified farmhouse of Lower Aragon: thick stone walls, the 15th-century defensive tower as the centrepiece and a wine cellar from the same period that now holds the wine collection. The restoration chose to respect the exposed stone and brick rather than impose a style, and the interiors have been assembled over time with antiques, original artwork and fabrics in muted tones. Every room is different; many have a bathtub and the suites add a sitting room with a fireplace or wood-burning stove. The rooms look out onto the rose gardens, the patios and meadows or, in some cases, the valley and the mountains. Outside, the architecture merges with the farm: vegetable gardens, fruit trees, herbs and olive groves are as much a part of the hotel's landscape as the tower itself.

La Torre del Visco lies within the municipality of Fuentespalda, in the Matarraña district, the eastern tip of Teruel that borders Catalonia and Castellón. The estate occupies a valley embraced by the Tastavins river, with the Puertos de Beceite as a backdrop, a limestone massif of gorges and pine forests offering some of the best hiking in Aragon. A few kilometres away is Valderrobres, with its Gothic castle-palace and medieval bridge over the Matarraña river, and villages such as La Fresneda and Beceite preserve beautifully kept stone old quarters. The Val de Zafán Greenway, laid out along a former railway line, lets you cycle through tunnels and over viaducts. This is a land of olive groves and oil, mountain vineyards and dark skies, ideal for stargazing. The overriding feeling is one of isolation: there is no other hotel for several kilometres.