The Posada del Valle Team 2010

Without our valued staff members, the hotel and farm would not have developed into what it is today, a family-run business that is special to all of us who work here and that continues to be enjoyed by our guests both new and returning.

Marie Carmen has been working at the hotel for 12 years now (and still manages to keep a smile.) She prepares the breakfast in the morning, receives guests and helps with the cleaning and general running of the hotel.
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Patricia (Marie Carmen’s daughter) helps with the cleaning and in reception and one night a week in the kitchen when the other kitchen staff have their night off. This is now her fifth season working with us.
Montse works mostly in the kitchen helping prevent all those dirty dishes pile up. She also helps at the weekend with the cleaning and has been with us three years now.

Andres; this is the first year Andres works with us in a new position in the kitchen. He helps prepare and serve the food in the evening as well as helping with breakfasts twice a week. Above he is preparing a typical Asturian breakfast of fried eggs and maize pancakes (served each Monday morning.)

Samantha our daughter has been helping on and off in the hotel for the last 4 years. The last two years she has been helping in the kitchen cooking and preparing food. She also takes over the bar once a week so Joe and I can have an earlier night off together.

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Sebastian our son shares our enthusiasm and commitment for developing the ideas and philosophy that shape the hotel and farm. He has helped in many different ways over the years and this year he has been particularly active with managing the web page and organising special events such as “The Earth’s Pilgrim’s Retreat.”

Hugh has worked with us as on the farm for three years now. Amongst other things he has repaired many of the stone walls on the farm, helped with the animals, orchards, pastures and vegetable garden. He has also identified and photographed over 350 species of flora on the farm and produced the book “Farm Flora Guide, a Celebration of Biodiversity.” He will be leaving us and returning to England next month.

Joe, amongst many different roles Joe is responsible for the wonderful food that comes out of the kitchen. This year she has a little more help in the kitchen so she can also have more time to spend with the guests.

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Nigel, as well as working in the hotel I enjoy working on the farm and walking. I’ve written the self guided walking notes and help produce a lot of the food we use in the kitchen. I normally also serve the evening meal.

Max; finally we shouldn’t forget Max the sheep dog who has been with us for ten years. He looks after the sheep protecting them from foxes. We always ask guest not to pet or fuss him so he doesn’t get distracted from his work plus there is always the danger he'll deposit saliva over anyone who does try to pet him!

Floods

Arriondas this morning

Arriondas experienced its worst floods in living memory today. We have had rain for almost a week now and last night the rain didn’t stop. We woke up early in the morning with a new “stream” by our house and expected problems.

Paths on the farm turning into streams

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The hotel is built on a rock side and twice in the last 15 years when there has been very heavy continual rain water has come out of natural cavities in the rock and entered the hotel. This happened this morning and we had water entering in the hotel for about 4 hours. Our guests were brilliant, understanding the problem and helping get the water out of the hotel.

Guests helping sweep water out of the bar lounge

Being on a hill we were lucky. Arriondas built on flat land where two rivers join was less fortunate. At about 10.00h this morning the rivers burst their banks and flooded the town. The army was called in to help evacuate many of the people and in particular the hospital where patients were evacuated in dinghies.

Flood dammage in Arriondas

Once the water had eased we went for a walk with the guests along the “green path” and looked down at Arriondas from Pendas and could appreciate the extent of the damage.

Be late afternoon the sun had come out and hopefully the end of the rain. The water was dropping in Arriondas and people were starting to try and clear up after the flood and evaluate the damage.

By the afternoon the sun was shining, but water was still coming out of the rocks in the lower part of the farm.

In the hotel the guests were enjoying a glass of wine in the sun on the terrace and hoping the weather forecast is right as it now predicts 10 days of sun.

Late afternoon and the guests were sunning themselves on the terrace with a glass of wine and looking forward to the good weather to come!

We would like to express our sympathy with all the people in Arriondas who have suffered from the flooding.

More photos and information on the flooding in Arriondas (in Spanish)