Hacienda de San Rafael

Character and identity

A whitewashed Andalusian farmhouse between Seville and Jerez, Hacienda de San Rafael sits in open country planted with wheat, cotton, sunflowers and olive trees. The mood inside is colonial-light: cool, thick-walled rooms layered with European antiques, Balinese sofas, painted ceramics and equestrian curios. Eleven rooms in the main house are joined by three adobe-and-thatch casitas dotted through extensive gardens with three pools, a tennis court and sandy paths fringed with lavender and rosemary. Cooking is faithfully Spanish and garden-led, sherry comes from Jerez, and the register throughout is closer to staying with a well-connected friend than checking into a hotel.

Who's it for

Bottom line

The defining feature here is atmosphere: a private, slightly bohemian country house run by hosts who actually know everyone worth knowing in Andalusía. Spend up for one of the three casitas, ideally the larger one with its own pool access and terrace, and travel May to September when the water is swimmable and the gardens are at full tilt.