Finca de Osorio

The barns come first. Cows and their calves stand in the stalls, sheep and chickens move about the yard, and farm machinery waits between the buildings. Finca de Osorio is still a working farm, and its grand main house stands in the middle of it.

Beyond the yard the estate turns to woodland. Bay laurel grows thickly here, alongside oaks that are very old, and the walks run on through farmland, forest and ravines. The air under the trees is cool and damp, and the noise of the coast is gone. This is the green side of Gran Canaria, the one most people who stay in the south never see.

• Bring water: there is no drinking-water point at the estate or nearby.
• Activities are few. The visit is the animals, the main house and the walks.
• This is a working farm: bulls stand tethered by the nose on short ropes in the barns.
• Dogs are allowed on the grounds.
• The car park and the entrance are wheelchair accessible.

Finca de Osorio sits just outside Teror. Finca de Osorio Parking, a paved car park, lies about 230 m from the estate, with a second asphalt car park at about 220 m; the farm buildings are reached on foot from there. On the grounds a map board lays out the walks, and a guidepost marks routes R-1, R-3 and R-4. Without a car, the Finca de Osorio bus stop is about 650 m away, and the rest of the way is a walk.

Best: a dry, clear morning, when the light carries across the farmland and ravines. Avoid: days of steady rain, when the woodland paths turn muddy and there is little else to do. The north of Gran Canaria catches the trade-wind cloud, so the woods are often grey and damp, and a clear spell is what opens up the views across the estate.