Time to walk the land.

Taking on a large area of farmed land comes with responsibilites and the first one, I felt, was probably identifying what plants we have. We know we have plenty of almond trees and that most of them have been farmed this year but will soon need pruning back. We do have some that still have almonds on them but they will not get collected now as it's too late - so, instead we can pick a few nuts as we walk around, give them a couple of days to dry out so that you can hear the nut rattle in the shell and then we can crack them open and eat them - saves buying nuts this Christmas.

So, I decided to take my camera with me and see what else we have.

We have lots of Mountain Oaks with lovely little nuts on, which the squirrel in Ice Age chases and which Lucy tells me she and her sister, when they were younger, used to look for the little hats left after the nut has come adrift as they were told these were little hats left by the fairies when they ran away - one way to get your garden cleared up.

Just past the Mountain Oaks is the Olive Grove - this has about 20 Olive trees in it, all of them with partly grown Olives,mostly green but some starting to turn black. I don't know whether you get different trees for green & black olives or whether it just depends on when you pick them.

On the edge of the Olive grove is a tree that has fruits that look like Sharon fruits but aren't, they are actually Persimmons. We have the astringent variety which are unpalatable if eaten before they have softened. I've never heard of a Persimmon fruit before - let alone an astringent and a non-astringent variety.

After the Persimmon tree we come across some Brambles. Now, I always thought Brambles were an English hedgerow plant and never expected to find them up the mountains in Southern Spain, but I have quite a few bushes and although I have missed the Brambles this year, there will be a good crop for picking next year.

From the opposite hill our house looks lovely.

On the way down to the bottom of the Rambla is a Fig Tree. At the moment the fruits are small but we'll be able to keep an eye on them as we walk the dogs each day and be ready to pick them when they are ready (better Google that so I'll know when that is).

In the bottom of the valley is an area I call Dingley Dell. It's a lovely area where nature has totally taken over. It is dense growth and probably home to many small animals - but we never hear any when we walk past - it's an area we shall leave alone to grow as it pleases.

Down in the bottom of the Rambla we have a large patch of, what looks like, Bamboo but I've been told by a neighbour that it's Sugar Cane. I've not been able to find out what the difference is other than one sweetens your tea and the other fattens up Panda's - maybe I'll find out one day.

Up the other side of the valley, below the house is a Nave (pronounced navi) in ruins. A nave is an agricultural building often used to house the animals. Ours is well past housing anything but long term plans are to turn it into a store shed for the tools for the land. Infront of this is a fine growth of prickly pear cacti, which look very young as there are no pears growing yet.

Just infront of the nave is a flat area that has some almond trees on it but this is where we shall plant our fruit trees, definitely apples and pears, we will try oranges and lemons but it is possible that the winter frosts may be too cold for them.

According to the internet the wildlife is also varied and includes Golden Eagles, Sparrow Hawks, Buzzards, Kestrels, Goshawks and Hobby, Civets, Wild Boar, Wildcats, Weasels and Foxes.