This is our third visit to Olmares over the last 14 years. Previously we have stayed in the one and two bedroom apartments but this time as travelling with friends we decided to spoil ourselves with booking the manor house. It is very easy to find and located at the top of a winding road but be aware there is only limited parking at the site . The Manor House is a beautiful old building spread over three floors, it can accommodate 8+ people so we had a lot of room. It has been beautiful renovated and traditionally furnished. All of the windows have lovely shutters which when open allowed light to stream into the house and revealed beautiful views to the hills beyond. The kitchen is a little basic and you do have to go through all cupboards and drawers to find all the equipment you need. There is a lovely garden that is bathed in sunlight and a courtyard with a BBQ which catches the early evening sunlight. Eva the caretaker is lovely and friendly and was easily contactable for any questions you may have and we had a lovely chat with the owners son visiting from Hong Kong . Its a short drive to the lovely ramshackled village of Coloca with stunning views of vultures on the rockface. Just 15 minutes away is the village of Potes which has a wide choice of shops , walks and places to eat. It makes the perfect base for touring both around the Northern Picos and the North coast. If we had any niggles it would be that the information book sould be put in a more accessible area ( we only found it on our last night ) and be in English and maybe include instructions for the equipment. The beds were a little hard for our liking and some noise from local dogs caused some issues with sleeping on some nights but didn't spoil our enjoyment of staying in this stunning accommodation.
Read more
Read less
Date of stay: May 2022
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
I'm a big fan of old character places and love the mountains; this place however was something of a disappointment. While full of character and with amazing views, little appears to have been altered in the owner's 25 years of ownership. The bathrooms and kitchen are very dated, and the bedrooms and lounge sparsely furnished. Although supposedly sleeping 14, some of the bedrooms are hardly viable and one of the bathrooms is simply not fit for purpose. With some serious investment the place could be wonderful, as it stands it feels very tired.
Read more
Read less
Date of stay: August 2015Trip type: Travelled with family
Rooms
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Responded 17 Sept 2015
Thank you for your comments and suggestions.
We have always felt a duty to ‘alter’ as little as possible over the years so as to respect 300 years of history. In fact the house’s simplicity is its traditional beauty and our local friends often remark how it’s rare to find similarly preserved examples in the Valley. This un-spoilt charm is something we are proud to retain and, we are told, is part of the reason many of our guests and friends come back year after year. Maintaining and preserving the building and its patina of age is very time consuming and costly. Nonetheless we work hard to retain our competitive pricing.
We always want our guests to have a great time and the old house may not be for everyone. If you are unhappy during your stay we are always around and will do our utmost to help. For example if you prefer accommodation with a more contemporary feel and mod-cons we could have explored the possibility of transferring your group to our apartments next door.
To address some of your other points:-
1)The bathroom which you photographed is one that we treasure in its original form. What isn’t clear from your picture is the high cistern tank with its steel pull-chain. We have scheduled the bathroom itself for renovation this winter but intend to retain its original features as we rather treasure it as the only bathroom in the house when we bought it 25 years ago.
2) We never want to miss-sell so we are careful not to market the manor house for any more than “sleeping” 14. (We have had groups of 14 that reported having had a great time. For which please refer to other posts). Our website states “This large, spacious, self-catering, rental sleeps 6-8 people very comfortably - we prefer small groups - although it can sleep up to 14 people”. We also always ensure that we personally contact larger parties prior to taking any booking to make sure they are clear of the situation before confirmation.
3) The “bedroom” which you have photographed is in fact referred to as a “utility room with bed” on our website. This is an extra room which would only need to be used by groups of 14 and again they are always advised of this prior to booking. In fact it is actually a traditional sleeping alcove!
4) One of our great pleasures is to close the Olmares house over Christmas so that we can cook and have our Christmas dinner with our extended family, with everything cooked in the open plan kitchen there! While we have never felt anything amiss from the kitchen’s utility (nor received reports of anything being so) we take on board your comments, for which we thank you, and intend to refresh and replace some of the utensils for next year.
Read more
Report response as inappropriate
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
This is a beautiful old and unspoilt, characterful manor house, away from main roads in a little village, with lots of space for our large group of 12 (family plus our daughters' 20-something year old friends). We walked daily in the most beautiful countryside with flowers everywhere (and hardly saw another walker) using the excellent Sunflower 'Walking the Picos de Europa' little guidebook and another '10 circular walks in Picos de Europa' - these proved essential, saved a lot of planning, took you to amazing places and we found the local maps give you little idea of how long something might take and there are so many tracks that aren't evident on the maps that we definitely would have got lost! We shopped in nearby Potes (15 minutes) and cooked every night in the kitchen or lovely barbecue area outside.
Plenty of bedrooms (comfy mattresses), bathrooms, space to escape, cool in the house even when hot outside, a top (3rd) storey where the youth could play cards or watch Poirot on videos and drink wine late into the night whilst those who needed sleep could get it downstairs! WiFi if you're desperate to keep in touch with the outside world and you know where to stand! The youth enjoyed canoeing down from Pannes to Unquerra one morning. Definitely worth stopping off at the very good La Lupa supermarket in Potes on the way to Olmares to stock up on fresh fish, bread, fruit and picnic items. Richard was a very welcoming host with helpful advice.
Read more
Read less
Date of stay: July 2014Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:The four rooms with balconies overlooking the valley definitely have the best views.
Location
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
I was very impressed with my nice-sized apartment for a three-night stay. I arrived very late and had good communication with the owner about how to get access after dark. The room was wonderful, with a superb view. I see that there has been some criticism about the lack of late afternoon sun, but as I was out all day exploring the area I have no complaint there. If that is what you want, perhaps consider checking to see if that is available before you book? I don't think the large hill to the south of the property (blocking the late sun) was put there by the property owners.
I very much appreciated the surprise goodies in the kitchen as it provided me breakfast for my first morning when I headed out well before the shops would have been open. Overall, I do not believe I could have chosen a better place to stay away from the main valley (around Potes).
Read more
Read less
Date of stay: July 2017Trip type: Travelled solo
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Responded 27 Mar 2018
Thank you so much. We have now created a little garden where you can catch the last of the afternoon sun and watch our hens!
Read more
Report response as inappropriate
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Olmares provides a wonderful base for exploring the Picos de Europa. We followed walks from the Sunflowers book "Walking the Picos de Europa" and enjoyed some amazingly quiet walks. If you find walking in the UK too busy, then the Picos will be just the job. We did a few all day walks and didn't see another person, even in the little mountain hamlets you pass through.
Our apartment was very clean and the kitchen had the essentials for cooking up tea. WiFi means you can keep tabs on the weather or goings on back home.
Potes is 10 minutes down the road, giving access to more popular walks and attractions like the Fuente De cable car. The (newer) Lupa supermarket is pretty good for a small town and seemed to be the only shop in Potes which stocked fresh milk.
After a hard day walking the balcony for our (upstairs) room was the perfect place to relax with a glass of wine and a book. About the only excitement was trying to identify birds of prey out hunting for their tea. We had a grandstand view of a thunderstorm developing in the valley - a lovelly smug feeling to be home and watch Mother Nature put on a light show. Bar the occasional car driving the up valley, the only noises are birds and the odd clanking of a cow-bell.
If you want a rest day, then Llanes is about an hour away. The Paseo de San Pedro is a lovely easy stroll along the coast and the benches are perfect for wasting away a few hours in the sunshine.
Finally, we'd agree with other reviewers that a car is essential for the area.
Read more
Read less
Date of stay: June 2014Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Rooms
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
