The olive oil estate

Half an hour from the centre lies one of the oldest olive estates in Andalucía. Most visitors never see what happens to the olives between the tree and the bottle.

Spain produces more olive oil than any other country in the world, and almost all of it comes from Andalucía. Drive out of Seville and the landscape turns into rows of olive trees as far as you can see.

The estate has both halves of that story. The 17th-century mill still stands, with its stone wheels and the 18th-century beam press that took several men to turn, and beside it the modern press where the oil is made today. You follow the process from olive to bottle and learn what decides the difference between a good oil and a poor one.

Then the estate's real curiosity: an olive museum with over a hundred olive trees from fourteen countries, planted side by side and labelled by name. The varieties differ as much as wine grapes do, which is why the oil tastes so different from one place to the next. The peacocks wandering loose between the trees have nothing to do with olive oil, but they belong there all the same.

There is also a private carriage museum — carriages, traps and harnesses lined up in a long whitewashed hall — and the Andalusian patios around the main house, bougainvillea over the whole wall, worth the trip on their own.

The visit ends with a tasting of four extra virgin oils, served in blue glasses that hide the colour so you judge on aroma and taste alone. You learn what bitterness and pungency mean, and which oil belongs with what in the kitchen. Most guests discover they have never really tasted olive oil before.

Three versions to choose from: the tasting on its own, an Andalusian breakfast in the patio first, or a laid table among the olive trees at the end. A bottle of oil comes home with you in all three, and we arrange private transport from Seville if you would rather not drive.