PEOPLE
Nicholas Tresilian, an art historian and Classic fm broadcaster, and his photographer wife the late Fay Tresilian built Casa Uno - Plaza Andalucía 1 - in 2006/7 on the site of a smaller farm-house some 200 years old but by then in a dilapidated state. They retained the original outside appearance but transformed the inside of the house and the farmyard beyond into a modern version of a Roman villa with a swimming-pool in the central atrium instead of a rainwater cistern and with roses and bougainvilla seen through the colonnade as in ancient Pompeii. Casa Uno contains part of Nicholas’ collection of books, amongst them many of the Spanish travel classics. Fay’s photographs of local Spanish life are in many of the rooms.
Nicholas lives much of the year in Las Pinedas where he has a second home some 250 metres down the street from Casa Uno. He is always available by email nicholas@andaluciauno.com and by telephone (+44 7970 702 706).
Your alternative first point of contact on arriving in Las Pinedas is likely to be with our lovely friend Maribel Carmona (see Gastronomy page for photo) - our trusty keyholder and caretaker for No 1. She and her husband Lolo live in the house immediately at the back of No 1. Lolo looks after the pool and the plants. Maribel – trained in house-keeping skills at a 4-star hotel - looks after the house and its guests. She is learning English at the local Academy, and understands it considerably better than she speaks it. Accompanied on the guitar by Lolo, she also sings a stirring flamenco.
Lolo and Maribel are also members of a well-known local flamenco group Makis de la Duende (literally: ‘The Maquis – underground resistance group – of poetic melancholy), which recently recorded its first CD - (autographed copies are available).
NEW FOR 2012: Lolo and Maribel have a second musical string to their bow as a professional Flamenco Duo with a special intimacy all their own. When their busy lives allow they will be very happy to perform a set of songs after supper for our guests at CASA UNO.
Maribel will also, should you wish, cook you delicious meals based on the traditional Spanish dishes: salmorejo, gaspacho, paella , rabo de toro etc. see our 'Maribel's Kitchen' pages for an extensive range of Hispanic dishes and some typically glowing testimonials from our guests.
Maribel’s daughter Isabel (known to the world as Issy) is now of a legal age to baby-sit and will be happy to sit in for parents who want to leave their children - in safe hands while they go out for a grown-up dinner. In Spain restaurants seldom open in the evening before 9 pm - a late-dining regime which some children find it easier to get used to than others…
Maria-Angeles is a university trained physiologist who works the long Spanish mornings in a local old peoples’ home and lives with her parents here in Las Pinedas, where she also holds her own private practice in the afternoons in a well-equipped therapy room. A number of visitors to Casa Uno can testify to Marie-Angeles’ angel-of-mercy skills when it comes to unknotting tangled muscles and getting stiff joints moving again. She is also currently studying to become a chiropractor.
José-Manuel is owner of the Bar Gran Parada, the social heart of the village, noisy with Andalusian chatter and exuberant games of dominoes, with its big TV screen for soccer in the winter and bull-fighting on summer evenings, its terrace shaded against the fierce high-season sunlight.
Jose-Manuel’s, wife Paqui runs the village self-service store next-door to the bar, closing the shop and moving over to the bar’s kitchen at 2pm and 9pm every day, where she maintains a magnificent Andalusian cuisine, specialising in fresh fish, and well-hung meat and game.
Pepi is our bread-lady. Each morning at 9 am or soon after she drives her small white van into the Plaza Andalucia and honks the horn to announce her arrival. Fresh baguettes come from the bakery at nearby Arrecife – best in wholemeal, pan integral – along with an ever-changing kaleidoscope of sweet cakes dangerous to the diet.
