Casa Rural El Recuerdo/Birding Extremadura

I loved every minute of the five days and four nights I spent here. The room was comfortable and convenient, the water pressure in the shower was amazing, breakfasts and dinners were delicious, and Martin and Claudia are sweet and kind. Martin is the top birder in Extremadura, and a fabulous guide. Wish I could have stayed longer.

The first time staying at the Rural and it was chosen as it was out in nature and that is exactly what it is. The walks around the area are fabulous, and the night skies and stars are incredible. ||What we had not expected was the food at the Rural to be so delicious! Home-cooked meals that were sublime, Fresh produce, and made with genuine love. ||Martin and Claudia are delightful hosts, very knowledgeable about the area, the history, and nature (especially birds), and made us feel incredibly welcome. ||Without a doubt, I would recommend a visit here if you want tranquility, peace, comfort and a relaxing time. We have already booked to return next year. ||||Thank you Claudia, Martin (and Bottas) for an incredible stay :) :)

We spent 3 nights at this lovely rural house and had a wonderful time discovering the surrounding area. Unfortunately we didn't meet Martin as he was away but Claudia gave us a very warm welcome and we thoroughly enjoyed staying in their comfortable house, which is full of character. Claudia furnished us with excellent home-cooked food and wine. We loved exploring the beautiful old towns of Trujillo and Caceres and the quiet countryside of Extremadura and saw lots of birds and wildlife. We particularly enjoyed walking along the beautiful quiet lanes immediately adjacent to the Casa which were also teeming with birds. I am sure we will return as we loved Extremadura and this beautiful Casa is a perfect base, particularly for birders.

Huge clean rooms. Nice breakfast with very good coffee. Very nice homecooked dinner with local products. VERY good wine included. Beautiful quiet rural setting with lots of wildlife right outside the house. Perfect for birdwatchers and nature lovers. With Martin Kelseys advice we were able to find 2 Black-shouldered kites, Imperial eagle and Black Wheatear.

We stayed for 10 days at Casa Rural El Recuerdo looked after by Martin & Claudia and it was excellent! We are all birders/ photographers and love being in the countryside. We sat outside our room each night and listened to the nightingale sing, surrounded by the Extremadura countryside complete with sheep and chickens! The rooms were beautifully decorated with prints of birds, very comfortable beds and kept very clean by Yolanda. Breakfast was excellent, a very wide choice of cereals, meats, cheese, fruit, yoghurt and the best homemade bread. So much of the food uses produce from the garden and eggs from the chickens, brought to the table with a little magic from Claudia! The evening meals are home made by Claudia, delicious and served with local wine. The lanes around the Casa provide good walking, with many birds to see, plus we saw a hare!!|New to the team is Bottas the cat, who was so affectionate and made my holiday, providing the cuddles I was missing from my own cats!|Martin is an expert birder and is on hand to provide local information as well as bird trips, (if you book him early enough!) We would definitely stay here next time and would recommend it highly.

I have been coming to this Casa Rural on and off for eleven years and still enjoy staying here. The accommodation is simple, no widescreen tv’s, and everyone eats the same meal (you state dietary dislikes before coming), but there is clear thought about environmental impact, and Martin and Claudia are excellent helpful hosts. ||||The wildlife in the wider area is second to none, and in the 28 years I have been visiting the area facilities for bird-watching have improved greatly. Hopefully political priorities will maintain the environments that favour the wildlife. Solar farms have sprung up but do not as yet have a major impact over much of the land. Highly recommended.

Martin and Claudia offer a very warm welcome to their converted Finca (winery) where they offer bed, breakfast and and optional evening meal in comfortable surroundings. Claudia produces excellent local menus whilst Martins knowledge of the local area and the birds that may be seen there is second to none. If you want Martin to guide you, then you must book his time when you book your stay. There is a pool to cool off in and a nightingale singing in the tree outside your room!

Had three wonderful days at this accommodation, and any words I express here about Martin and Claudia will never do any justice to the hospitality, love and affection we received during our stay. ||The house itself is in a rural setting and the directions from the main road are quite adequate. Martin came out when he heard our car pull in and showed us to our room, which was very well made and we fell in love with the place immediately. Our room had an A/C, and coffee/tea making facilities and comfortable beds.||Our main concern with our trip to Extremadura was the food. We are vegetarians and Extremadura, I was told by my Spanish friends, is a meat eaters heaven, but Martin and Claudia made sure that we didn’t starve for food on all the three days of the stay. Moreover, the dinners were so delicious that we didn’t think of any other restaurant all through our stay. And I would not be exaggerating if I say that we’ll not get such a good vegetarian food anywhere in Spain. The breakfast was simple, but had sufficient choice.||And coming to birding, we had a lovely time and Martin is an excellent guide. Our 9-year old was shooting barrage of questions and Martin was patiently answering him throughout the day. Martin made sure that we covered all the habitats and spotted most of the birds on our list, rather a lot more. I am sure Martin was relieved after two intense days of birding with us. But the smile on his face never faded. My wife, who is not a keen bird-watcher, was the first to get her binoculars out whenever Martin made a pit-stop. ||We’ll be back in Extremadura, and we are quite sure where we’ll be staying on our next holiday.