Sacred Sierra: A Year on a Spanish Mountain

by Jason Webster

In a book, rich with characters and plants, this is a romantic and alluring leap into Spanish rural life with the author and his partner, a flamenco dancer, who buy a farm in a remote, steep valley and set about clearing land, planting and harvesting olives.

Genres: Travel, Spain, Nonfiction, Nature

368 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 2009

About the author

Jason Webster is a highly acclaimed Anglo-American author and authority on Spain whose work ranges from biography to travel, crime fiction and history. His books have sold in over a dozen countries, including the US, the UK and China, and have been nominated both for the Guardian First Book Award and the Crime Writers’ Association New Blood Dagger Award. He has been favourably compared with writers such as Bruce Chatwin (The Daily Mail), Gerald Brenan (El País) and Ernest Hemingway (Sunday Telegraph).

Webster was born near San Francisco and brought up in the UK, Germany and Italy. After finishing a degree in Arabic and Islamic History at the University of Oxford, he worked as an editor at the BBC World Service for several years before becoming a full-time writer and moving to Spain. He is married to the flamenco dancer Salud and they have two sons. They currently divide their time between Valencia and the UK.

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A love letter to a life on a Valencian mountain, dotted with folk tales and history from the area.

[Emma Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jason Webster has lived in Spain for many years, and made a life there. He lives with a Spanish flamenco dancer, speaks the language and eats the food - he's not just an ex-pat there for a sunnier version of his own life.

Having lived in Valencia itself, and tired of the heat and the noise, Jason and Salud decide the time is right to buy an old farm (a 'mas' in the local language) and see if they can live the good life in the mountains. But most of the mas have been abandoned as people left for the city in search of an easier life, and there are many perils of living on the mountains - not least the wild boar and the hunters who roam across even private property in order to keep them under control.

Sacred Sierra follows Jason and Salud through their first year on the mountain. We meet their neighbours, a colourful bunch of characters who live on the mountain. One is the fastest thing on crutches; another lives like a hermit further up the mountain and tells stories during the week - but on the weekend his wife comes to visit. All of these are beautifully and intriguingly rendered, and make for a good read.

But it was Jason's details about the plant life in and around the mas that really captured my imagination. There are olive and almond trees, all neglected, that he attempts to bring back into cultivation, rejoicing in even the tiniest harvest of their own nuts and olive oil. He plants a vegetable patch at the back of the house and embarks on an ambitious truffle tree project, both of which suffer from the attentions of the wild boar.

There's bee keeping adventures, mushroom foraging and ways to cook snails. And between each chapter there are renditions of Spanish stories - folk lore from the past.

Enthralling, fascinating and informative, this is one 'travalogue' which shows you a lovely slice of life from a corner of Spain which is normally kept hidden, away from the glare of the well-known 'Costas'.

[John Mack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a follow on (for me, and him) from his 'Duende' which was a love story with Flamenco. And as it turned out a particular Flamenco artist. In many ways this is another 'foreigner buys a piece of land and settles in awkwardly' story. But a couple of things raise this above the post card narratives. Firstly he is deeply involved in Spanish culture, and although 'his' story is the story, he makes plenty of room for other characters, history and culture. The second thing that makes this special is that the person he loves, who hovered in the backgound (as I recollect) in 'Duende' is much more visible - but very independently so - in this story. I couldn' help but take a peek at the end of the story, that part of his story that went on long after the book closed. They had two children together, and that seems like a nice ending. And beginning, because I don't think this is the last book he'll write, or the last book of his I'll read.

[Paul Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not give 5 stars very often, and I appreciate that in this case it may be because of my close connections with Spain, but I found this to be a fascinating account of an incomer's mountain life in south eastern Spain. Very readable and well written. I shall read some more of Jason's non fiction.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enthralling account of his experience of living in a Mas in the mountains near Valencia ! Gives a descriptive account of rural cultures in Spain !

[Blake Selph · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to me only because I had recently been in Spain and could understand and appreciate his descriptions of his life on the mountain.

[Xavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trancurre por el Penyagolossa

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Recommended. Very informative, but not dry. This book is about a man who moved to Spain and lived with his girlfriend, learning how to live off the land, meeting various interesting people along the way and with a bit of humour here and there. Many chapters begin with a folk tale or an extract from an ancient book on farming.

The font is a little small so had to get someone to read it to me as it is not available in audio format.

[Silvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tenía muchas ganas de leer este libro! M lo regalaron mis papas x mi cumple, pero me lo estuve guardando para leerlo cuando fuera al pueblo pq sentía que tenía más sentido (el escritor, Jason Webster, se mudó a una casita d una masía q está cerca, y d eso básicamente va el libro). Cuando lo empecé a leer me quedé un poco decepcionada, porque yo pensaba que el libro este era tipo novela, y resultó ser que era más bien un diario sobre su experiencia viviendo en el mas. Al principio me pareció muy tonto, y no pude evitar hacerme una idea del señor como el típico guiri q viene aki a beber sangría, pero luego me di cuenta de que no, que el señor de verdad sabía, y me gustó mucho. Se me queda la duda de saber si Arcadio, un personaje que aparece bastante, está basado o no en uno de los vecinos de mi mas. Algunos detalles cuadran y otros no. Sé que él y su hijo ayudaron bastante a este señor.
Me hizo ilusión cuando habla del refugio de maquis q hay cerca del Mas de les Roques Llises, porque fui una vez a buscarlo con mi padre pero no lo encontramos, y pensamos que tal vez nos habiamos confundido, pero ahora sé que sí existe, así que volveré a buscarlo.
Un detalle que me extrañó es que él dice que su casa está en el Mas del Barranc. No es ese el nombre con el que yo conocía ese mas. No sé si lo habra cambiado pa q no lo sepa la gente o es q tb se llama así y yo no lo sabía. Ahora la gente del pueblo lo conoce también como el Mas de l'Anglés, y todo el mundo sabe q vivió allí un escritor q escribió un libro sobre la montaña.
Enfin, concluisión, muy xulo, aunque sobretodo pq me gustan mucho las masias, en especial las d mi pueblo, entonces m hace ilusión cualquier cosa relacionada con ellas. He ido a veces al mas del señor, pero nunca le he visto, ya no viven allí. La casita q se hizo está muy cuca tb. AY! Lo q me pareció muy feo fue q en una parte del libro el señor dice q ojalá pudiera derrumbar las casas medio caidas q hay en el mas pq le parecen muy feas pero q no puede pq claro, los dueños se enfadarían con él. bro......eso me pareció feísimo. Cómo vas a derrumbar una masía por muy caída q esté? Con lo xulas q son lo q hay q hacer es cuidarlas pa q no desaparezcan! Además esq solo el verlas no t hace pensar en quien la debió construir y quién viviría allí y todo lo q supuso?

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was plenty of interesting pieces of this book, but there wasn't much to hold it together. The book is exhaustingly self-righteous and overwrought: a steak isn't just juicy, it oozes with thick red blood and bashes the tingling nerves of the brain and causes a minor orgasm and makes the consumer consider death more fully blah blah blah. And while our darling American-British-world citizen author/narrator has come to save the land, somehow Webster displaces his colonist narrative onto the greedy evil American-British tourists who will soon come to ruin the land. Hmm. That ridiculous conceit made me roll my eyes many times. Having seen firsthand the horror of overdevelopment on the Spanish coastline, I understand Webster's disgust, but he is totally uncritical of his own participation in the development narrative. Blah.

Still. With all of Webster's conceit (both literary and personal) there's just enough of a hint of charm to keep me reading until the end.

[Alan Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Jason Webster's story of his first year in the mountainside "mas" which he and his wife Salud move to, and begin to renovate both the cottage and the land.

As he works with the elements he narrates a wonderful story of the characters he meets and the friendships made, as well as his expansion of almond, olive and truffle farming.

Each chapter, told in monthly parts, is started with a traditional folk tale from the area, which adds something extra to what is already a great and well written story.

This book was one that was recommended to me by Amazon on the basis of previous purchases and for once was spot on as something I really enjoyed and was sorry to finish. I'll be checking out his other books, as he is also a crime fiction writer, although I'd certainly read more tales from his mountainside too, where he ever to write more.

[Ian Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read 'Sacred Sierra' because I enjoyed - sort of - 'Duende', but more especially because I'm interested in 'sacred places'. Mr Webster captures the 'sacredness of the earth' of Penyagolosa wonderfully, using the mythology and history of the area and his own associations with Pendle Hill. I did worry, though, about the authenticity of the characters, something which must be the concern of all travel writers. Personally, I wouldn't give the time of day to Paul Theroux for fear of being used to his own purposes. Mr Webster seems far too sensitive and kind to risk hurting people with his descriptions. Therefore, I can't help wondering if his characters are totally real. Maybe his switch to fiction is a wise move. I look forward to finding out.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes, reading Jason Webster’s story about life at his new rural mountain home near Valencia, it felt like reading our own experience getting to know our home in rural Andalucía. Reclaiming scrub land, planting trees, contending with the elements [for us that has meant -14° to +40°C], farming olives, confronting local wildlife, we have faced many of the same challenges. But we have never made our own hooch, faced a wildfire, or written stories in ink made from oak galls. Webster’s account of life on a hillside of the Castellón mountains brings Spain to life, he portrays his neighbours with fondness and respect, and through it all winds the tales of this mystical region combined with gardening advice from a 12th century moor. A unique ‘living abroad’ tale.

[Rakhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up for several reasons; I'd read and enjoyed Jason Webster's books previously but I was also intrigued in exploring the interplay of history, city and country. What drew me in was Webster's description of how Spain has changed. I remember Spain from the nineties and was intrigued to read about how it's changed. There was little about that but the book delivered lots in terms of exploring the enduring natural rhythms.

[Rosanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, about an almost virgin place in Mediterranean Spain, theatened by developers' greed. You'll read about healing plants, geological landscapes, and learned people who choose the aloneness of high mountains.

[Guadalupe Cordero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful descriptions of life in a mountain intertwined with local folklore and a brief compendium of the trees that grow locally. This was a very enjoyable book.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am enjoying this book.