Slip straight into the casual rhythms of country life, enjoy the farm eggs or organic marmalade that your easy-going neighbouring hosts have available, maybe even a ready-prepared Mediterranean vegetarian dinner, or else be completely private and on your own in what previous guests have called a "priceless tranquillity" and "wonderful natural setting".
You’ll surely be interested in visiting one or more of the following, all of which are a 30-minute drive from the house: the jagged sierra of Montserrat and its monastery, the pretty villages of Mura and Talamanca, Cardona’s salt mountain, historic Vic on market day, Berga as the gateway to the Pyrenees.
In your immediate environs are woods for walks, a 40-hectare vineyard whose wines you can buy, also wine cellars in town that feature sparkling cavas, a quality butcher's, bakery and supermarkets, opportunities for eating out and active tourism, and a summer swimming pool open to the public.
Your holiday home is a spacious, self-catering apartment attached to a massive, traditional masia. Your neighbours (and discreet hosts, simply on hand if you need them) are Thomas and Sara, the master carpenter and his partner responsible for creating eco-cottage ref CA22 also on our books.
We slept very well here in beds which had an ergonomic comfort to them.
You enjoy complete privacy and have your own garden area, but having friendly people on the same estate who have dedicated themselves for so many years to a well-balanced, natural way of life is really one of the factors that makes this place special.
A visit to Thomas's workshop round the corner (you don't hear it from the apartment) is always interesting. When we visited, he had just completed (after 600 hours) a magnificent wooden dragon, fashioned from juniper, with mother-of-pearl for eyes.
The masia is just outside Artés, situated on a rise which means lovely views over the countryside all the way to the Pyrenees, and to nearby woods that you can explore.
A short track up from the road curves round to your own parking space and you pass through your private garden area to the first floor apartment entrance, which is up a well-stepped ramp.
The steps can be gated at the top to make an enclosed deck terrace. It's simply furnished and meals can be carried out directly from the kitchen.
The country kitchen is very congenial, filled with natural light, the kind of kitchen that naturally invites you to sit around and chat. It has a fine view, too. When we were there in the month of November, the Pyrenees were white with snow (see photo).
The entire apartment is built into the old masia, and there are some strikingly well-crafted features. The kitchen hob is set into an 18th century stone plinth and you'll note wood items throughout, fruit of the carpenter maestro who lives next door.
Pass though green doors to a hallway and you'll find a refreshingly cool space with a polished stone floor, fitted with plenty of wardrobe space and installed with a formidable Danish woodburning stove.
Bedroom 1 is very inviting. It has a floor and wall of wood, and a pretty view with window seating.
The living room is a beauty, also. There are two sofas and Indian wall hangings. The curious will be intrigued to know that a false floor in the cupboard (now closed-off for safety) leads down to a secret room and a tunnel which was used as a hiding place and escape route during, but also long before, the Spanish Civil War.
A door from the living room opens to Bedroom 2, another spacious room. Its floor is of timber and its ceiling wood-beamed, painted green between the beams. A sofa in this room can be made up as a sofa-bed, so two people sleeping apart can share the bedroom, or else it can be used by a child sharing the room with their parents.
The window also has traditional Catalonian stone window seats.
The two bedrooms share one bathroom, which is off a short hallway from the kitchen. It has a unique, rather sexy, polished wood washbasin.
The apartment is fresh in summer thanks to thick stone walls and hill breezes, and you also have a good electric fan if need be.
Outside and below, you have a large garden space with a table for dining. It's not one of those manicured landscaped gardens you find at expensive villas, just simple and appropriate –and it's being improved to make it more interesting. In 2014, cypresses (30 of them!), olive trees and a mulberry were added.
In the garden, a refreshing pool is the latest attraction for cooling off in the hot summer months.The pool is already fully integrated in the gardens with five different plants around it and a bench to sit on. Holidaymakers have already commented favourably on the nature pool and have booked again for next year: the clearest sign to us that this property works. While the property is suitable for families with children, parents with little ones should note that the pool is ungated.
Among the trees at the entrance to the woods are a couple of hammocks. Further afield are streams with places to bathe.
It's a short downhill roll into town by car, or there’s a short cut path that gets you there in less than10 minutes. A taxi is another option if you're coming home late from town.
Artés isn't one of those picture postcard places, being functional but pleasant enough, and it has good shopping facilities including an organic produce store, plus 5 restaurants (one makes terrific pizzas), and an open air swimming pool that opens during the summer.
The day trips detailed above aren't the end of the story. Add to these the local vineyards and wine cellars of Catalonian "champagne"; Sant Llorenç Natural Park and its caves; a sanctuary for birds of prey; a waterfall in a pine and oak forest; Cardona Castle; San Benet de Bages Monastery; horseriding at Moià; bicycle routes at Manresa; and even balloon rides!
Drive north along the highway for 45 minutes and you enter the Pyrenees; and the same distance south takes you into the heart of vibrant Barcelona.
Although you may prefer to make this a homely holiday, soaking up the peace and quiet of this wonderful house.
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