ebikes

It’s 10pm, and I’m chatting with new friends after dinner at a guesthouse in wilds of Catalonia. The candlelight flickers off stout terracotta jugs of wine and on to the faces of Thomas, a management consultant from New York, and Viktoras and Gabije, a charming Lithuanian couple I’ve been grilling about Baltic holiday spots. Ellen is German, living in Barcelona and training to be a therapist. It’s testament to the relaxed vibe that the conversation flows as smoothly as the wine.

I’m at Off Grid, a new 10-room retreat (plus four-bedroom barn) in Alta Garrotxa, a protected nature reserve about 30 miles (50km) north of Girona. A converted 17th-century masia (farmhouse), it’s encircled by the fertile green humps and limestone crags of the pre-Pyrenees, with sloping gardens sheltering a large swimming pool. With its rustic, slow-living ethos, it’s perhaps a surprising departure for owner Gerard Greene, former CEO of Yotel – the modern, tech-driven city-centre brand with hotels in New York, Amsterdam and Tokyo among other cities. Just being here is a kind of therapy.

It was only in spring 2024 that Greene spotted the site’s potential (a main farmhouse building, barn conversion and various outbuildings) and began doing it up. Inner walls have been whitewashed, bedrooms stripped back and painted with limewash shades of blush, ochre and sand. Sculptural stone sinks and brassy bathroom fixtures jazz-up en suites.

Outside, birds chatter in the treetops above the swimming pool. Dragonflies flit by and a vast mountain – Mare de Déu del Mont – looms behind the quaint tiled roof, a natural place to fix your eyes in a moment of meditation. I’m here solo for a few days’ respite. I had a baby 10 months ago, and have barely moved my body properly since. A DIY retreat: yoga sessions, walking, a little autumn sunshine is just what’s needed.

Another delightful aspect at Off Grid is that dinners are taken communally (poolside in summer, around the chunky farmhouse table in the dining room when cooler). It’s not enforced, but gently encouraged – a blackboard heralds a €30 three-course menu that changes daily depending on chef Joep’s market finds: a tomato salad with local cheese and toasted seeds, say, followed by a rustic oxtail pie and an orange-zest cheesecake. Guests tend to amble down for a vermut around 8pm – there are honesty bars in the hotel, plus a vintage spirits trolley.

There isn’t always a full house at dinner – on my first night there’s just myself, Alex and Judith: an Englishman and a Belgian visiting from Peckham. There’s plenty of choice for venturing out to dine nearby: La Guixera is a small bistro within walking distance (open Friday to Sunday only), while others are within a five- or 10-minute drive. My favourite is El Claustre de Palera, a terrace built into a restored Romanesque church, where I order platters of fried anchovies, and barbecued mackerel with rich ratatouille.

Beyond the hotel, this place is ripe for adventure. Spanish tourists mostly come for the epic cycling, while scores of walking trails traverse mountainside, forest and idyllic green pastures. I start with a hike around the Parc Natural de la Zona Volcànica (there are 25 recommended trails, ranging from one mile to 10 miles) with local guide Mike Lockwood, a Brit who has lived in Catalonia for 20 years, Spain for more than 40.

Parking up near the Croscat and Santa Margarida volcanoes, Lockwood tells me there are 40 dormant volcanoes in this park. “Would you like to go inside one?” he asks. I’m intrigued. On the far side of Croscat, a former quarry is revealed, a jagged cake-slice lifted from the volcano’s side. Lockwood deciphers its chalky stripes and fine cinder granules, layers of rust-red and huge chunks of rocks where the magma was blasted out at speed some 13,000 years ago. “It erupted for just three weeks,” he says. “That was enough to create all this.” Next we go to Fageda d’en Jordà, a striking beech wood whose undulating path was formed by the lava flow. It’s all fairytale mossy boulders and calf-height mushrooms.

On another morning I hire an ebike from the hotel, and skim along quiet roads, to sleepy, cypress-framed villages reminiscent of Tuscany. Both L’Alta Garrotxa and the Parc Natural are well signed and easy to navigate – having a guide is a plus, but solo travellers won’t struggle to explore. The really hardcore Lycra-heads take to the mountainside, or set off on the 35-mile (57km) route from Olot to Girona.

Yoga is currently available on-demand at Off Grid, but is set to run twice weekly from the new year in an onsite studio. Instructor Alba is from a nearby village, and is into bees, she says, lighting a beeswax candle and encouraging our group to buzz meditatively into the morning sunlight. Hunched from the past few months, I also book an hour with local masseur Jordi.

The whole place lends itself to relaxation. Much of the hotel’s charming atmosphere comes from its past: hefty wood beams, an ivy-coated courtyard and antique pieces of furniture reupholstered by local artisans and restored to their former glory. Alongside huge iron fireplaces, original artworks and farm trinkets are displayed prominently.

Off Grid owns some land across the road too, which is used to farm organic produce. The hotel is working to become as sustainable as possible, and much is locally sourced: small-batch coffee from the medieval town of Besalú (5 miles away); sustainable Bekume bed linen made in Olot (29km); toiletries from the Olively startup in the nearest city, Girona; wines from two Catalan wineries.

There are plans for solar panels, an aerothermal heating system, a yoga pavilion, even an alfresco sauna. For now guests have the huge, unheated pool, trimmed by pumpkin-coloured loungers and scented Mediterranean foliage.

Each morning, as the sun peeks through the trees, I venture down for a solitary swim – practically a cold plunge in these autumn days. Back home, motherhood can feel like a stream of anxiety about the next step, the next nap, the next choice to feel guilty about. Here, for the first time in months, I’ve time to think, to simply be – and it feels good.

The trip was provided by Off Grid. Doubles from €150 room-only