Creative retreats and literary legends in southern Spain
Some landscapes demand to be written. Others ask you to stop, breathe, and listen first. Andalucía, in her raw, unfiltered beauty, does both. For hundreds of years Andalucia has drawn writers to her and held them close.
Beneath the cork oaks of the Sierra de Aracena, the early morning mist clings to the hills. A woodpecker taps somewhere in the trees. In this hush of olive branches and slow light, you understand; this is fertile ground for story.
In 2025, TOMA & COE returns to this favoured corner of Huelva, this time as the setting for the Andalucian Writer’s Retreat at Finca BuenVino. A gathering of curious minds, keen ears, and writers (or would-be writers) will feel the pull of the page and the land. But this ritual isn’t new. For generations, southern Spain has offered refuge and inspiration to storytellers from around the world.
Why Andalucía?
It’s not just the light, although that helps, burnished in the late afternoon and soft as silk in the morning. It’s not only the rhythm of the days, the welcome of long, slow lunches, or the silence between thoughts. It’s the layers. The Moorish arches beneath Catholic steeples. The Roman roads under forest trails. The mingling of myth and memoir.
To write here is to write in dialogue with everything that came before.
A creative pilgrimage through southern Spain
Throughout history, writers have sought out the solitude, sensuality and perspective of Andalucía. Some came to reflect. Others to escape. A few stayed forever.
Gerald Brenan – Chronicler of the Alpujarras
In the 1920s, British writer Gerald Brenan settled in the remote village of Yegen, tucked high in the Alpujarras. His memoir, South from Granada, captures life as it was – earthy, poetic, and timeless. He wrote not from romantic fantasy, but from immersion.
“I already knew then that I had never seen a more beautiful land than that Spain,” Brenan wrote of the Aplujarras.
Laurie Lee – The Walking Poet
Lee arrived in Andalucía on foot in 1935. As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning charts his journey through sun-struck villages and looming war. His words carry the weight of a land observed slowly, openly. His Spain was one of bread, guitar strings, and dusk.
Washington Irving – The Palace Dreamer
In the early 1800s, Irving, an American diplomat and author, travelled on horseback through Andalucía. His Tales of the Alhambra mixed travelogue with legend, casting Granada in magical light. The path he took is now marked as the Ruta de Washington Irving.
TOMA – Magnificent Granada tour
Jean Cocteau – Sketching the Cliffs of Ronda
The French writer and artist found both drama and stillness in Ronda’s gravity-defying cliffs. He described the town as “suspended between heaven and earth,” a phrase that still captures its strange, charged air.
Manni Coe – TOMA’s Own Literary Guide
Our very own Manni Coe, co-founder of TOMA & COE and Sunday Times bestselling author, knows this land not as visitor but as resident and storyteller. His upcoming book, Little Ruins, due for release in August 2025, is deeply rooted in the rhythms, rituals, and revelations of his home in Andalucía. A tale of people, place, and inner transformation, it’s both a personal memoir and an ode to the land that has shaped him.
Manni doesn’t just guide guests across Andalucía. He listens to it. And he helps others listen, too.
The Writer’s Retreat at Finca BuenVino
Set in a peaceful fold of the Sierra de Aracena, Finca BuenVino isn’t a conventional retreat centre. It’s a lived-in home. A working estate. A place with stories in its floorboards and inspiration in the trees.
This year, TOMA curates a week of gentle structure and deep creative freedom in this beautiful home. Walks in the chestnut forest. Thoughtful workshops. Quiet mornings. Late-night readings by the fire. And always: good food, excellent wine, and the kind of conversations that don’t rush to end.
You don’t need to be published. You don’t need to call yourself a writer. All you need is the willingness to pause and pay attention.
Only two spaces remain on the Writer’s Retreat – don’t miss out!
Why Andalucia still attracts writers
Because writing is not always about output. Sometimes it’s about input, about noticing again. The way a donkey’s bell sounds different in fog. The smell of wet stone after rain. The orange that tastes like nowhere else.
Andalucía teaches this kind of noticing. She asks you to slow down, tune in, and make space. For the land. For the words. For yourself.
Come and listen. Come and write.
