The Sierra del Sueve is a limestone massif located in the Central Eastern area of Asturias. A Northern foothill of the Cantabrian mountains, the range is situated between Colunga and Caravia in the North West and Ribadesella, Piloña and Parres in the East and South. Our base for two weeks was a rustic cottage surrounded by a private meadow and offering views of the Ponga National Park.
While the view wasn’t as spectacular as the one we’d had in Cantabria, as far as self-catering accommodation goes, it ticked all the boxes. Rural enough to allow us to take in the peace and quiet of the beautiful countryside but only a short drive from the local supermarket for supplies. It also made a great base for exploring what Asturias had to offer and we were keen to understand how it would compare to Cantabria.
Much of Green Spain is largely untouched by tourism and while we found some of the Asturias beaches to be busier than in the Picos de Europe region, there was still no comparison to the much busier southern Spain. Our accommodation was a country property with views of the Ponga National Park. It’s home to the brown bear although we didn’t see any – much to our six-year old’s disappointment.
Backing onto a country lane, we had a shaded porch and first-floor balcony area for meals. Typically breakfast was an upstairs affair with dinner downstairs to avoid the glare of the setting sun, beautiful as it was. We had a kitchen, living space and two bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms – one of which was upstairs. We had cows for neighbours and POD thoroughly enjoyed heading to the boundary fence to say hello before we headed out.
The nearest village is Sevares which we found to have very few amenities but not much further on is Arriondas which was a better option for supplies. There is a well-stocked supermarket open six days a week (closed Sundays) which pretty much had everything we could ever need. Interestingly enough, there was a beautiful derelict house nearby which we discovered after we’d returned home had been left empty for at least fifty years. We also really liked the historic town of Cangas de Onis (20 minutes drive away) where POD embarked on some wild swimming when it was warm enough. Not much further on are places like Ribadesella, the Jurassic Museum, Lastres and Gijón plus some wonderful places off the beaten track.
