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<\/a>Our main h\u00f3rreo<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The\u00a0h\u00f3rreo, the north Western Spanish grain store\u00a0is first recorded in the documentary evidence in the twelfth century. They can be any size from a metre or so long to the longest at a reported 35 metres<\/a>\u00a0in Carnota, near Ribiera. They are built out of stone or wood or both and were integral to Spanish life up until half a century ago.<\/p>\n There are h\u00f3rreo elsewhere in Europe but there is a massive concentration in Galicia and Asturias and, as a pre-requisite for our house purchasing, almost all of the houses which we considered during our search had one. The property that we ended up with has two, although one of them is in a very poor state of repair.<\/p>\n Thanks to wikipedia<\/a> for the following definition;<\/p>\n ‘An h\u00f3rreo is a granary built in wood (Iberia or Scandinavia) or stone (Iberia), raised from the ground by pillars (“pegollos” in Asturian, “esteos” in Galician, “abearriak” in Basque) ending in flat stones (“mueles” or “tornarratas” or “zubiluzea”) to avoid the access of rodents. Ventilation is allowed by the grooves in its walls. In some areas, h\u00f3rreos are known as h\u00f3rreu, horru (Asturian), horriu (Leonese), hurriu (Cantabrian), h\u00f3rreo, paneira, canastro, piorno (Galician), espigueiro, canastro, cani\u00e7o (Portuguese), garea, garaia, garaixea (Basque), orri (Catalan), stabbur (Norwegian), h\u00e4rbre or more precisely stolph\u00e4rbre or stolpbod (Swedish), raccard ou regard French.’<\/em><\/p>\n We saw all shapes and sizes of horreo on our\u00a0house-hunting and there are just a few examples below (click the photos for larger images)\u00a0ranging from the weediest and most insignificant at a property near As Pontes to the grand h\u00f3rreo valued at around 20.000 Euros at the house that we nearly bought <\/a>at O Paramo.<\/p>\n Weedy As Pontes H\u00f3rreo<\/p><\/div>\n Elevated H\u00f3rreo at a property near Monfero<\/p><\/div>\n H\u00f3rreo at one of Julios houses in the Tura Valley<\/p><\/div>\n Close-up of our main H\u00f3rreo<\/p><\/div>\n The beautiful H\u00f3rreo on a granite base at O Paramo, that we fell in love with<\/p><\/div>\n All h\u00f3rreo in Galicia and Asturias which are in a repairable condition are now listed. You cannot remove or destroy them and they must be renovated in a sympathetic manner, for which there are grants available from the local and Galician governments. The size of the h\u00f3rreo is indicative of the size and importance of the family that lived in the house.<\/p>\n We will\u00a0certainly be renovating ours as part of the work on the main house and we will either end up keeping it empty as a talking point, or using it as a store for bicycles and fishing tackle. It is normal to have carved stones at the top corners of the pitched roof and I have a special plan for ours which will be revealed when I determine whether the regulations will allow me to do it.<\/p>\n Our second h\u00f3rreo is borderline recoverable as it is in very poor shape with all of the roof and wooden structure lost to the elements many years ago. It is also quite close to the house and could block out the sunlight. We need to check on what we are allowed to do and then see what the architect suggests. Hopefully we’ll end up with something that looks at least as good as the restored h\u00f3rreo at Casa Do Mudo, the Casa Rural where we spent our first night on Galician soil back in November 2009.<\/p>\n Restored H\u00f3rreo at Casa Do Mudo, Senra<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Something which sets Galicia, and for that matter neigbouring Asturias, apart from the rest of\u00a0 Spain is the proliferation of strange looking square or rectangular vented\u00a0buildings raised up on stilts, often with no visible means of access. The are the … Continue reading <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>