Location

La Molineta is a disused sugar, flour and paper mill dating from the seventeenth century, occupying an ancient, possibly pre-Roman, site on the road between Nerja and Frigiliana. Funerary jars from 600 BC have been found nearby, and an elegant Roman doll was unearthed in the grounds.

In 1965, Sir Peter and Lady Wakefield bought the complex of near-derelict buildings during a break between diplomatic postings. They decided not to employ an architect; instead, they slowly and carefully restored the original fifteen houses into the characterful villas that stand today. What could be propped up was saved; the rest was allowed to disintegrate into romantic courtyards and secluded patches of garden.

The great barn at the heart of the complex — once filled with boulders, pigs and rusting machinery — became the main house, its majestic proportions preserved, its walls given several coats of whitewash, and its original seventeenth-century arches opening onto a swimming pool where the old mill-pool used to be.

Today, four unique villas share this peaceful hillside setting, each with private pools and views that stretch from the mountains to the sea. The spirit of the original mill lives on in the name and character of El Molino Viejo — “the old mill.”