Description
Located next to the Torredonjimeno regional road (JV-2121), on the boundary between the municipal districts of Higuera de Calatrava and Torredonjimeno, lies this distinctive natural spot.Characterised by a hollow or plain enclosed on all four sides, with a narrow outlet serving as an overflow for the stream known as Arroyo de Los Llanos, which crosses it from east to west on its way to the Arroyo Salado, into which it flows near La Alameda. Los Llanos is a fertile plain of around 50 hectares, surrounded by hills that shape a landscape with a hard-earned reputation for harshness. This spot tends to record the municipality's most extreme temperatures in both winter and summer, with frequent frosts in winter and extremely scorching heat on summer afternoons. These factors, combined with the moisture the soil retains, make it ideal for cereal farming but not very suitable for extensive olive cultivation. Inhospitable as it is, all that remains here are the ruins of the Cortijo de las Canteras, so named for having been built next to old quarries, and the heavily altered farmhouses of Cruz del Carrero and the nearby Corneta. Of two other farmhouses that once stood on the same plain, barely a shadowy trace of their threshing floors remains in what is now cultivated land. This depopulation has allowed birds of prey and steppe birds to take over the site, and it is not unusual to see Montagu's harriers, as well as owls, barn owls and others. From the surrounding hills, there are wonderful panoramic views over the whole area around Los Llanos, Los Llanos del Salado, Cerro Girón, La Hondonera, Matamujeres, as well as the entire surroundings of Higuera and even Porcuna and other spots in the Martos countryside.
