ABOUT THE ESTANCIA DOS TALAS - in their own words:

Just two hours from Buenos Aires, Dos Talas Estancia is a magical place. It's everything that an estancia should be:

In the middle of the limitless pampas, where fine cattle are grazing under immense skies, you'll come up the long sweeping drive through parkland with plantations of majestic trees, to find a grand French-style mansion, hidden away from the modern world. Here you can sample a life of luxury and perfect tranquillity, and the unique flavour of rural Argentina.

Beautifully preserved both inside and out, Dos Talas maintains a rich family heritage which goes all the way back to the fascinating story of its immigrant founder Pedro Luro in 1858. The house is full of history, both of his glamorous descendents and the current owners, the fifth generation of Luro's family. Sara and Luis de Elizalde will make you feel completely at home with their warm hospitality, fine food and wines, and delightfully decorated rooms.

From wide windows and broad terraces you'll gaze out across calm lawns and stylish gardens to 1500 hectares of their lands, and the infinite pampas beyond. Ride all day with gauchos , walk to your heart's content, and then return for an exquisite dinner, and sleep deeply in the peace of the land.

You're guaranteed a memorable stay.

LOCATION
Dos Talas Estancia is just two hours fifteen minutes by road, south of Buenos Aires city. Take the fast motorway Nº 2 which leads to the seaside city of Mar del Plata, and Dos Talas is half way between the two cities.

MAIN HOUSE:
The elegant main house, built in 1893 with French and Italian touches, is growing old gracefully. What keeps Dos Talas so vibrant is the life of Luro’s descendents, Sara and Luis’ family, who still farm the land, and who have opened their doors in order to share their history with their guests. Each room here has its own special feel, with different views of the parkland beyond through tall windows.

In the library you’ll breathe the heady air of early twentieth century literary salons, with books,  manuscripts and photographs as mementos of that glorious period. The walls are lined with more than 3,000 volumes, written in French, Spanish, Italian and English, and there’s even a turret, where you can sit with a drink and a book before dinner.
Dinner here is a real occasion; fine cuisine is enhanced by the original dinner service and the family silver, carefully kept by Luro’s descendents all these years. Dine in intimacy an have one of the lounges all to yourselves, or join Sara and other guests in the main dining room, for a memorable taste of Argentine food.

BEDROOMS:
n the main house’s welcoming bedrooms, guests can really relax, sleeping deeply in the complete silence of night in the middle of the pampas. Wide comfortable beds with crisp linen and bathrooms retaining many 1920’s original features. At dawn, it’s only the singing of the birds which interrupts the perfect peace.

And if you want to be even more hidden away in the depths of nature, there’s a tiny house with marvellous views tucked close to woodland in a corner of the parkland, LA CASA DEL BOSQUE; the ideal retreat for sampling the complete peace of the open pampas.

CUISINE: A FAMILY TRADITION: THE ASADO LUNCH
In an event which can only be loosely described as a barbecue, you’ll sample meat from animals bred on the estancia, fed only on the extensive pastures of Argentina’s rich soil where they roam freely. The asado is an art, whose secrets are the finest home-grown meat cooked very slowly over a fire of wood from the estate. All our guests seem to agree – though they come from places all over the world - they’ve never tasted meat so exquisitely tasty and tender.
For lunch, we put tables covered in antique table cloths right next to the asado grill, so that you can join in this criollo or native Argentine ritual. Before getting down to the serious steaks, or lamb, we’ll start with the delicious sausages or homemade empanadas – the fine pastry and meat parcels which are a staple of Argentine food. You’ll sample superb wines from Argentina’s Mendoza province, and of course vegetarians can also be catered for.

Sara, your hostess, does the cooking. She’s been collecting her family’s traditional recipes since she was a small girl, and is now adding those of her husband’s family, dating back to Pedro Luro’s Basque ancestry. Sara plans the daily menus, and manages to surprise and delight her guests. Everything is homemade by her, from the starters, to the main courses and the puddings. She uses home-grown produce from the kitchen garden, or fruits from the woods, wherever possible. Among the dishes you might try, there’s criollo-style beef, the delicious traditional stew puchero, steak and kidney pie (the Argentine way), spinach pancakes, and a wide variety of homemade pastas. Tasty puddings are the final touch: pancakes with a rustic version of dulce de leche, the Argentines’ favourite sweet caramel, chocolate mousse, giant alfajor (another Argentine tradition, delicate sponge made from maize flour), or apple pie, lemon meringue pie, the Argentine version of bread pudding, budín de dulce de leche, and many more.

THE PARKLAND:
What makes Dos Talas’ parkland so special is the number of broad avenues of magnificent trees which converge one into the other, and lead you off into different corners of the grounds, most lovely as you stroll in the early morning of afternoon sunlight. Everywhere you’ll come across little reminders of the family’s history, marks left by individuals which transcend their own time.

Designed in 1908 by the French landscape architect Charles Thays, the gardens stared with a woodland of Australian eucalyptus trees planted by the founder Pedro Luro. Today, Charles Thays’ design has matured splendidly, with more than 50 species of trees, brought from far-flung places all over Argentina and Europe.

Activities and facilities included at the Estancia:   

• Horseback riding
• Bird and fauna watching
• Walks in the woods and along the trails
• Carriage Rides
• Swimming pool
• Important parkland designed in 1908 by the French landscape architect Charles Thays
• Interesting library with more than 3.000 volumes
• Rural activities as cattle driving (other activities, according to the time of the year)
• Basque ball
• Central Heating