Go carbon-neutral on your painting holidays

Fancy making the most of all that nature has to provide on your next holiday? For those interested in all things natural, painting holidays from GoLearnTo.com which explore art forms in nature are the ultimate creative escape, and what better location than an eco-friendly carbon neutral guesthouse in one of Spain’s most beautiful alpine deserts in Andalucía, Spain?

Foreign travel has become something of a bête noire in recent years. As each holiday period approaches, politicians are criticised by the tabloids and environmental campaigners for travelling, and as more and more people jump on the bandwagon, ‘staycations’ in the UK have become increasingly fashionable.

However, you don’t have to stay at home and suffer the English weather to ensure that your holiday doesn’t have a negative effect on the environment.  More and more travel providers are looking at methods of providing travellers with eco-friendly options when travelling abroad, and nowadays going green doesn’t mean you have to compromise on either luxury or style.

Cortijada Los Gázquez is a perfect example of 21^st century eco-chic. The guest-house embodies luxurious minimalism, with whitewashed walls, beautiful outdoor areas in which to relax, and a cosy wood-burning stove. This family-run establishment pride themselves on their eco-credentials, and with all water being re-used, wood burning boilers providing all hot water, and both solar panels and a wind turbine, it’s easy to see why.

You can banish any guilty thoughts about your holiday abroad, since this guesthouse will offset any carbon-footprint created from your flight. And with that in mind, all you need to do now is decide which exciting course to take at this creative retreat. Most of the painting holidays offered by learning holiday specialists GoLearnTo.com at Cortijada Los Gázquez are nature related, including the popular ‘Paint Safari’ and the ‘Botanical Illustration’ course.  You can even take a course where you learn to make your own paint from natural resources, and you can’t get more eco-chic than that.

The Sierra de María-Los Vélez National Park where the courses are based is one of Spain’s most diverse National Parks, with the landscape varying between arid plains and densely-wooded pine forests. There are also a huge number of plant species, many of which are unique to the Sierra, plus the area has also been designated as a special protection zone for birds, so whichever course you decide upon, you can be sure there’ll be plenty of subject matter to paint, making this a painting holiday to remember.