El Jaral de la Mira, once a hunting ground of Philip II in the Sierra de Madrid, is today a venue built around the restaurant of chef Mario Sandoval and a working biodynamic farm. Álvaro Sampedro designed the garden at its centre, on roughly five acres of poor, well-drained soil, to be a garden for all seasons. The interconnected terraces in front of the restaurant refer to the geometry of nearby El Escorial, while the surrounding borders loosen into mounds of grasses (Miscanthus, Stipa, Calamagrostis, Muhlenbergia) and resilient shrubs such as Escallonia and Arbutus unedo, with Italian cypresses as vertical accents. Ancient holm oaks were kept to provide shade and scale. Tools found in the estate’s old mill and dairy were reworked into water spouts for the fountains. The kitchen garden, with more than 30 varieties of herbs and vegetables, connects guests to the origin of their food. Featured in Gardens Illustrated.
