Las Fraguas – Palaces, Chapels and Trails

Those who discover Las Fraguas come across the Palacio de los Hornillos, an English palace in the Neo-Tudor style, based on medieval English rural architecture. It was built between 1897 and 1904 by the English architect Ralph Selden Wornum.

Trails

The “Paseo Palaciego” is an easy 3 km circular trail in Las Fraguas and is suitable for the whole family. The “Rincones de Valdeiguña” route is an easy 5.9 km circular trail that begins at the Las Fraguas recreation area and runs through Palacio, Palazuelos, Cohiño, San Cristóbal and Pedrero. The Camino de La Santa Cruz crosses the Valdeiguña stream at the crossing near the Carmen Chapel and leads from Las Fraguas towards Pedredo along a footpath beside the S-201 road.

The different lengths and routes can be compared with one another for your own day planning.

Culture

The Casona de Las Fraguas is a Cantabrian manor house from the late 17th century, built by the Marquise of Cilleruelo. For several generations, the Casona was the family’s official residence until the Dukes of Santo Mauro built the Palacio de los Hornillos on the same estate in 1900.

In 2001, the Palacio de los Hornillos was a filming location for the film “Los Otros”, directed by Alejandro Amenábar and starring Nicole Kidman. The interior of the Palacio de los Hornillos cannot currently be visited because it is the private property of the Duke of Don Carlos.

The Iglesia de San Jorge was commissioned in 1890 by the Dukes of Santo Mauro as a chapel-pantheon over the ruins of a medieval hermitage. Its neoclassical design was modeled on a Greek temple; it has 40 Corinthian columns and is popularly known as “El Partenón”. The dukes donated the church to the village so that it could serve as a parish church. The Capilla de Nuestra Señora del Carmen in Las Fraguas dates from the 18th century.

Village Character and Festival Tradition

The Las Fraguas recreation area is located in the village center next to the river and the facilities of the municipal swimming pools.

When selecting a holiday apartment in Las Fraguas, you can compare travel dates, room categories and cancellation policies on the accommodation pages. For your planning, you can place the different trail lengths, buildings and the fixed date of the festival side by side as separate topics.

Every year on the evening of 15 July, Las Fraguas has celebrated a festival of regional tourist interest in honor of the Virgen del Carmen for more than 200 years. During the annual festival, the public lighting is switched off; the village is illuminated exclusively by candles that residents place in the streets as well as in their homes, windows and balconies. The festival attracts thousands of visitors who come on foot from neighboring villages.

To the higher-level travel overview: Arenas De Iguña.