Beautiful, peaceful, rural home in the tropical Andes, near Bogota

Description

This is the perfect location for nature loving people who appreciate the peace and quiet of rural life but who also need access to urban facilities. La Paz is situated approximately 1.5 hours drive from Bogota's El Dorado International airport and is only 5km from Zipacon, an historic local town with small supermarkets a variety of shops and a health centre. Facatativa is the nearest larger town with greater variety of retail outlets, banks and a hospital. The land was bought by Patricia 25 years ago and the house was constructed by local tradespeople to her design. It has always functioned as a family home and a retreat from the stresses of big city life; something that is fully appreciated by a growing network of established academics who have found it convenient to work remotely in the tranquil location. The altitude here is 2200m above sea level, which supports a cloud forest ecosystem with predominantly native forest. The Rio (river) Apullo, a beautiful mountain stream runs along the boundary of the property and is easily reached by walking across the fields and through the woods which are part of our property. We are a couple (Colombian and English) who, having come to stay here annually for the past decade have now made this our permanent home and we have started a project to help maintain and regenerate the land, grow native trees and promote sustainable agriculture. The house has an independent power supply from solar panels, with backup connection to the national grid. Heating is not usually required, but there is an open fireplace in the living room and plenty of firewood. The area has wonderful opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking along the historic Camino Real, a pre-Columbian road network that gives access to local settlements such as Cachipay or Zipacon. There is a former railway less than 1km away that has been adapted as a hiking/cycling trail. Cycling is very popular in this area as the roads are free from heavy traffic and give access to some fantastic scenery and local beauty spots such as Pedro Palo, a wonderful natural lake. There are an astonishing variety of birds here, humming birds are frequent visitors to the garden and eagles circle over the valley. This is an agricultural community with most people having smallholdings producing a huge variety of fruits, vegetables and livestock. We have some vegetable beds for domestic use producing a variety of salad leaves and herbs and the quality, freshness and variety of the fresh produce here is excellent. Mature lemon trees grow outside the kitchen door and there a variety of other fruit trees. There is a small local family run shop a short walk away where basic commodities can be bought. Zipacon, a 20 minute drive away has a variety of bakeries, fruit and vegetable shops and restaurants. The local community is very friendly and supportive, Patricia having fostered a mutually respectful relationship with the local families. We have a young rescue cat, Misu, that lives in the house and keeps it rodent free, she would need to be fed, loved and played with. She is very affectionate and has no problem with well behaved dogs. We have a car which would be made available for your use subject to negotiation.