Lucinda Paxton is no stranger to country life. Having grown up in a farmhouse B&B in the Monmouthshire countryside, it seems unsurprising that she should end up opening a rural boutique hotel. Perhaps less obvious is her choice of location in the Argentinian pampas, after five years of cutting her teeth â and working as a travel journalist (including for this paper) â in a country where she didnât speak the language and didnât know a soul. Â
The hotel is on the outskirts of San Antonio de Areco, a rural gaucho (cowboy) town some 80 miles from Buenos Aires, popular with tourists visiting the capital and, since the start of the pandemic, weekenders looking to get away from the city. Cinders, as she is known, saw that the building was up for rent on a visit in 2019.She realised sheâd been to the estancia for an asado (barbecue) during her first year in Argentina â it was a sign. She approached a friend in the town who agreed to be her business