At the eastern limit of the Sierra de Gredos, the Iruelas Valley opens its way, a unique territory of slopes covered by forests with a great diversity of species, with the black pines and the laricio the protagonists and where the largest colony of vultures is preserved. black from Castile and León with a census of close to 120 couples.
On the banks of the El Burguillo reservoir sits the old resin town of Las Cruceras, where resin and loggers lived in the middle of the last century. In what was an old resin factory and with views of the swamp, the Park House is installed, a beautiful educational and interpretation space of both the ways of life of the resin culture and the environmental values of the nature reserve.
In the bright reception you have at hand all the necessary information for a first contact with this ecosystem, plan the visit and possible routes and take home a nice souvenir of the photographic theater.
Without leaving the building you can admire a photographic exhibition that gives a generic vision of the Network of Natural Spaces of Castile and León. A laboratory for activities and workshops completes this first installation.
On the other side of the garden is the Exhibition Site, on whose first four floors and following the order of the four seasons, a seasonal trip through the Iruelas Valley is proposed. The fourth floor, with magnificent views of the farm and the surroundings, allows an approach to the knowledge of the protagonist of the valley's fauna: the black vulture, in addition to some of the most emblematic trees.
The first room is dedicated to the role that water plays in the valley's gorges, to the flowering and awakening of fauna in spring.
Going up to the next floor you can see how summer is the breeding season, mainly for birds, in addition to a collection of photographs dedicated to the most emblematic trees of the nature reserve such as oaks, chestnut trees, yews, etc.
The next level shows the change in color of the valley combined with the evergreen green of the pines, the importance of leaf fall and what this means for the conservation of the soil and the habitat of mammals.
The cold of winter arrives in the valley and this has its space on the third floor to explain the geological history and morphology of the landscape.
The last and highest room of the building is intended for the dissemination of the emblematic black vulture, whose flight can be experienced thanks to a suggestive interactive. In addition, it is possible to admire a representation of the most symbolic trees of the Iruelas Valley and better understand their benefits in nature.
The visit ends in the Rincón de la Memoria in another annex building dedicated to the ways of life in the valley in the mid-20th century.
