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The Team at Cortijo Fruitful Hills
Andrew Allington
Co-owner, Property Manager, Developer, Landscape Designer
Andrew brings over thirty years of property management and development experience across the UK and Europe. He has a deep passion for working with the land — bringing out its natural character and continuously developing it into something special. At Cortijo Fruitful Hills, that means caring for over 200 trees and diverse plant life, maintaining the lawns, the saltwater pool in its nature-rich setting, creating handmade stone features using local stone, and applying permaculture and agricultural principles to build a rich, fertile estate that guests feel the moment they arrive. He also supports the delightful community of rescue animals that call the property home, with 5% of guest fees donated to animal rescue, at least half of that going to ARCH Horse Rescue in Spain. Cortijo Fruitful Hills also supports the Málaga Equestrian Network, promoting equestrian life and community across the region.
Alongside Cortijo Fruitful Hills, Andrew manages Fern House, Andrew and Hazel’s charming period townhouse holiday apartment in the heart of Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, along with their further period properties in the UK. Managing multiple properties across different countries brings a brings a breadth of expertise – making him a genuinely valuable person to talk to for anyone considering a move to rural Spain.
Other chapters in Andrew’s life have included working as a Chartered Accountant for a leading antiques firm in the UK, project managing a number of multi-million-pound projects, and serving as a Church of England Vicar / Associate Rector in Yorkshire.
As property manager at Cortijo Fruitful Hills, he’s your point of contact throughout your stay — welcoming, knowledgeable, and always available by WhatsApp if you need anything.
Andrew is also an active member of The Inland Networking and Support Group – Costa Del Sol, hosted by Mediterranean Homes, a leading inland estate agent based in Coín specialising in rural property in the Guadalhorce Valley. The group brings together local business people — invested in and serving Andalucía and beyond.
For a closer look at some of the work, projects and responsibilities Andrew is involved in behind the scenes at Cortijo Fruitful Hills, here is a selection of related blog posts.
🌊 Does It Really Look Like That in Person?
There’s no shortage of stunning pool photographs online. The question guests often quietly wonder is:…
🌿 Garden of Delights
The greenery and tranquility here is different — that’s usually the first thing guests and…
📍Walking Country: The Best Routes Around Fruitful Hills
One of the quiet joys of staying at Fruitful Hills is what lies just beyond…
🦋 Thinking With the Landscape – Behind the Scenes at Cortijo Fruitful Hills:
An informal conversation about the arroyo, wildlife, fire management and a possible future alberca Beyond…
Hazel Allington
Co-owner, Creative, Developer
Hazel brings together vision, strategy, networking, awareness and creative direction, alongside the online presence and communications that help connect Cortijo Fruitful Hills and other properties with the world.
She is the founder of the Málaga Equestrian Network — a growing, community-led resource for equestrians across Málaga province and wider Andalucía, now home to over 1,600 members. Cortijo Fruitful Hills proudly supports the network. Málaga Equestrian Network helps strengthen the local equestrian community by sharing knowledge, opportunities, recommendations and resources, while also giving greater visibility to local equestrian, animal welfare and grassroots initiatives.
Other chapters in Hazel’s life have included living in Australia, where she worked behind the scenes on Star Wars: Episode II in the Costume Props Department at Fox Studios. For Star Wars fans, Hazel worked on elements of leading character Jango Fett’s costume, including his leather belts and leather holsters. She also worked behind the scenes with Opera Australia and at the Sydney Opera House in their Costume Props Departments, and worked as crew on luxury power yachts on Sydney Harbour for some of Australia’s wealthiest individuals.
In her spare time, Hazel used to love bombing around New South Wales in her old army-green Land Rover Series 3, rock climbing and motorbike touring and spending time on the track with the Australian Superbike School.
Unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on how you look at it — at age 22, Hazel was unexpectedly hit by severe, debilitating illness, later diagnosed as M.E./Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Too ill to manage independently in Sydney, she had to leave her life there behind and return to her parents’ home in Yorkshire, UK and spent many years mostly house and bedbound.
Striving to find ways to recover her energy and create some kind of normal life, Hazel began a long journey of learning and discovery. Over the years, this has taken her across a broad spectrum of subjects including nutrition, personal growth, spirituality, metaphysics, Christianity, self-realisation and enlightenment, energy healing, TRE (Trauma Tension Release Exercises), and even into the darker and more difficult subjects of cults, mind control, narcissistic abuse, psychopathy and other forms of coercive control.
Hazel loves to write, and a number of her poems have been included in books by bestselling authors, including New York Times bestselling author and speaker Richard McCann’s book A Boy Grows Up. Richard’s mother was tragically murdered by the Yorkshire Ripper when he was five years old. That journey also gave her a clear sense for the difference between real depth and its performance — for people and work that are genuinely substantial, versus those that only look the part. It’s part of what she brings to Cortijo Fruitful Hills: a place built for quality, rest and reconnection, including for leaders and those on the front line.
Putting her own journey, experience and wide-ranging interests to good use, and inspired by a number of courageous role models, Hazel is now founding a second platform for the wider community.
HEALTHY GUADALHORCE DIRECTORY
Know What’s Here. Be Connected
Build Capability & Fitness. Strengthen Resilience. Stand Together
Healthy Guadalhorce will be a growing online directory and resource hub focused on fitness, capability, preparedness, practical skills, sound judgement, self-knowledge and community resilience across the Guadalhorce Valley. Connecting people with credible local knowledge, training, businesses, organisations and resources — helping individuals become stronger, more self-reliant, better informed and more closely linked to the people and skills around them.
“The way of the Ninja is the way of enduring, surviving, and prevailing over all that would destroy one.”
— Toshitsugu Takamatsu, Ninjutsu Hiketsu Bun
This is a philosophy Hazel has been quietly cultivating since her illness began, one she’s recently come to understand and appreciate more deeply through her involvement with Budo Taijutsu Unchained — and one at the heart of what she strives to create throughout all of her work.
🐾 Puppy Power – Unexpected Guests
✨Behind the Scenes at Cortijo Fruitful Hills – part 1
Professional Cleaning & Laundry
Professional Cleaning
Each apartment and terrace is thoroughly cleaned and beautifully presented before every arrival — by our trusted team of local independent Spanish cleaners. Beds made, every detail attended to, so that guests step into a space that feels welcoming and entirely their own. There is a shared pride here in maintaining high standards and creating a beautiful, well-presented environment for every guest who arrives.
Professional Laundry
All bed linen and towels are professionally laundered by Tintorería La Fuensanta in Coín — ensuring everything is fresh, clean and neatly presented for your arrival.
Grace
Creative Contributor, Equestrian Advisor
Grace is an experienced rider who advises on the equestrian side of things at Cortijo Fruitful Hills — bringing a genuine feel for both the Spanish and international equestrian communities in Málaga. She also supports the Málaga Equestrian Network, a community project that Cortijo Fruitful Hills is pleased to support.
Experts & Services – helping things run smoothly
Behind every well-maintained property is a network of people. At Cortijo Fruitful Hills, that means local experts and tradespeople who understand the quirks and character of campo living — and who are willing to understand the specifics of this one.
Local suppliers, from hardware to wood and metalwork, have been invaluable both practically and as a connection to the towns and community around us.
Managing a property and gardens of this scale in rural Andalucia Spain involves more than meets the eye — from buildings and grounds to legal, tax and licensing requirements, and the infrastructure that keeps everything running, including well water, electricity and solar systems. Andrew works to ensure it all operates smoothly and is maintained to a high standard, with a constant eye on improvement.
Licensed Rural Tourist Accommodation · Vivienda Turística de Alojamiento Rural
Málaga Province, Andalucía, Spain. Tourism Licence: VTAR/MA/04653