‘Las Viñas’ campsite is located in a rural sector of the Jérez del Marquesado municipality, in a territory amid beautiful landscape on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, in the south-western part of the Guadix district, in the Granada Geopark, 40 minutes from the beach and 20 minutes from the Puerto de la Ragua alpine ski-slopes. The Las Viñas site also hosts an innovative, holistic project which makes “Camping Las Viñas” a special place for accessible ecotourism, in tents or camper-vans, and that brings together the following dimensions: agro-ecology, regenerating the land and countryside, training, inclusion and coexistence, rural tourism, etc. There is no campsite with such characteristics in the area, within the Geopark. Its design responds to the need to face up to the ecological crisis in which we find ourselves, and therefore we foresee responsible and sustainable usage of natural resources, such as water, energy and land, thus enabling responsible tourism in keeping with the values of care for the environment and the planet as well as a revaluation of the countryside and its inhabitants, participating in the economic revitalisation of the area.
The technical project for the campsite has already been endorsed by the Granada College of Architects of Granada and approved by the City Council, the Provincial Council and the Delegation for Tourism. Furthermore, we are already in possession of the building permit.
The campsite will be built on the "Las Viñas" estate owned by the Foundation in Jérez del Marquesado, where a regenerative and agro-ecological project is underway, with CAAE ecological certification (European leader in ecological certification). We have already planted more than 600 trees that form a fruit forest, and this year we have also planted a 6,000m2 organic vegetable garden.
The campsite occupies 6,000m2, with 78 plots of 40m2 and, in addition, 10 motor home plots. It will also consist of 1,229,75m2 of fixed facilities (dining room and meeting room, kitchen, toilets, laundry, etc.) and 1.228m2 of free areas, including a recreational area with evaporative showers. The village has a swimming pool, so in order to manage water responsibly, we have chosen different options.
The total cost of the construction and related expenses comes to €391,737.99 (materials, construction, monitoring of the work, taxes, and building and activity licenses).
This project will employ local companies and create jobs.
For the financing, we turned to a grant from the Rural Development Group of the area, which belongs to the Junta de Andalucía (Andalusia regional government), private donations, a bank loan from the Caja Rural cooperative and the micro-financing campaign with Goteo.
Main features and goals of the crowdfunding campaign
The Person and Justice Centre, which owns the ‘Las Viñas’ site, is a cross-spiritual entity that welcomes all spiritual persuasions, including atheism and agnosticism, from its board to those who attend its activities. In this sense, it is a unique institution both at its base and in its holistic purpose of work for peace, social justice and regenerating the land and countryside, through encounters and other activities that point at individual transformation for social transformation.
Las Viñas campsite will be a space for leisure, recreation and knowledge that, as well as offering different training and educational activities, and interior, personal and group work, that contributes to motivating, laying the foundations and strengthening the commitment to action and social work of those people or groups that participate in our training activities: ecotourism on a site with an ecological certificate, and where land is regenerated and the countryside has a symbolic and real meaning.
Las Viñas campsite will also be a place of European youth encounters, that have an inter-religious and social character.
Therefore, we will welcome: encounters, lectures, education for peace and regeneration of the land and countryside, and cultural, ludic and artistic activities.
Goals:
- Become aware of the surroundings and of their importance.
- Enjoy and learn, interacting responsibly and respectfully with the surroundings.
- Contribute to stimulating a depressed zone with high landscape value.
- Experience an attitudinal change towards nature.
- Offer diverse training content that links personal and social dimensions.
Why this is important
The Person and Justice Foundation was born in 2016, when a driving group sought to establish dialogues between different spiritualities and confessions, in order to nurture social action. The need to obtain some definite space quickly became clear, in order to secure this dialogue, and to enable these encounters to continue, as well connecting with a territory in which to undertake social action. Therefore, in 2017, we began a funding campaign in order to buy a piece of land. Once the monies were in place, in 2019 the ‘Las Viñas’ site was purchased – a plot of almost eight hectares in Jérez del Marquesado (Guadix, Granada), a marginalised and disadvantaged rural area, where employment is scarce because of the ever-increasing exodus from the countryside and where there is a significant need for support and stimulation of the cultural, social and economic sectors.
The project is aimed at anyone passionate about nature, with an eco-conscience and who is keen on responsible tourism, in keeping with the values proper to the care of the surrounding land, and interior aspects.
Target population:
• Young people and groups.
• Families interested in landscape education.
• Any individual or group of people keen on responsible tourism.
• People interested in discovering and interacting with each other as part of a holistic and innovative project.
• People wishing to enjoy responsible leisure time in natural areas.
• People keen on training in agro-ecology and regenerating the landscape, and in other aspects related to personal and social change.
• Collectives of vulnerable people or people at risk of social exclusion.
• Associations with which collaborative agreements may be signed, or that are interested in participating as a collective.
Team and experience
The founding members and board members of the Person and Justice Centre Foundation have wide-ranging experience in project management and in the field of social justice, the driving motivation for creating this project to undertake such activities as training, social action and, in particular, agro-ecology and education in regeneration. From the start it has had the support of many people and institutions that have enabled decisive steps to be taken, such as the purchase of a plot of land in a depressed area, beginning the regeneration of that land and the countryside, thus symbolically preparing the space in which to carry out the different projects we foresee, that are mutually reinforcing, including:
• ‘Las Viñas’ campsite.
• AgroXériz (an agro-ecological project for regenerating the countryside, the land, and for ecological farming, to support healthy food and the creation of ecosystems).
• The training house ‘Silence and Justice’, for training events (that have been taking place monthly since the start of the Foundation).