The hills are alive with.....

... the sound of Julie Andrews singing during last night's dinner. Barely a word of English is spoken and as the sole guests we are honoured with music from the home country. It wouldn't be at all surprising if the young Julie Andrews came skipping through the landscape.

Big view from the bottom of our tiny house garden

Beautiful cows

If I had to be a cow I would be one of these. They are in every meadow and place where grass can be chewed. These are definite candidates for Countryfile. Not only are they attractive to look at but they don't give piercing stares at humans prior to launching into a huddle of frightening following, often at an alarming speed. Surprisingly these tend to stare shyly before turning away with their rather hefty calves skipping alongside. Most of the cows seem to have their calves with them and it's a lovely sight to see. Apparently the cows are very tough because they have to survive the Extremaduran high temperatures and to deal with the chewy dry grass in summer.

Start of the walk to the cows

Well actually, it was meant to be a walk to find birds. There were loads singing and soaring, including the noisy and not easy to see properly Azure-winged Magpie and my favourite, the jet fighter Bee Eater.