Welcome

Perched on a hilltop in the heart of the Mexican Wine Country, La Villa del Valle is a small, luxury inn for the discerning traveler. This secluded relaxing sanctuary lies in the beautiful Guadalupe Valley with commanding panoramic views of vineyards, olive groves, rows of fragrant lavender and mountains on all sides. Your hosts, Eileen, and Phil Gregory look forward to welcoming you and sharing their dream. LETTER FROM EILEEN This is a resume of sorts of who we are, what we do and what is important to us. We have very few certificates as we are a small family business and are less interested in pursuing credentials and more focused on results. That said, hereunder is a not so brief description of Grupo La Villa del Valle Sustainability and the arts have been the two guiding lights in my life for more years than I care to remember. Over 30 years ago together with John Malone’s UPCTV and partners Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, Deepak Chopra and Morgan Mason of London Films, I founded Innergy, a pan European Cable TV channel broadcasting in 17 countries throughout Europe. It was a tall order way back then as there was very little content available and not much interest in what is now of major concern for so many, Here’s a link to a BBC article about the launch of the channel:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/701031.stm. Although the article focuses on personal growth, the programming, mission and identity of Innergy was to educate viewers on the importance of putting our skills and resources to work for the benefit of all. Educating people about how to live consciously and protecting the environment have long been my passions. I was on the board of Television Trust for the Environment for nearly 10 years creating programmes and programming to create awareness of global environmental issues and thereby make a difference:- https://tve.org/ Grupo La Villa del Valle is in many ways the means for us to walk the talk and live in a way that respects our team, our neighbors and our environment. We have as many women working with us as men in very responsible positions such as Vena Cava manager, Troika manager, Baja Botanic manager, administrator, hotel manager, accountant and of course me!! From the outset back in 2002 we have strived to create a model for what we term “conscious living” to share with others. We built the villa on passive solar principles, used local materials, pigments and materials wherever possible, only natural pigments and materials are used, created a system separating grey from black water, installed low flush toilets and water saving shower heads, have water catchment systems in place, train our staff on how to save water, purchased solar panels and set off on our mission to be as sustainable as possible in all that we do, reducing our footprint in all ways available to us. The first things we did was to plant a vegetable garden, olive orchards and vineyards. Since day one we have been organic and are certified organic both in the US and Mexico. We have honey from our bees, make estate olive oil and Baja Botanica, our range of organic and biodegradable shampoo, conditioner, body lotion and candles and soaps. Of course we make compost and feed our animals lots of what otherwise would be kitchen waste. We offer candlemaking and soap making classes as well as demonstrations of small scale distilling of plants for essential oils, wine appreciation, making, blending and pairing classes as well as various retreats and workshops throughout the year When we first arrived in the valley there was very little of anything so we did all we could to be self-sustaining. A big part of our goal was outreach to the community, creating knowledge and opportunities for cottage industries to thrive. With the exponential growth of the valley in recent years we are delighted with the adoption of core values of stewardship for the land and its people, the regenerative agricultural practices that are now employed widely throughout the valley, the championing of native plant preservation and above all the importance of saving and capturing water through whatever means possible. The valley is a very delicate ecosystem and needs protecting. We do all we can to educate our neighbors about the importance of safeguarding this special place Several stakeholders (including us) have fought for over a decade for the government to pass into law a land usage management scheme which incorporates rules about noise pollution, light pollution, large events and of course restrictions on construction land use and encompasses regulations dividing the valley into 4 categories of land usage limiting what can be constructed where. We now have this law in place but still struggle to ensure its enforcement. I understand this is the only part of Mexico that has such a regulation in place. We repair the roads ourselves as well as organize our neighbors to participate both financially and by helping to clean the rubbish thrown in the roads several times a year. We sponsor a local soccer team, help local schools and orphanages and have gifted food and supply boxes to local community members in need of help especially during the pandemic. We installed a playground in the local primary school, started and funded a summer camp for local children When I say we, please understand that in most cases I am referring not only to ourselves but our neighbors and colleagues. The generosity of this community is for me what makes the Guadalupe Valley so unique and such a wonderful place to live and work. Together we have raised funds to support our volunteer fire department purchasing equipment, uniforms, an ambulance and fire trucks as well as organizing instruction on firefighting. Whenever there is a fire, many, many of us pitch in sending workers, food, water, electrolytes, buying petrol and doing everything we can to help. It is truly inspirational to live among such public minded neighbors. For the past 8 years I have chaired an annual conference on sustainability. Under the auspices of Provino, these conferences are 100% free and open to the public and offer relevant site visits and workshops and provide stands in our ecological corridor to relevant projects to promote their organization. The topics range from water, ecotourism, ecoagriculture, sustainable development among others. The last two years we have partnered with the Berry Good Food Foundation and incorporate their extremely successful and impactful Future Thought Leaders Panel which is recorded in partnership with UCTV and have reached over 15 million viewers and won several awards for journalism. I was a founding member of Berry Good Food Foundation and for several years we have had our own Berry Good Food Baja committee of which I am chair. We have installed vegetable gardens in schools, orphanages and indigenous communities in the valley and teach classes on agriculture and nourishment to the children. We also offer support and expertise to other likeminded local initiatives Just this month Berry Good Food Baja together with This Is About Humanity and ICF installed vertical gardens in two shelters for migrant children in Tijuana. We are hoping to expand this model to several of the other migrant shelters in TJ I hope this doesn’t sound like “the great I am”. When I talk about me, I am talking about the foundations or our group Needless to say Grupo La Villa del Valle contributes, money, donations, people and is a sponsor of all our endeavours. We’re not running a business to make a big pot of money. We do it as a way of life. We’ve taken all these human values — nourishment, community, beauty, respect and diversity — as our mantra. We think of our team as our family and are proud to have people who have been with us for 20 years who in turn have made us their family. Helpfulness and fairness are our guiding principles. We try to treat everyone and everything with respect and share these principles with our guests. As a hotel, we strive to offer a way to disconnect, to live serenely in, with and surrounded by nature. Simplicity, quiet and calm offer the chance to decompress and enjoy nature. Strolling through our 70 acres at one with the sights, sounds and smells of the countryside, communing with our donkeys, visiting our sculpture park, doing yoga, eating healthy breakfasts with our own homemade yoghurt, jams, breads, sweet breads, eggs from our chickens, honey from our bees, sipping herbal teas made from herbs grown here is all a very important part of who we are. The winery is a breeding ground for experiments and new ideas. We were the first winery to make orange wines and the first to make Pet Nats. We were the second to make natural wines and traditional method sparkling wines. Minimum intervention is our abiding policy for all our wines. The winery itself has become iconic. Alejandro d’Acosta and Claudia Turrent’s design uses upcycled and recycled materials and is basically a deconstruction carved out of the hillside. Troika, our gastro food truck uses produce from our garden and local organic ingredients. We have sheep, chickens, turkeys, rescue donkeys, ducks and very friendly dogs who love to go on walks with our guests. I could go on and on – actually I think I have!! In addition to the above we are active supporters of the arts. I have been a co-chairman of the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach’s VIP Gala week for the past two years. Our sculpture park features well known Mexican women artists and part of their remit as artists in residence is that they create a project working with local children. I spent many years as a founding board member of the Mr Holland’s Opus Foundation – a charity that gifts instruments to public schools in the US