Mallorca Rural Experience

The farm

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Can Regalat's farm has its entire surface under different degrees of environmental protection due to its natural and landscape attributes. The North borders with Llevant Natural Park (a very large protected area but mostly without forest), with which it shares the access road. Can Regalat has over 200.000m2 of oak forests which have the highest protection because of their environmental quality and its rich flora and fauna. The land has an undulating relief where three streams that feed on the mountains of the Serra de Llevant converge. It is situated about 200m above the sea level, while the highest point, the peak of "es Castellot", stands at 350m approximately. This point has spectacular panoramic views over this side of the island and the sea, from the mountains of Capdepera all the way to Sant Salvador in Felanitx.

 

Since 2014, Can Regalat has decided to show its natural and ethnological wealth to visitors. Supporting a cultural, environmental and active tourism is a response to an increased interest in this type of activity by Mallorca's visitors. In Mallorca Rural Experience we believe that in order to keep alive the rural Mallorca we have to create products that combine tradition and innovation. Therefore, we have restored some historical remains and have taken care of every detail when installing new and innovative attractions. The final result is a high-quality tourism product that we wish it will help all our visitors to get a clear picture of the rural Mallorca while enjoying a wonderful day.

 

History

 

As the vast majority of rural Mallorca, Can Regalat's productive splendor disapeared over the XXth century because the profitability of their agricultural, livestock and forestry was forced to decline after several technological and transport improvements. The main drivers of this process were:

- The introduction of new cropping systems, much more mechanized and dependent on oil. Investment was needed in orther to stay competitive.

- Oil replaced the charcoal that was produced on the farm, therefore this local energy source became almost abandoned.

- Portland cement replaced the lime that was produced on the farm, therefore this local construction material gradually disapeared from the market.

 

Basically, a new way to exploit the field and forest that had nothing to do with the traditional method, made ,as it happens around the world, this rural exodus inevitable. On the other hand, the Majorcan tourist boom, made ​​the capital that should have been invested in the modernization of rural areas being logged to investments in other sectors. The tourist sector was much more profitable due to the low price of the coastal land, hardly usable for cultivation, and the high demand for hotels and travel accessories (construction and services). While Can Regalat could give employment to about 5 families only a century ago, today it can barely survive.

 

Despite the progressive abandonment of traditional productive activities, in recent decades Can Regalat has maintained rural activities such as sheep livestock and small game. Fodder is grown on the farm to feed hundreds of sheep reared in freedom within the farm in order to produce food (lamb) and wool. These two enduring activities have helped keeping the territory, its vegetation and wildlife. This, coupled with a low development pressure exerted by different generations of owners, has made an incomparable natural environment where you can still elucidate how this great old "Possessió Mallorquina" functioned.