Culture

Sotogrande is not a borough, not a town, not even a village. It has no history of its own. Well, perhaps a little. When the British invaded Gibraltar 300 years ago, those who fled ended up in this secluded, privileged place in the borough of San Roque. It shares the same history as the Campo de Gibraltar: Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans and Arabs traversed these lands before recapturing the soils in the 15th Century.

But it wasn’t called Sotogrande then. Fast forward to the 1960’s. Sotogrande’s brain-father McMicking’s nephews Jaime and Enrique Zóbel, prominent Spaniards established the Philippines, bought a finca called Paniagua, and began developing the place. Robert Trent Jones of golf camps construction and fame, joined their team. Enrique Zobel, a polo aficionado, constructed the polo field on the beach in 1965. Together they built what it is known today as the glamorous destination of the jet-setters, a National Touristic Centre that reverently preserves its grand natural environs.