A Festival in the Making
The site is alive with activity. Over the coming months, four very special spaces are being transformed, each one with its own character, its own energy and its own role to play in the festival. This is a first look at where things stand. Come back regularly as the photos and progress updates roll in.
This bullring has been on the land since it was a working bull farm. The Plaza de Tientas was the proving ground for young bulls, where farmers could assess their courage and strength before they were taken to the rings of Málaga, Sevilla and Marbella.
Sleeping Giants will see the Plaza de Tientas take on a new life entirely. It will be the ceremonial and celebratory heart of the festival. Ecstatic dance and live music will fill the ring and echo through its extraordinary natural acoustics. Opening and closing ceremonies will be held here, and on Saturday night it becomes the venue for our Full Moon celebration.
Over the coming weeks we will be restoring the bullring, repainting the walls, repairing the gates and bringing it back to life. A new life, anyway.
Plaza De Tientas
The ceremonial heart of the festival.
Yoga Barn
Where the practice happens.
A huge agricultural barn sitting at the centre of the site, the Yoga Barn will become the main stage for practice at Sleeping Giants. It is already a magnificent space. High ceilings, a wide open floor and a presence that feels right for what we are trying to create here. It just needs a little love, creativity and brute force to turn it into something special.
With a new floor going in, ventilation panels being cut into the sides and the whole space dressed with fabric drapes and canopies, it will be transformed into a dedicated practice space.
Work is underway over the coming weeks. I will be back with more photos as it takes shape.
Over The Way
Meditation and breathwork in the open air.
Across the road from the bullring, this hilltop clearing looks out over the mountains at sunrise and across the olive groves at sunset. It is the meditation and breathwork space at Sleeping Giants. Quiet, open and sheltered by oak trees, it has the kind of energy that slows you down the moment you arrive.
Work has started on levelling the practice area, and over the coming weeks we will be building a geodesic dome for shade and an amphitheatre style seating area with full views of the mountain. The kind of spot you will not want to leave.
More photos to follow as it takes shape.
Lolita
Peace and quiet, up on the hill.
Up the hill behind the Yoga Barn, through the trees and away from everything, sits Lolita. A quiet clearing where the trees open up naturally to form what feels like a purpose-built practice space. Serene, sheltered and completely its own world.
The name came from a sign we found nearby. Lolita means Little Lola, a nod to the land itself, Finca La Lola. It felt right to keep it.
This is my favourite place on the land. There is something about it that is hard to put into words. It will be used for the smaller, more intimate sessions at Sleeping Giants. The kind of sessions that need a space that feels genuinely separate from the rest of the world.
More photos to follow as the work progresses.
Millstones
Paddock
The village in the oak trees.
Millstones Paddock takes its name from the two old millstones that sit at the centre of the field, remnants of the working farm that this land once was. A fully fenced paddock surrounded by oak trees, it will become the glamping village at the heart of Sleeping Giants.
Bell tents will be pitched under the trees, each one set up and ready for you to walk into. At the centre, the millstones become a gathering point, surrounded by pallet seating where people can come together between sessions.
Over the coming weeks the horses move out and the bell tents move in. More photos to follow as it takes shape.