APRIL in Cortelazor is usually a quiet month. However, this year, our hardworking Alcadesa committed the village to a wide-ranging celebration of Don Quixote to mark the 400 th anniversary of the publication of the first part of Cervantes' masterpiece. As ours was the only village in the Sierra to mark this occasion we were very full of visitors for the whole weekend, which included plays and treasure hunts for the children, who were all in period fancy dress, exhibitions, readings from the book, in a number of different languages and a stunning concert of medieval music in the lovely village church. Outside of Cortelazor, April sees the month long Festival of Flowers in Almonaster La Real, a town of great beauty, which is only enhanced by this celebration.