Inns have always been standard-bearers for good food. Saint James Way, Silver Route and event the Silk Road are like rosaries with stopping beads where travellers can eat and sleep well. Names of celebrated innkeepers are scattered along our maps. That is the case in Palencia, bordering the pilgrims’ way, where Mercedes, Paula and Pilar run this boutique hotel and restaurant in Villoldo, near Carrión and Saint James’ Way, welcoming Christian and Pagan alike. Many travellers agree that this trio has turned Villoldo into the Palencia’s gastronomic heart. Estrella de Carrión is today reinvented after thirty years of tireless labour, the hotel and its three Villoldo ladies have really gone overboard, while seeking their fourth star, lavishing in colour and fresh whites. Colour for the restaurant, well lit by its large panoramic windows. Whites for the rooms, with their functional furniture designed by artists like Philippe Starck.

In this one-storey building, all rooms open onto the garden through a wide terrace, shaded by willows and plane trees. This boutique hotel’s surroundings are typical small town streets with children playing, couples strolling hand in hand, blackbirds pecking the grass at dawn and night’s silence broken by the hooting of an owl. Indoors, you will enjoy open spaces, a cosy games room and a spacious reception area. High ceilings In the restaurant make it seem just what it is, a temple.