La Fageda

La Fageda is a cooperative in the Garrotxa that makes yoghurts, desserts, ice creams and jams on its estate in Santa Pau, inside the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park and next to the Fageda d'en Jordà beech wood. More than a dairy brand, it is a social project: its aim is to give real, dignified work to people in vulnerable situations in the region, and the visits serve to explain that model as much as to show the cows.

Who runs it and since when

It was founded by Cristóbal Colón in 1982 in Olot, in a room of the Convent del Carme lent by the town council. The first group, of about fifteen people, came in large part from the psychiatric hospital in Salt. In 1984 he bought the Els Casals estate, to which it moved in 1987; in 1985 it registered with the Generalitat as a special employment centre. The dairy cow farm arrived in 1989 and the yoghurts in 1993. The visitor service opened in 1998, and then came the ice creams (2010), the jams (2012) and the new factories of 2017. Around the cooperative there are two foundations: one for care services, with residences and occupational services in Olot, and La Fageda Fundació, owner of the land and the brand.

What visits it organises and when

All visits are guided, with advance booking and designed for all audiences. They run at weekends and on public holidays and, in summer, also on weekdays, with morning and afternoon sessions depending on the season. The basic visit lasts about an hour and covers the farm, the robotic milking and, from an outdoor walkway, the factory and the jam workshop, ending with a video and a tasting. There is a version for children aged 3 to 8, who prepare the calves' milk and take fodder to the cows, and another that adds a walk through the nearby part of the beech wood; those two leave at 15:00 and last an hour and a half. The website itself advises against booking two visits on the same day, because they overlap.

On weekdays, during the school year, it receives schools, agencies and organisations with formats ranging from the general tour to the business model or the work integration project. Twice a year it organises training days for social entrepreneurs with the founder and the management team. Members of the Arrelats programme have their own visits on specific dates.

Ages, accessibility and groups

The basic visit and the little farmers' one are adapted for people with reduced mobility and families with pushchairs. The forest one is not, because it follows paths in the beech wood. Children up to age 2 do not pay, nor do people with a disability certificate, although they must call beforehand. Groups and schools are handled separately, with their own formats.

How to book and get there

You book online on the visits platform on their website (sav.fageda.com); the confirmation email brings recommendations for the day of the visit. The website does not publish a cancellation policy or the languages of the guiding, so ask on 972 681 011, which answers every day from 9:00 to 15:00. The shop is in the same visitor service.

To enter by car you need an access code that is given when booking. You can also arrive on foot or by bike along the paths of the natural park, or on the volcano bus that links Olot with Santa Pau and the Fageda d'en Jordà.