Park Office at Masia Mariona

The office of the Montseny Natural Park is in the Masia Mariona, in Mosqueroles, a hamlet of Fogars de Montclús, at kilometre 2.5 of the BV-5119 road. It is the management headquarters of the park and of the Montseny Biosphere Reserve, where some twenty people from the provincial councils of Barcelona and Girona work, and also an information point open to the public with a small museum on the ground floor.

The house and its history

The Masia Mariona was built between 1926 and 1931 on the initiative of Rafael Patxot, with the architect Josep Danés i Torras. In 2005 its owner, Rafael Carreras i Patxot, donated it to the Diputació de Barcelona on condition of creating a museum project and moving the park's headquarters there. Until then the park administration had been for some thirty years in the Fontmartina chalet, built by the Patronat del Montseny in the 1960s, which today is the Montseny Biological Station, a research and outreach centre.

Univers Patxot

On the ground floor is the permanent exhibition Univers Patxot, open to the public, on the scientific work and patronage of Rafael Patxot. It covers his studies of the Catalan farmhouse, his relationship with hiking, meteorology, astronomy and the popular songbook. It is a short visit to complete a morning in the area, and the Diputació also offers an online virtual visit. On the second floor there is a multipurpose room and a library.

Opening hours and contact

The office opens Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 15:30; at weekends it is closed. It has free parking, toilets and personalised information. Telephone: 938 475 102; email: [email protected]. For general information on the park network, the Diputació's Natural Parks Network answers on 934 022 428.

As it only opens on weekdays, if you go at the weekend the information is at the park's points: Collformic opens Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays in the morning, and in autumn the Fogars de Montclús welcome point operates.

Getting there

The office is on the BV-5119 road and has free parking. To get there by public transport, the reference is the Bus Parc, which climbs to Santa Fe from Sant Celoni station; the details are in Bus Parc from Sant Celoni to Santa Fe.

What to combine

From the Fogars de Montclús area, the reservoir and beech forest of Santa Fe are the most popular outing in the park, and from Can Casades, in Santa Fe, leaves the route to the Turó de l'Home and Les Agudes. If you are interested in the Cabreras' Gothic castle, Montsoriu castle is visited with a guide at weekends from Arbúcies.