'Do you know about compost toilets?" asked Henrietta Hunt, just before she showed me to my yurt. No, I had to admit, I didn't (not unless you count the pits at the Glastonbury festival).
"Well," says Henrietta. "They work best if you don't pee in them." Right. So where exactly ... ? She gestured towards the cork and olive trees scattered around the nine acres of Spanish sierra countryside she shares with her husband Ed. "Anywhere, really."
I am telling you this because if you can't handle a bit of al fresco peeing, you are not going to enjoy the Abubilla Yurt Hotel. Ditto the nervous motorist: getting there involves miles of hairpin mountain roads and a long boneshaking farm track more suited to a four-wheel drive than a hire car.
For the intrepid traveller, however, it offers an escape into rural Andalucía; a back-to-nature holiday in the unspoilt Grazalema mountains. While only two hours north of the Mediterranean coast, it is a world away from everything we associate with Torremolinos.
Abubilla consists of just two guest yurts (a circular tent, still common among the nomadic tribes of central Asia). Each has its generous patch of private garden with tree-shaded seating and mountain views (the Grazalemas in one direction, the distant Serrania de Ronda in the other). And though yurts are not the best-looking tents (a dome of pale yak-roped canvas sprinkled with tree droppings), they are among the finest in five-star camping.
Indeed, our yurt, the Afghani option (the other is native Mongolian), proved larger than the Ronda hotel room we slept in the night before. Roughly 15ft in diameter, it is made of wands of willow, which form latticed walls, with slender roof beams supporting a bent-wood crown. It has steps up to a double door, through which we could see the mountains from the comfort of our double bed, and a proper wooden floor. There is a window cut into canvas, a domed ceiling lined with red wool trimmed with tapestry, sheepskin rugs, wicker chairs, ethnic furniture and textiles.
The yurt's own compost loo (where a handful of sawdust does the job of a conventional flush) sits behind a muslin curtain in a small detached shed, which also houses a little bathroom with a gas-heated shower.
Abubilla (which means hoopoe, a type of bird common to this area) began as the eco home of Ed Hunt, who had camped in a yurt on his Andalucían land for three years, before meeting - and marrying - designer Henrietta. Together they built an alternative family home (three living yurts, four-month-old baby Florence, three dogs, two cats) alongside the holiday venture that supports them.
They opened the hotel in May this year, and admit to a few teething problems. They apologised, for example, for the rumbling generator which, due to a new solar panel being detained by Customs, was a necessary byproduct of refrigerated drinks and pumped water.
They were sorry, too, that the pool (small and shallow but swimmable) was a bit "slippery". Built by an Australian barman, it had leaked like a sieve, they explained; thus, a slippery coating of waterproof paint had to be installed as a temporary measure. They are also still waiting for young vines and bougainvillea to climb the pergola where the guests eat breakfast. But these things will have developed or grown by the time a third, family-sized yurt arrives next year; and nobody is complaining.
According to the Hunts, most of their guests (ranging from a group of girls on a hen party to a family of four, and a pair of honeymooners) have proved unwilling to leave Abubilla. They tend to remain slumped in a hammock slung between two cork trees, laid out on a bamboo sunbed under a young olive, or lounging on the luminous green strip of lawn that encircles the pool.
The heat and drought of this summer has been a factor. Last week, in temperatures close to 40C, I had no inclination to walk into the village, or climb the rocky Grazalema mountains which loom over Abubilla - even if you can see as far as Gibraltar from its summit.
Instead, we drove from Cortes de la Frontera, along the precipitous roads that wind through the neighbouring national parks (choose from spectacular rock formations or endless cork forests). The walled town of Ronda, with its Moorish baths and dramatic gorge, is only a 40-minute drive away. And en route you can escape the heat, by literally plunging underground. The Cueva de la Pileta (grottos and ancient cave paintings, lit by kerosene lamps) and Cueva del Gato (giant stalactites, tunnels and ice-cold rock pools) are within a 10-minute drive.
Much nearer to home, Cortes de la Frontera is a standard Andalucían white village, with narrow streets, a smattering of bars and restaurants and plenty of local colour. During an early evening drink with tapas, we watched teenagers doing wheelies on motorbikes; a bullfight on television in a bar; and a wedding procession - which ended in a party that, according modern Spanish tradition, was held in a half-finished section of a construction site.
Alternatively, you can eat with the Hunts: three-course dinners (prawn salad with home-grown olives, monkfish and roasted vegetables, pear and almond tart) cooked by Henrietta in her yurt kitchen and served with wine and candlelight under the stars.
The word "hotel" is not perhaps, entirely appropriate, but the Abubilla experience is packed with nature's little luxuries: the pink glow of mountain scenery at dusk, the high-altitude fresh air (which even in August, cools at night to a comfortable duvet temperature) and the sound of tinkling goat-bells. And although the primitive toilet takes a bit of getting used to, I can't recall a loo with a better view.
Way to go
Where to stay: Abubilla Yurt Hotel (+952 117 055, yurthotel.com), at Cortes de la Frontera, is open until the end of October (and from March 2006). Yurts cost £50 per night or £300 per week B&B.
Getting there: Monarch Scheduled (08700 406300, flymonarch.com) flies to Malaga from Gatwick, Luton, Birmingham or Manchester from £39 one way inc tax (online bookings include a £10 discount per return flight). Getting around: Hertz in Malaga (08708 484848, hertz.co.uk) offers a week's all-inclusive car hire from £105.71 in September.
Further information: Spanish Tourist Office (020-7486 8077, spain.info). Country code: 00 34. Flight time UK-Malaga: 2hrs 50mins. Time difference: +1hr. £1 = 1.40 euros.
Camping in style closer to home
Everything plus the kitchen sink
There may be a new generation of campers swapping their Tuscan villas for tents but that doesn't mean they want to rough it. Enjoying the great outdoors in style is a trend one canny British couple has cottoned on to. At their site in north Cornwall, each mini camp has three huge sleeping tents (the largest is 16ft wide) equipped with rugs and carpets, real beds, electric lamps and storage, plus a separate kitchen tent (pictured below) with all the mod cons you need to whip up a gourmet feast from the organic hamper delivered to your yurt. Available from next year from £350 per tent per week.
01840 261556, belletents.com.
Pioneer spirit
The Pot-a-Doodle village looks like the set of a (very low budget) western. Twelve wooden wigwams are arranged around a field in the wilds of Northumbria - bear with us - within easy reach of a glorious stretch of beach, the Farne islands and Bamburgh castle. It's not luxury by any stretch of the imagination, but it is fun and the onsite indoor kids' activity centre is a blessing in poor weather. From £15pp per night, children £7.50.
· 01289 307107, northumbrianwigwams.com.
On the road
The festival season may be over by September but you can prolong the carefree vibe by packing your i-Pod and taking to the roads (which will be far less busy once schools go back) in a VW camper van. Cornwall Campers provide fully-fitted vans from £495 a week in September.
· 01208 832927, cornwallcampers.co.uk.
Back to basics
For all those old-school campers who need nothing more than a great location to pitch their two-man tent, the campsite at Applecross in the west Highlands is hard to beat. You'll wake to the sound of the gulls and views across the bay to Skye. Feeling reckless? Leave the Gaz stove behind, and pick up breakfast from the on-site bakery; in the evenings try the Applecross Inn, a simple, white-washed pub serving outstanding seafood.
· 01520 744268, ldb.co.uk/applex.
