Out of the ordinary: a Mallorcan cave house

For Isabelle de Beauregard, her family’s Mallorcan adventure began in 2006 with a newspaper ad that her husband, the late David Frank, read on a flight from Los Angeles to London. It contained details of a finca (country estate) for sale on the largest of Spain’s Balearic Islands. “As soon as he arrived home, he got in touch with the agent, then the children and I went to see it in person,” says de Beauregard. “We went over, I loved it and we bought it. It was that impulsive.”

Frank, a highly respected television executive, had never been to Mallorca. “But he was fascinated with the story of the house, which might once have been the family home of Christopher Columbus,” says de Beauregard.

When Frank finally saw it, he, like his wife, fell in love with the house, which was built directly into the side of a sandstone hill, looking down onto the plain. Many of the rooms were caves. A tangle of flowering bougainvillea, grapevine and morning glory grew over the exterior walls. “It had a special, magical feel about it. It wasn’t an ordinary house and we loved that about it,” says de Beauregard. “But we had no idea where it was in relation to anything else on the island, or what we were going to do. It was a voyage of discovery thereafter.”

The house is inland, on the outskirts of Felanitx, a small town in the southeast of the island. Dating from the 14th century, it is said to be one of the oldest inhabited fincas in Mallorca and, among the coterie of historians who claim Columbus was Spanish rather than Italian, it is believed to have been the explorer’s ancestral home.

De Beauregard and Frank worked with a local builder to create the family house they desired. “He understood exactly what we wanted and so we largely left him to it,” says de Beauregard. “I would go to Mallorca each month and we would talk about the next bit to be done, and in that way the house evolved.”

Today, the finca is a breathtaking home of 9,000 sq ft, set in enclosed grounds of 4.6 acres. It has five bedrooms – two in the house, three in casitas (cabins) in the two courtyards – along with a games room, indoor and outdoor cinema areas, two swimming pools, a hot tub (set in what was once a mine shaft) and a working vineyard. Planted with 1,400 vines of cabernet sauvignon and merlot grapes, this is de Beauregard’s passion.

The garden, created by renowned British plantsman Stephen Lacey, combines the existing wild olive and pine trees with exotic planting to create a sense of lushness, despite the dry climate. For de Beauregard and her family, the finca is an enchanting escape. “Once you arrive, you never want to leave,” she says. “And there are lots of corners to sit in if you want time to yourself. At the end of the garden, a walk across the rocks brings you to a cave we have turned into a picnic spot. It has a lovely view across the plain and it’s where we watch the sunset.”

The house is similarly enchanting. The original finca contains the main living areas and bedrooms, and here the walls are coated in a white plaster that ensures the rooms feel wonderfully light. Yet the unique character of the finca remains, thanks to de Beauregard’s choice of local materials, including the stone on the floor, and the kitchen, which was handcrafted in Felanitx. The furniture and fittings are liberally sprinkled with Mallorcan antiques, along with others found on travels to Marrakech.

For many years, the family spent summers at the finca, and it was a fabulous social hub. However, following Frank’s unexpected death in 2021, de Beauregard has decided the time is right to sell. “It is with a heavy heart,” she says. “We have all had such a lot of fun here and we have such fond memories of it. I hope the next people to own it will have the same.”