Gran Hotel Son Net A historical estate in the heart of Mallorca

Only 15 kilometres from Palma, Mallorca's capital, Puigpunyent is a small village dominated by the impressive estate of Son Net. Legend has it that the land surrounding Son Net once belonged to a pirate turned nobleman who had fought for the Christian King Jaume I to expel Mallorca from the threat of its marauding corsairs. There has been a house on the original is site for a thousand years, but the present building dates back to the 17th century, when it served as a country retreat for an aristocratic family from Palma descendent of the Net family.

Later a vast olive press was added, and as the property became more intensively farmed, the house itself began to fall into neglect. Over the last century several attempts were made to restore Son Net, but it never regained its original character and elegance as a grand estate.

David Stein, a successful American Resort developer, had been searching southern Spain for some time for a European house where he could live and work for part of the year. He was immediately taken with Mallorca but less so with the houses he was shown. Then he drove up the palm-lined road leading to Son Net.

"The moment I saw the house through the palms, I was bowled over," Stein says. "The terrible thing was, I couldn't hide my enthusiasm, although I knew from long experience that that was disastrous when you wanted to buy. Then we went into the house, and my face fell dramatically once I realized how much restoration there was to be done. But I decided to go ahead, because all the bones - the situation, the land, and the basic structure - were right and I felt that with time and patience, the necessary improvements could be achieved."