Moreno Adobe

On the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve. We enjoyed walking on the Reserve so much that we went back there this morning to explore more of the trails before driving back to San Marcos.

This time we walked to the Moreno Adobe which are reputed to be the oldest buildings in Riverside County and were part of a homestead belonging to the Rancho Santa Rosa in the late 19th and early 20th century.

I’ve now remembered the other pice of information I was going to write about this place. Its history!

When it was a ranch it covered some 40,000 acres and had a succession of owners until it was foreclosed in the early 20th C. At the visitors centre a photo of the current landscape was compared with an engraving of the place when it was cultivated. Such a difference.

In the 1980s plans were drawn up to develop the ranch which fortunately fell through and 9,000 acres of land was saved as a wildlife and environmental reserve. Since then, great strides have been taken to allow the land to return to its natural state. This in turn has led to the return of birds, mammals, insects and reptiles - including that young rattler we saw on Sunday. None today thankfully.

The adobes were where the cowboys lived. The ranch owner had a palatial pile nearby which mysteriously burned down in 1980.

The area has been inhabited for more than 6,000 years with plenty of evidence of occupation by Native American including hollows in rocks caused by grinding acorns with a large stone.

Once again we were struck by the feeling that parts of this landscape looked like the North Downs of Kent- as can be seen in the extra. Yet part is so Southern Californian. The second extra is of a seat with a view - I included this as a blipper I follow doing as series of seats with views.Now who is this?

A relatively quick and straightforward drive back, arriving before it got dark and an enjoyable evening chatting to Chris with no kids around!