Casa Quirós is owned and run by Richie Patterson and Mary Ryan – a pair of refugees (from England and Ireland) who fled Sheffield 10 years ago and pitched up in the Green Paradise that is Asturias.

Lured by endless mountains, beaches and enough sun to keep us warm (but not fry us) we have been enjoying ‘the good life’ climbing, surfing and raising the odd glass of cheap red wine.

About Richie – A climber since the age of 11, I have worked in the outdoor industry for 25 years, first at the famous Outside climbing shop in the Peak District and then for the last 17 years at Wild Country. At Wild Country I have had a hand in designing lots of different bits of climbing gear: the well loved Superlight Rocks and newly released Superlight Offset Rocks were both my designs. However, I recently quit my work at Wild Country to concentrate my life in Spain and to run and expand our new holiday cottage business (and to climb as much as possible).

An early photo of me in ‘daredevil’ mode…doing the famous ‘Cook’s Leap’ Froggat edge. 1983

As a climber I have done a bit of everything – starting out as a trad climber I did my first extreme as a solo in Northumberland and my first E4 in 1986. Since then I have climbed across the world in many locations, have appeared in a  couple of climbing videos (The Real Thing and Stone Love). I have climbed with some of the world’s best climbers and whilst living in Sheffield put up quite a few new routes in the Peak District, both on gritstone and limestone; including the first ascent of Born Slippy E8 at Curbar.

Me on Ramshaw crack whilst writing the Ramshaw section for the Staffordshire Guide

After suffering a bad shoulder injury in 2001 I took some time off and took up surfing and got the urge to move closer to the sea – and between me and Mary we picked Asturias! However, after being in Spain a few years and getting back into climbing I decided that the information available about this amazing area was terrible and I would write a guide.
Two years later I published Roca Verde and the positive reception put my mind to thinking about creating a place to stay for people – thus Casa Quiros was born.

The Roca Verde guidebook

Casa Quiros has been a great project, I am proud it’s open and it’s now a great excuse for me to have to climb more, explore more and learn about all the things any good host should know to make sure their guests have the best holiday…

About Mary –  A longtime climber and one time acupuncturist Mary is a marketing graduate from Trinity College, Dublin, who has combined many of her skills to open a very successful estate agency here in Spain – www.spanishpropertynorth.com

Also resident in Sheffield before our move Mary was a practising acupuncturist, fluent in French and like me a nascent surfer. Luckily for me her linguistic skills were able to stand the transfer to Spain and with plenty of hard work she’s pretty much fluent and created a niche by successfully helping local estate agents bring their properties to Uk and overseas buyers.

Her climbing has also taken off and she’s got a starring role in the Roca Verde guidebook appearing on more routes than anyone else.

Mary Ryan on El cantu, V, Marabio.