Vora Tosca, park in La Garrotxa

Vora Tosca is a garden and park in Les Preses defined by natural stones and simple plantings that blend harmoniously with the landscape. The paths are easy to walk and lead through different areas with benches where visitors can take in the details of the plants and surroundings at their own pace.

The park opened in 2004, designed by RCR Arquitectes (Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, Ramon Vilalta) on land cleared of basalt blocks from the Croscat volcano's lava flow. Farmers had moved the stones aside to gain arable soil, and the project turned that clearance into a landscape design. It won the fourth Rosa Barba European Landscape Prize in 2006.

The park's name comes from the volcanic rocks of the Croscat lava flow, moved here when fields were cleared and levelled for farming. The dry-stone walls built from those stones are the work of local farmers, and the park keeps them as a record of that labour. RCR Arquitectes turned the site into a landscaped route in 2004.

The park lies within the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park at Les Preses, near Olot. Its layout is a grid of narrow corridors lined with corten steel posts holding raised mounds; the linear pattern only becomes legible from above, so follow the corridors on foot and look for the steel markers. The ground is uneven volcanic stone.

The narrow corridors lined with corten steel posts holding raised mounds form linear traces that only become legible from above; on the ground they read as low walls between planted beds. The scheme, by RCR Arquitectes (Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, Ramón Vilalta), won the fourth Rosa Barba European Landscape Prize in 2006.