Museo etnográfico "El Pajar"

Museo Etnográfico "El Pajar" is a private museum of rural life in Proaño, a small village in the municipality of Hermandad de Campoo de Suso, in southern Cantabria. The collection fills an 18th-century farmhouse with its traditional hayloft-barn (pajar), assembled over decades by local collector Luis Moreno Landeras.

How to get there?

Proaño lies in the Campoo de Suso district, a mountainous, inland area of southern Cantabria near the source of the Ebro river — far from the coast and close to the borders with Castile and León and Palencia. The easiest way in is by car, heading toward Reinosa, the main town of the Campoo area, from where Proaño is only a few minutes down local roads. This is not a walk-in museum: visits must be arranged by phone in advance.

What will you see?

The building itself is part of the exhibit — an 18th-century farmhouse with 20th-century alterations to its living quarters. The upper level, the original hayloft that gives the museum its name, and the lower level, once a stable, together hold more than 2,000 documented items tied to rural life in the historic Merindad de Campoo.

Upstairs are farming and transport tools: various types of plows, sickles, scythes, and threshing equipment. Downstairs, in the former stable, sit pieces in wood, metal, and pottery, alongside displays on traditional crafts — cheese and bread making, wool and linen processing, and even hunting traps and slaughtering tools. A distinctive section is devoted to the region's traditional musical instruments, including tambourines, rebecs, and wooden flutes, a reminder of Campoo's rich folk culture.

What stands out is not scale but authenticity: this is a working collection of everyday objects, gathered with genuine dedication by one person over more than thirty years, rather than a staged museum reconstruction.

When to visit?

The museum welcomes visitors year-round, from 11:00 to 19:00, but always by prior booking — groups are capped at 12 people, and a guided tour runs about an hour. It's worth calling ahead, especially if you plan to combine the visit with other attractions in the Campoo area, such as the Ebro reservoir or the mountain trails around Reinosa. Given the museum's small, family-run character, autumn and winter tend to be quieter in terms of visitor numbers, though weather in this mountainous part of Cantabria can be more demanding at that time of year.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the museum located? In the village of Proaño, in the municipality of Hermandad de Campoo de Suso, in the mountainous southern part of Cantabria, close to Reinosa.

Is admission free? Yes, entry is free, but visits are guided only and require a phone booking in advance.

What can you see inside? Over 2,000 everyday objects from rural Campoo life — farming tools, equipment for making cheese, bread, wool, and linen, wood and metal craftwork, and the region's traditional musical instruments.

Who put the collection together? It comes from the private initiative of Luis Moreno Landeras, who spent more than thirty years gathering items related to the ethnography of Campoo.