A place to be a real cowboy for a week without sacrificing an ounce of luxury, Cibolo Creek was once an Adobe fort built to protect settlers from Comanche Indians in the Great Bend of Texas, near the Rio Grande. It is a 160,000 acre ranch that combines the great vastness of Texas with the evocative style of the American South West.

Meals are based on Mexican cooking traditions and are served on a massive, never-ending oak table, in a long, rustic dining hall that was once the chapel of the mission. The idea is that all the guests eat together at one table. The cook clangs a big bell when the food is ready.

Authentic' and 'adventure' are the key words that apply to this ranch. Navajo Indian rugs, Adobe fireplaces, weather worn furniture, are combined with an impressive stable of horses and a beautiful array of saddles and riding equipment to create an American ranch experience that is thoroughly natural and completely without cliché.

Spacious, private and luxurious, guest rooms feature city style amenities such as enormous bathrooms and state of the art communication combined with four poster beds, fire places, and rustic furniture that set the aesthetic signature of the American South West.

The view is straight out of a Western. Not too long ago this domain was the home of Comanche Indians. The landscape is a vast, undulating prairie punctuated by the odd mountain peak.

This is the part of Texas known as the Big Bend, the horn shaped bit at the very bottom of the state that is a twelve hour drive from Houston. An almost uninhabited piece of Wild West running along the Rio Grande.

With its collection of verandas and courtyards and unusual hidden spaces the ranch is not short of interesting and unusual places to have a drink. One of the favourites is in a seating area adjoining the lake.

From $400 per night.