I always think of La Guancha in Tenerife as the town where all the roses grow. There is a wonderful display in borders all along the main street of red roses, pink roses, yellow roses and white roses.

The road into and out of La Guancha takes in some of the prettiest countryside in the north of the island, and in one stretch past Icod el Alto it is almost like looking down from a plane, so steep is the drop and so sweeping the view over the valley below down to the coast and over and along to Puerto de la Cruz.

La Guancha is a town and municipality in the mountains and forests that overlook San Juan de la Rambla on the coast below. The main road through it goes to Icod de los Vinos on the one side and through Los Realejos down to Puerto de la Cruz on the other.

There are plenty of farms outside La Guancha growing cereal crops, grapes and vegetables such as potatoes. The area has very rural feel to it that adds to its charm. It is possible to buy locally made wines and other agricultural produce too.

Because it is high in the mountains it is often cooler than down in the coastal regions and sometimes it is covered in misty cloud but this makes it all that much better for the plants and trees that grow there. There are many spectacular palms with their own selection of epiphytes circling the upper part of the trunk.

The forests around La Guancha are mainly Canary Island pines and behind them there is the majestic view of Mt Teide towering with its peak high above the rest of the island as the highest mountain in Spain.

As a town La Guancha has just about everything you could want apart from a beach but it has easy access to the coast below, which is about 20 minutes drive, if that. La Guancha has a wide range of shops and businesses, a Red Cross centre, churches, squares, gymnasium, post office, school, police station, restaurants, bars, bank, and a regular bus service from Icod de los Vinos to Puerto de la Cruz.

The coat of arms of La Guancha shows two Guanche women - original people who lived on the island before the Spanish conquest - Mt Teide, a stream, a pine tree and bunches of grapes and ears of corn, to symbolise the area's farming tradition and produce.

There is a legend that a Spanish captain fell in love with a Guanche maiden he saw drawing water at a fountain but she ran away and he never saw her again. The place where this was said to have happened is Fuente de la Guancha and this was the previous full name of the town, which has been shortened to La Guancha.

Just outside La Guancha is the very beautiful and popular tiny village of El PInalete, which is surrounded by pine forest. There is a hermitage, a stream, a bar on one side of the road and a bar and restaurant on the other, a square where fiestas are held and a bus stop.

La Guancha is the side of Tenerife that many tourists miss out on but it is well worth seeking out. This is the Tenerife that combines the old with the new but remains unspoiled by modern ways of life. Not only that but it has the best collection of roses in all the island!