​It is only an hour away from Marrakech but it is also a world away! Amizmiz is bustling market town in a productive rural area in the foothills of the High Atlas, just south of Marrakech.

The journey to Amizmiz first travels over the Marrakech Plain. On approaching the southern edge of this plain, farming intensifies, a sign that there is water available for agriculture.

Mountain snowmelt and rainfall are now the water sources (groundwater reserves having dried up in many places). With careful water management, on the large scaled small scale, this area is pretty productive.

Amizmiz is an interesting, very real, Moroccan market town. There are few signs of tourism here. Many activities are to be seen (and even more so on market day), always so interesting to be amongst.

In the surrounding area to Amizmiz, there is much of interest to see too - intricate farming plots and their small scale irrigation systems, the farming activities, the natural vegetation.

Also, a potter can be visited. The whole process from gathering the clay from the land to the finished product (a well fired, beautiful tagine pot) can call be seen taking place. Indeed, there is the opportunity to literally "try your hand!" What shape will your tagine be!

A picnic lunch - either in a cosy gîte or in a forest glade - allows time to reflect on what has been seen and experienced as you travel deeper and deeper into real Morocco.