L’Horta de València is the set of orchards irrigated by ditches from the Turia River. Of Roman origin, it was under Muslim rule (8th-13th centuries) when its great development took place: new crops and working techniques were introduced and the irrigation system was put into operation.

It includes a radius of 10-15km that surrounds the city of Valencia; an area of 10,500 hectares divided into two regions: l’Horta Nord, north of the Turia River, and l’Horta Sud, south of it, including the city of Valencia.

L’Horta Nord, where we are now, covers 22 municipalities and some districts of València. Historically, its traditional activity has been agriculture, with a predominance of orange and vegetable crops, such as potatoes, tomatoes, onions and tiger nuts.


In the surroundings of the Molí dels Canyars there are important elements of the Valencian water heritage that have survived to the present day.

Séquia de Tormos and Séquia de Rascanya

Two of the nine ditches that irrigate l’Horta de València, and which are governed by the Tribunal de las Aguas de València, a legal institution more than a thousand years old.

The Séquia de Tormos is the first to take water from the left bank of the Turia River, except for the one of Moncada that is upstream, and its route is extended along twelve kilometers, from its dam in Paterna to its end in the Séquia de Rascanya.

The Séquia de Rascanya is the last on the left bank of the Turia. It enters the city of Valencia crossing the neighborhoods of Campanar, Marchalenes and Torrefiel, and from there, runs outdoors parallel to the Palmaret canal to the Molí dels Canyars, where it is divided into two sub-ditches: Alboraia and Almàssera.

Les Llengüetes

These irrigation mechanisms ​​are the only ones of the Séquia de Rascanya that are still visible, outdoors, and in their original location since the 13th century.

Their task is to divide the waters of the ditch into two sub-ditchest: Braç d’Alboraia and Braç d’Almàssera. The first one is on the right, and turns east parallel to the Barranc del Carraixet towards the sea. The second crosses the Barranc del Carraixet to irrigate the fields of Almàssera.


Traditional rural housing of l’Horta Nord, whose construction dates from the 15th century. It was originally the residence of the workers of one of the seven mills associated with the irrigation ditch of Tormos, which crosses it from west to east.

The main body is composed of two floors with a gable roof of Arab tile, based on wooden beams with transverse crossbars for the support of the entabacado of solid Catalan brick.

The building enjoys favorable East-West orientation with the midday sun protection and the prevailing breeze of the Valencian East; conjunction that has historically generated the natural health conditions of the Horta settlements.

Up to now it has fulfilled the double function of residence of the family that cultivates the nearby lands, as well as of warehouse for tools and forage and block for farm animals.