Geoffrey and Adrianna Hewings: the Illinois doctors who fell in love with Oviedo and are donating a tree

For Adrianna and Geoffrey Hewings, a love affair with Oviedo is measured in daily walks through Campo San Francisco — a ritual they have maintained for ten years.

He is Welsh-born, a professor emeritus in regional economics and honorary professor at the University of Oviedo; she is American, a doctor in plant virology.

Together they have been married for 56 years and have travelled the world, but it is in the Asturian capital that they have found their definitive refuge.

The story of the Hewings with the Asturian capital did not begin with a tourist tour, but in a laboratory at the University of Illinois. There, Geoffrey met a handful of young researchers from the University of Oviedo. "That is how I discovered Oviedo," he recalls with a smile. One of those students invited him to spend a few days in the city, and the attraction was instantaneous. "I felt very comfortable here. You had a very strong mining industry and an iron and steel industry, which is what I grew up with in South Wales, but also a very diverse environment. How could you not love it?" he asks.

Geoffrey Hewings, professor emeritus:How could you not love this environment? It is so diverse — the mining, the steel, the landscape, the people.

That first trip was the prologue to a life between two continents. For almost two decades, due to their successful and demanding professional careers, the couple often lived in different cities. Paradoxically, retirement and Oviedo have finally allowed them to live together full-time during the six months of the year they spend in the city. Their integration into local life has been absolute; they have lived in all parts of the city, including a brief but intense stay in the Old Town. "We lived on Calle Mon," recalls Geoffrey with a laugh, "with 22 bars and a nightclub on the ground floor! We didn't sleep for two months." Now, settled near Plaza de América, they enjoy a routine they consider a luxury: not owning a car.

Adrianna Hewings, plant virologist:If we go to the post office, we pass through the park. If we go to the opera, we pass through the park. If we go to the Old Town, we pass through the park. Every time you walk here you notice some detail you had missed before.

In the United States, living without a vehicle is an eccentricity; in Oviedo, for the Hewings, it is health and pleasure. Every Saturday they go down to the Fontán market. Geoffrey, an amateur baker, looks for the best flour; Adrianna, who upon retiring swapped test tubes for stoves, has become an expert in lentils and fish. Their deep connection to Campo San Francisco is what led them to contact the councillor for Parks and Gardens, José Ramón Pando, to make a donation. They are already patrons of the Oviedo Opera, but they felt they owed something more to this land. Adrianna's connection to the plant world is in her genes — her grandmother, a woman with an "extraordinary instinct" for plants, taught her to look at and care for gardens.

Adrianna Hewings:I followed her steps: I loved plants, I became a scientist, a virologist; it was all because of her.

Although they leave the final decision to the municipal technicians to ensure the species is suitable for the Asturian climate, they have provided a long list of candidate species. "I don't have a favourite tree, that would be like asking me if I have a favourite child," she jokes, "but I would like the one that is planted to be beautiful and long-lived, to become part of this park, full of healthy trees with exquisite shapes." The gesture of the Hewings goes beyond the ornamental. It is a tree legacy of civics and gratitude. They are aware that, at their age, they are planting a shade they will probably not enjoy in its fullness, but that is precisely the essence of their gift.

Geoffrey Hewings:Someone 50 or 100 years ago planted all these wonderful trees for us to enjoy now. We just want to make sure that continues.

Adrianna Hewings:It is contributing something that will outlive us. It will remain here decades after we are gone. Gifts are important because they tell someone you care. And Oviedo matters a lot to us.

Stories such as those of the Hewings — international academics who chose Oviedo as their refuge — illustrate the city's appeal for discerning buyers from abroad. InasTour, acting exclusively as a buyer's agent, assists international clients in finding properties in precisely the areas that the Hewings have come to love: from the Old Town to Plaza de América, from the Campo San Francisco to the Campoamor Theatre, ensuring that those who, like them, seek a life of culture, tranquillity and connection, can find their own home in Oviedo.

The story of Geoffrey and Adrianna Hewings is not merely a tale of two academics who found a second home. It is a testament to the qualities that make Oviedo distinctive: its capacity to welcome, its walkability, its cultural life and its green spaces. In donating a tree to Campo San Francisco, the couple has chosen to leave a living legacy — not a monument of stone, but of growth, of shade, of continuity. Their gift speaks to something that international buyers increasingly seek: not just a property, but a place where they can put down roots. In Oviedo, the Hewings have found that — and their tree will stand as a reminder that the city's appeal is not just for visitors, but for those who choose to stay.