Cynthia

Renovate old quinta in Serra da Estrela mountainrange, Portugal

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    About us

    We are a Dutch couple, Cynthia (57) and Jaap (60) Just bought us an old farm with 10 hectares of land in the beautiful mountains of the Serra da Estrela, Portugal. Cynthia was self-employed for many years and had a travel organisation till she felt that her feelings didn't match with the world as it is today. Time to fulfil her biggest dream, create a place where likewise people and animals can rest and heal. In the past 7 years she collected diplomas of many sorts of massages, followed a course of breathing coach, Reiki, organized and gave retreats and more. She loves to create, cook, read, paint, pottery, animals and be in nature. Jaap is still self-employed but has the luxury of leaving his companies for longer periods. He is always busy and working as that is what he loves the most. He is very active and does all kind of (extreme) sports whenever he can. Together we want to bring this old farm and the land back to life again in a way many people can enjoy the beauty of the nature and the magic of the land. Our dream is to create a peacefull place where people and animals are welcome to rest and heal.


    My place

    The farm is located in the middle of the 10ha on the slopes at the border of the Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain range of Portugal. It can easily be reached by a small dirt road. We have two old granite houses on the property, the land is build up in old terraces with stone walls. On the land we have watermines (minas), manmade tunnels deep into the mountain were the water runs from into old granite tanks to collect the water. From there the water runs to the mainhouse and the land. The land is full trees and bushes, many of them give fruit. On the land are many huge boulders, like if a giant has been playing with pebbles! We didn’t explore the whole 10ha yet, so many things are to be discovered. The farm is 10 minutes (by car) located from Valhelhas, a typical Portuguese little village with some nice restaurants, a café and a little supermarket. The village is located along a river where you can swim in the summer. The Camino (Santiago the Compostela) is crossing this village. A big barragem (lake) is 15 minutes from the farm. Big cities 30 – 35km. The whole area is suitable for sports like sup peddling (lake), swimming, hiking, biking, paragliding and in wintertime skiing and cross-country skiing (langlaufen). At the mainhouse we recieve 4G, later on we will provide wifi at the mainhouse. Not sure it will be suitable for family with small children as the property needs a good clean up after 10 years. We do want it to be safe for children and feel this is not the case at this moment.


    Projects

    Our farm is old, needs a lot of TLC. On the slopes at the border of the Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain range of Portugal. The mountains are magic, the nature stunning. It’s a part of Portugal for nature lovers and for thrill seekers. We have 2 houses on the property. On mainhouse that we need to renovate and will turn into our home. And one ruin that needs to be cleaned so its safe and will kept like that for the future. The land around the houses needs to be cleaned. There are many things to be done, this is the whole list for now... Renovating the mainhouse which is build up with big granite stones. We want to renovate it with the traditional materials like stone and wood. The old (thin) walls in the house need to be removed in order to make it one big space. New joints between the granite stones. Insulating the roof After removing the old floors, new wooden floors in the mainhouse Make the toilet/shower near the mainhouse work again and turn it into to compost toilet/shower Cleaning the terraces around the house. Cleaning the dirt roads and footpaths that connect the terraces, they are overgrown Cleaning the watermine(s) and watertank(s) Bringing back the old vegetable garden back to life with permaculture Creating compost toilets in the below part Create a natural pool in the below part Building small accommodations like dome, hobbit house, cob house etc.


    Accommodation

    As we just bought the farm we can't offer a room, this will be possible in 2022. We offer a tent(s) with woodstove. Shower can be done with the water from the watermines or with warm running water when the shower is restored next to the mainhouse.


    Food

    Cynthia is an excellent cook and will provide 3 vegetarian meals a day.



    Availability

    No availability information has been added yet