We have a buyer..

So we have been on the market for 1 month (almost) and now have a buyer who offered a fair price.Not quite sure what the buying and selling at the same time process is in Portugal though so not sure what happens next....

FOR SALE!!!!!

Well we are selling up!We have decided that the quinta is no longer for us as we bought it thinking the whole family would be living there and we had lots of exciting plans for development.Now however the children are settled in school in the UK with exams looming and it looks like we will be here for the next 5 years.So we have decided that we need something smaller that will be more manageable from the distance of Yorkshire.We have found the next new place so now we need a buyer......anyone interested in this lovely place??Contact me on sheridanmichele@hotmail.com

The building and plans...

The building needs a lot of work.
The top building is stone block and nice and cool in summer ,very cool in winter.This is to become our storage spot for and food preserved.To the left we will extend the roof out to build a workshop .To the right is a water tank which we will remove and use the space as a wood store for winter fires.The granite building will be restored and become a kitchen/sitting room and to the right of it we will extend to include a bedroom and bathroom.The roof needs removing and repairing ,the floor needs fixing ,windows are needed and doors,insulation,stoves,solar panels,waterwheel potentially for some winter power.....the list goes on and on.This is definitely a long term project but its got my heart so it will be a labour of love.

girls with their friend who is from Scotland and living about 40 minutes away in the mountains at http://www.permaculturinginportugal.net/ where she and her family are developing their place at a rapid rate!

September in the valley

We have just returned from a couple of weeks camping on the Quinta.It was hot so we did only half of the work we had planned to do which is a shame but at the same time the enforced periods of rest were much needed so its all good!

We are lucky to have the river Mondego so close by for quick cooling dips .So quite.All you can hear are the birds and occasional car.

I was last here in June and was expecting the land to be really over grown but it wasn't.This seems to be due to the high temperature and lack of water.The long grasses were scorched by the sun ,the brambles had grown a few more feet(the clearing of 2 hectares of brambles is a job we long to complete!)and the hillside effected by fire 7/8 years ago is beginning to look lovely.This is were the most growth appears to have been over the last few months with a selection of trees developing height.

We have loads of vines on the land and amazingly they continue to produce fruit despite being untended for the last few years.The black grapes were small and a little tasteless but the white grapes were a decent size and really juicy and sweet.The vines have gone mad over the last few months and they are everywhere you look.I cannot wait to be able to start looking after them well and learning more about them.

I am not sure how many fig trees we have ,maybe 5/6 but the ones I could get to are also producing a lot of fruit.I like fig trees as they always seem to grow in a way that gives a good shady spot underneath.I am not so keen on the fruit itself.

Yummy.I love olives .I love everything about them!Sadly this is what we are short of on the quinta.We have only about 6 olive trees at the moment and I could only get to 2 of them as the others are buried on a part of the land that we have not accessed yet due to the aforementioned brambles.The 2 I could reach need pruning but they are producing good size healthy looking fruit as it is.I hope to be back in late autumn to plant some trees on the top few terraces.We eventually hope that the terraces leading down to the building that will eventually be our home will become an orchard containing all the fruit we need for fresh eating and preserving.So lots and lots of clearing ,planting and mulching needed.

Most of our steps joining up terraces are a bit lethal in terms of slipping and so youngest daughter (and main opposer to moving to Portugal)got out the tools ,did a bit of digging and stone moving and created these steps at the bottom of the building so we could get about without falling and breaking something.She did a good job!

Our basic accommodation at the moment.We gutted the bigger caravan so that it now has a proper bed inside and not much else.The smaller caravan will be a kitchen if we are there in colder months.The green netting provided much needed shade.Solar lights and candles provided illumination at night.
All in all it was lovely to be back on the land and getting to know it better.It was the first time that the whole family was there together(except for the pets but they will have a long holiday next summer!).We saw only a handful of friends and found we just wanted to work on the land rather than be sociable.I think I met more neighbours at the local Intermarche and Lidl  than anywhere else.Everyone is busy building ,digging ,planting and strimming.....

Fire in Portugal

Although we are still in England(groan) I have been keeping an eye on things in Portugal.The heat has been building for a number of weeks and fires have broken out in the south and centre of the Country.So far a small number of people have died including 2  fire fighters plus up to 13 people arrested in connection with the fires....




When looking for a place to buy I was very aware of the danger of forest fires and wanted a place with water and good access.Although we are down in the valley ,down a track our access up to the village is ok.The building itself is positioned in the middle of terraces and when the land is cleared there is a good space between the buildings and the mimosa that edges the terraces.Frightening though....

Image via Wikipedia

rain and clouds are chasing us out of the UK for the last time!

so it all starts again??

Its August 2010 now already.Got no work in the UK for September BUT have got a job in Coimbra in Portugal plus my on line work.Got a place to rent close to the quinta with enough space to spread out.Dogs are happy about it as is Dude the cat.Paul and I are also happy.Guess who is not?

been looking at some cool pictures of some cool houses..