QUINTA DO MONTE VIRGEM

In 2021, we stepped into something much bigger than a renovation — we started to rebuild a home and care for a piece of land that had been waiting for attention. What began as a simple idea turned into years of work, learning, mistakes, and joy.

We’ve done most of it ourselves — just the two of us — with helping hands from friends and neighbours who showed up from Lisbon, South Africa, Germany, Italy, and beyond. Some came to stay for a few days, others for a few weeks, and together we tackled each task, one at a time.

Since then, we’ve:

• Fixed the roof and replaced every wooden floor in the house

• Renovated two bathrooms and added a hot outdoor shower

• Converted the old water reservoir into a swimming pool

• Rebuilt the kitchen from scratch

• Painted every surface, inside and out

• Built a pergola in the garden

• Cleared the land, harvested cork from old trees, and fought back a lot of silvas

We also dove into side projects that taught us (sometimes painfully) what it really means to care for a rural home: planting a food garden in our first year, trying to maintain the land around the house, spending entire days cutting back overgrowth, figuring out how to run plumbing or fix a leak on the fly.

Not everything went right. A lot went sideways. But all of it helped us build not just a home, but a deeper relationship with the land and with the people around us.

This place is still a work in progress — imperfect, full of stories, and built by hand and heart.

We hope, as you look through the photos, you’ll feel some of that spirit.