Embrace Sustainable Living in Central Portugal

This is an opportunity to live a pioneer lifestyle, deep in nature, within carefully restored historic granite stone buildings, next to a fast flowing stream, with resource and financial independence and topped by dramatic views to the highest peaks of Central Portugal.

Historic Property

Quinta Linda is a historic farm, established well over a century ago, totally off-grid, with no immediate neighbours, nestled on roughly 2 hectares of well maintained organic land, spread over curved granite terraces on the south-east facing side of the Serra do Caramulo.

The Serra do Caramulo is famous for its clean air, pure water, rich history and traditional and contemporary culture – from neolithic sites, to an annual classic car rally up the steep, winding mountain roads.

The property is located less than 20km from Viseu, Vouzela, Sao Pedro do Sul and Tondela, all of which have a range of services, supermarkets and schools.

Life here on the farm can have a pioneer feeling, but is also peaceful, adventurous, offers financial freedom and endless space and time to work, build or relax.

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Organic Farming

The land is divided into areas for relaxing, fruit trees, vines, organic gardening, coppice woodland and grazing land with lush grass for farm animals – the current owners have always used no chemical farming techniques and there are currently livestock grazing several of the fields to improve fertility and help with maintenance.

There are over 150 fruit trees, including several very productive lemon trees, orange, tangerine, kiwi, passionfruit, avocado, plum, apple, pear, peach, nectarine, apricot, kaki, fig, walnut, almond, cherry, chestnut. There are also many very well established herb and flower gardens dotted around all the internal roads and buildings which bring colour and scents to the farm year round.

The farm also has a productive vineyard, currently producing enough grapes for around 300 litres of organic wine, which is processed on site in a traditional granite stone wine press, attached to the side of the cottage – this is stored in stainless steel barrels in the food storage room – Adega.

The land has been engineered into large curved and gently sloped terraces, which direct the water for irrigation and overflow back to the stream, as the land drops over 40meters in altitude from the top of the farm to the very bottom.

This area around the Serra do Caramulo has a unique microclimate, snow is very rare, days below 5 degrees in the winter are also uncommon, but winters can be wet, while summers from July to October tend to be hot and dry. This climate means that a vast range of plans can grow happily here, and the land has many centennial oak trees which provide shade and habitat to birds and acorns as food for the livestock.

Off-Grid Infrastructure

Electricity is provided by a 3 way island off-grid energy system – a mixture of 1.5kw solar, 250 watt micro-hydroelectric powered by water from a stream which forms one border to the property and a backup petrol generator, energy is stored in a large 1320a/h 24 volt battery bank and converted via a 5000 watt Victron inverter to 240 volt “normal” energy for the local grid, providing enough energy to power high consumption devices such as the pump, washing machine etc.

The current owners use a 5G internet connection, which provides continual high quality coverage enabling remote work, streaming and continual connectivity.

The property has a 93 meter deep fresh water borehole passing through two fast flowing springs providing essentially endless high quality, free fresh drinking and irrigation water – the well is serviced by a submersible pump which runs on a program to keep two closed water tanks full – the tanks are positioned on the highest part of the land to provide decent water pressure to the houses and tactically positioned outdoor taps.

Next to the main building there is a square “splash tank” which holds about 9m3 of fresh, untreated spring water, this is used in the summer as a dip pool and the overflow runs into a small filtering pond before running downhill to a lower granite stone tank which serves as an irrigation source for the organic vegetable garden.

The grey water – from sinks, showers, washing machine etc – is treated with simple, but effective drainage traps situated away from the houses, these are used to provide nutrients to plants such as bananas or other more water hungry species, ensuring that resources taken from the land are returned to the land to provide secondary benefits – note this this requires the use of naturally biodegradable detergents and cleaning products.

The property is also equipped with a well constructed wood and brick composting toilet, which uses sawdust as an additive to produce a highly effective humanure on an 18 month cycle – this can be used to fertilise fruit trees.

Made in Granite

The historic granite stone buildings on the property have been slowly restored by the current owner along with local craftsmen, using mostly local and traditional methods and materials where possible, except in the case of modern insulation, electrical and water installation.

There are several impressive stone buildings with extremely thick 70cm granite stone walls:

• the main house with 4 bedrooms, an open plan kitchen/salon and bathroom,
• the cottage has a single bedroom with and en-suite bathroom, and kitchen/salon upstairs,
• there is a single story food/wood store with outside kitchen,
• workshop made of the cement block and brick and 50m2 carport with room for two large vehicles.

The largest room is located upstairs in the main building and provides panoramic views. It has been used as a Yoga Shala previously and is also multifunctional. It’s large area at over 30m2 has a solid local pine wooden floor. Three pairs of floor to ceiling glass doors lead to a large south facing balcony which sits on 3 robust stone columns, with a wooden balustrade and signature metal and wood staircase leading to the cobbled patio at ground level. The room can be also accessed via a wooden staircase leading from the main downstairs bedroom, which can be closed via a trap door if required.

The main building also has three large roof overhangs, providing sun and rain shelter to the wooden doors and windows.

The second house is a totally independent, cosy cottage which could be an ideal place for grandparents, a rental opportunity or for friends and family when they come to visit. The cottage also has a cobbled patio shaded with grapes and kiwi pergola. The main entrance is protected by the covering which is made of wood with ceramic tiles sitting on pine wood columns.

The centrally located Adega is an independent and historic granite stone stable, which has been lovingly restored and divided into three spaces, one to store firewood for all the houses, one as a food and wine store with large wooden shelving and an open summer kitchen for big cook ups, like preserving fruits or vegetables.

The workshop is small at 12m2, but optimized for the tasks and tools required to maintain this large property – all the tools are included as part of the sale, and while some are well used, they should enable the new owners to continue with the maintenance of the land, buildings and infrastructure.

Modern Efficiency Performance

All the glass in the windows and doors of the main building and cottage are double glazed and have sealants to improve efficiency, the roofs have 8cm of polyurethane sheet insulation and the floors have 4cm of polyurethane floormate to prevent heat from escaping downwards – and the main building has a recent energy efficiency rating of B-.

All the doors have deadlocks and there are spare keys for each lockable door – the windows open and close only  from the inside.

The main building has a yet to be connected underfloor heating system which could extend the heating zone from the fireplace in the kitchen/salon space, pieces are provided to complete some of this work and the owner can give insights into what technical steps are still required.

The indoor spaces are heated with wood burning fires and the cottage has underfloor heating to heat the lower floors – currently most wood for heating is sourced freely from the land.

Hot water for showering and washing is provided via butane gas boilers, which are located outside of the buildings for additional safety.

Ready to move in

The inside spaces are simply furnished in solid wooden furniture which could be included in the sale, but this is negotiable, if not required.

The areas with the most individual character are the bathrooms, which have been hand mosaiced with brightly coloured tiles to add some playfulness and also is an example of practical upcycling.

Most of the inner walls of the building are either raw granite hand cut stone or have been lime washed in natural quick lime. All ceilings have exposed wooden beams and there are double glazed roof lights in the cottage, main building kitchen and the smaller bedroom space on the main building.

While the main building is listed as having 4 bedrooms, these spaces are flexible, currently one is used as a studio space and another as a large and light-filled yoga room.

The main building and cottage have ornate hand cobbled granite stone patios around them, which add visually to the buildings, but are also practical in wet weather and provide some fire protection.

Practical and convenient

The access to the property is via a recently resurfaced public road which is about 400 meters long – the last 20 meters of access are not yet surfaced, but are flat and in good condition and passable with a normal road car, giving access to a large covered parking area of 50m2 next to the workshop, located at the very top of the land.

There is also a large (12m2) south facing greenhouse with a natural granite heatsink, this is wood, glass and cement block construction located below the workshop and useful as both a nursery and for overwintering cactuses and more delicate plants which might suffer as temperatures drop or due to heavy rains.

There is an additional building which houses all the machines for the energy system and batteries, this is a wooden building which has been wrapped in zinc sheeting to offer additional protection.

There is also a wooden stable about 15m2, which sits in a large fenced area at the bottom of the land, this currently houses two sheep and a goat which might be included in the sale, depending on the buyers intention for them. The stable is divided into three areas, one for the animals, a central hay storage area and a chicken coop, which previously housed 6 chickens.

All the hay for the livestock is currently sourced from the land, last year this provided 55 bales.

Rural, But Connected

The farm is located in a very rural part of Central Portugal, with an abundance of tradition, nature and opportunities for walking and to experience the local culture, it is possible to walk from the property via ancient hand paved Roman roads to join one of the interior routes of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

This unique property would make a fantastic home for a family passionate about farming and sustainable living, but could also easily be transformed into a thriving retreat centre or eco-friendly commercial business, but above all it requires new stewards who are invested in maintaining and shepherding this historic and beautiful piece of living art safely into the future.

From our long experience living here, we can say that Portugal is a safe, tolerant, relaxed and naturally beautiful land full of good, honest and open people.

We can provide a long list of reviews from volunteers, friends and house sitters who have come and stayed with us over the 15 years on this amazing property, many of who have been so inspired that they have gone on to buy their own rural properties, safe in the knowledge that is possible to live a healthy and comfortable live, while also being deeply embedded in nature and history.