Monte da Casa do João is the best of all worlds: mountains, city, and sea. Owner André and his wife Carla built this rustic-modern luxury villa in Alentejo, in the beautiful hills of Santa Margarida da Serra, as a refuge for themselves and their three children from Lisbon city life. Now they have opened it up to be a relaxing getaway for families and friends.
Surrounded by Indian fig trees, purple passion fruit orchards, and Alentejo cork oaks, the 13-hectare setting is a playground for kids of any age, including adults. “Monte” for the Portuguese is a plantation in Alentejo where the land is cultivated and animals are raised, and here there are even four-legged farm friends roaming the grounds that you can feed and interact with.
The “live like a local” ethos is also steeped into the food, as typical dishes here include fresh ingredients from the farm’s plentiful gardens. And it’s a wonderful opportunity to live in harmony with the environment, as all the energy is produced comes from renewable sources and the water from the earth’s veins.
If you ever have the desire to leave, you are situated near the beaches of Melides and Lagoa de Santo André and the cities of Grândola and Santiago.
André and Carla feel privileged to have experienced this life, and like to say that if “sunshine, freedom and flowered fields equal happiness, this is definitely the right place for you.”