Riverfront Villa / Quinta Grounds, Swimming Pool and Gardens

With over 11,000 sqm of land and a long lower boundary with and providing direct access to the River Minho, along which you can easily walk to the nearby historic fortified town of Monção, plus adjacent woodland currently not fenced off (the woodland is available for purchase), we have plenty of areas with which to walk and relax.

We fill the swimming pool up at the end of May as it starts to get hot and after the cork oak tree in the family garden sheds its leaves (cork oaks shed their leaves in late spring as they grow new ones - a kind of an evergreen deciduous tree). An over-winter cover could easily be added but we have found it simpler just to fill the pool up over 3 days from the mains water at a cost of around 25 Euros (we have metered water). An adjacent pool house shelters the filtration system and also is where the main valves are for the various irrigation systems around the grounds. We have drip emitter lines for the fruit trees, vines, driveway rose borders and several other areas where we have recently added new plants / bushes / trees to allow them to become established. The large bank area has sprinklers divided into three sections. The rock garden has a spray system. Various irrigation water faucets are strategically placed around the grounds, as are a few faucets connected to the mains water. In case the irrigation pump fails, the main irrigation system can be switched over to mains water.

A two meter high wall plus a line of established Cypress trees and several oak trees along our Eastern border basically prevent our immediate neighbour and anyone from the approach / entrance road looking onto / into our grounds. To the West of us is woodland which can never be built upon, although a large section of it (7,200 sqm) is available for sale if you want to own it. The woodland is separated from our grounds by a 2 meter high wall which could have an archway and gate easily made into it. Currently only tractor paths serve this woodland, so it is very quiet, although the existing owners do hunt rabbit and duck there occasionally. To the south of us we have have bought the adjacent overlooking land and sectioned the closest part of it off with a 2 meter fence and line of Italian Cypress (can grow to 40 meters high) to extend our grounds and protect our privacy. To the north is our 2 meter boundary fence and Cypress hedge barrier with the river bank, which technically we own but have no rights over it except for the slipway.

A gate house / dog penn prevents anyone at the gate from seeing the house and majority of the grounds. As you enter a wall is to the left (above it is the new land we bought - see above photo) and grape vines set on granite columns with inox archways are the to the right. A bend in the driveway then takes you between the grapevine area and our main fruit garden (with greenhouse) to our front door. With 234 wine grape vines, each capable of producing 8 to 20 bunches of grapes with roughly 4 bunches of grapes to the bottle of wine, it does not take much to work out how much wine you can produce for your own consumption (with friends). We do not use sulphur on our vines (used to treat mildew), which limits the grape production, but means the grape juice is free from synthetics. We originally composted the vineyard and main fruit garden with 2 lorry loads of organic goat compost from the mountains, they are now fertilized by the chicken house / coup (all natural).

The house looks very small from the front and belies just how big it actually is. As you can see from the picture below, the driveway is a lovely beige brown granite cobblestone; sadly this is a dying craft although they last for many hundreds of years. There is plenty of space on the south facing roof for large solar panels which could feed pipes down to the basement (lower floor) via the chimney stack. The trees in front of the house are fruiting black / red olives. The balcony, family garden, swimming pool and out of site lower outdoor granite dining area are completely fenced and gated off in case you wish to keep dogs but at a distance; they also protect children from harm (the pool and steep bank down to the river).

The driveway then goes around, past the separate garages and main dog pen area (itself with an established cork oak tree in the middle) and down behind the river side of the villa, through the outdoor granite dining area, under 15 oak trees plus one sweet chestnut tree (produces an abundance of chestnuts each year), past the duck pond (just out of view) and summer house, chicken house (with large cherry tree growing through the middle of it) and vegetable garden (composted by oak leaves and chickens) down to the river itself. A granite slab walkway goes along the river perimeter fence / cypress hedge screen, water pump (pumps from the river to the duck pond / irrigation tank), second fruit tree area and along a lengthy walkway lined with scented Nerium Oleander bushes.

Between the oak / chestnut trees and the vineyard is a small garden area in which we have built a granite stone pergola, with granite kubos floor and granite table / benches; this enjoys views through the trees down to the river. Several flowering vines are now semi-established on it. The oak trees shed a lot (and I mean a lot) of leaves each winter and these go into our three concrete compost bins (out of sight, down and to the left of the vegetable garden). Oak leaf compost is excellent and we use it on the vegetables, the lower level fruit trees and an area just past this where we grow supersweet corn each year.

The duck pond / irrigation tank is fed by a natural stream which tends to dry up in summer. A further stream runs under the tank and keeps the little stream down through the grounds to the river wet all year round. Along the stream we grow a plant called "Equisetum hyemale" which is mixed with stinging nettles and used as a natural fungicide on grape vines. We also use milk mixed with bicarbonate of soda to treat the vines; this allows you to grow grapes and ferment wine without the chemical headaches that go with commercial wines. The vineyard soil is perfect for our chosen local prestigious wine variety "Alvarinho", being rich soil with a large amount of granite gravel (giving excellent drainage). The soil has never been "treated" with any chemical fertilizers, etc. to our knowledge.

In our grounds we have a large selection of flowering plants and bushes such as Camellia, Gardenia, Rhododendron, Azalea, Nerium, and Magnolia. The cherry trees are also spectacular in bloom in spring along with the daffodils, tulips, crocus, flowering quince, etc. we have planted.