Algarve, Tavira (Santa Maria e Santiago), Portugal

What was once a ruin is now an impressive countryside quinta. In one of the most serene and authentic corners of the Algarve, this imposing house waits like a sleeping beauty to be discovered.

The electric gate opens onto a driveway that leads up to the quinta. Built in 2012 on the ruins of an old farmhouse, it offers 472 m² of living space. There are currently three bedrooms, two of them en suite, and, as you'll read below, plenty of potential to add more. The ground floor also has a guest bathroom, a generous living and dining area with a fireplace, a fully equipped open kitchen, a utility room and a garage for three cars. A small cellar is currently used as a pantry.

Outside stairs lead to the first floor and a further 60 m² room, now used as a hobby room. Terraces surround this level on all sides, with open views to the ocean just a few kilometres away.

For long summer days there is an outdoor kitchen, a covered seating area, an outdoor shower and a heated pool. The villa sits at the heart of 1.7 hectares of fenced, landscaped grounds, with dozens of fruit trees, lush palms, native plants and a large vegetable garden where you can grow your own produce.

The garage and the first floor could be converted into four more en suite bedrooms, bringing the total to seven. Water and drainage connections are already in place.

The house is built to modern standards and holds an A+ energy rating. Cold, damp winters are a thing of the past here, so you'll want to live in it all year round. Solar-powered underfloor heating runs through most of the house, and solar panels heat the water. The walls, floors and roof are insulated, and the windows are triple-glazed. Rotating solar panels connected to a 30 kWh home battery make the villa almost self-sufficient in electricity, and the bedrooms have air conditioning.

The garden is watered from a shared borehole and an old well that still works, and the house is also connected to mains water.

The quinta lies in a very quiet, exclusive area surrounded by orange groves. The beach at Santa Luzia (Praia do Barril) and the charming fishing town of Fuseta are both less than 8 km away, an easy bike ride along empty country lanes. Tavira and its golf courses are only a little further.

If you dream of living like country nobility in the countryside around Tavira, this is your estate.
Energy Rating: A
#ref:SV-1924