About us
We are the Guerreiro da Silva family; Roberto, Martha and our children Rodrigo and Ricardo. Roberto is Portuguese and has lived in the Netherlands for about 15 years, from the 15 years, 13 years together with Martha in a small village in Friesland..
The decision to exchange the Netherlands for Portugal is a long-held wish from us. We had a nice house and both had a good job. But we always dreamed to change our live. We wanted to live free in the countryside with small-scale tourism, with space to grow our own vegetables. Portugal is a wonderful country, the climate is fantastic, the beach and the ocean are just around the corner. And also the simple things in life; people take their time here for a cup of coffee or a nice lunch
After a long search on the real estate market, we were able to buy our Quinta in 2014. We had to completely renovate the house that had been empty for several years, several d.i.y. holidays later we decided to use the house first for short term rent, to prepare ourselves for our emigration.
But building a touristic activity in Portugal is not that simple. We asked an architect for advice on a guesthouse design. It took 2 years in total before the design was approved after many changes. Literally stacks of paperwork further, we were able to start building in May 2018
Construction would be completed within 6 to 8 months was prommised to us. As soon as construction started, we put our house in Friesland up for sale, and it was sold within a few months. With the moving van loaded, suitcases packed, our cat in the travelcase and after flying for 3 hours we had arrived in our new, and also familiar, homeland
Staying strong
Unfortunately it was not as easy as we thought, the children had a very hard time at school, from the small village school to the big schools in Silves, they were also bullied by the other children. Fortunately, the schools were able to solve this quickly, and assisted the children very well
Also the construction did not go as planned, when we arrived there was still nothing done, nada! We had to switch gears for a moment and thought: "Come on, let’s do this we will kick some asses, and then everything will be fine!" Unfortunately, that worked slightly differently.
The project manager was almost never on construction site. Literally everything that could go wrong also went wrong with the construction! And then you also have to keep your patience, because Dutch directness or just telling the truth is usually not appreciated, and then you may not see your Portuguese contractor at all.
But with a lot of pain and effort, construction is completed a year and a half later. Then wait for months for the paperwork for the permit. It was a very difficult and frustrating process. We thought so many times, was our life in the Netherlands really that bad? Was it this what we where exactly looking for?
But was it offered?
But then the fun part starts, finally unpacked the moving boxes, our furniture and items that we had collected over the years found a place, and then you finally get to the point where you look around and think that it is offered. We have learned a lot from this proces, in many different ways, not only in terms of jobs, but especially in dealing with difficulties! The children have now also found their place and go with pleasure to school. We have now done several seasons, and it is really great, and everything we had hoped for, we meet many people from several countries and that makes our work very special!!
We also have space here for Roberto's great passion, a natural organic vegetable garden. We eat the vegetables ourselves, but we also use them at the breakfast buffet, and meals, as well as the nuts, olives and fruits of our trees.
Roberto was born and raised in Silves, and can tell our guests all about the area, the most beautiful beaches and the rich history of Silves.
This was our dream to create something beautiful in this wonderful place. To live and work here, to share this place, and to do what we love to do, create a pleasant stay for our guests who also come to enjoy all of the beauty that the Algarve has to offer
Are you looking for a stay in the Algarve, check our availability calendar or feel free to contact contact us!