Casa do Quintal

Olaia, Santarém, Portugal
6 guests
3 bedrooms
1 bathroom

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Superbly Simple: A property that meets our exacting standards, with everything you need, nothing you don’t, and above all thoughtfully designed.

Country house: A large house in the country

Countryside: Out of town, in rural or agricultural settings

Contemplative Shelter for Slow Living

The architect-owner of this spare rural retreat named it quintal or “backyard house” in celebration of the homestead’s narrow, walled back garden where he once spent vacation days with his grandfather.

Contemplative Shelter for Slow Living

The architect-owner of this spare rural retreat named his getaway quintal or “backyard house” in celebration of the updated homestead’s narrow, walled back garden where he once spent vacation days with his grandfather, tending vegetables and a coop of chickens and rabbits.

This country retreat employs ‘low tech’ materials to refashion a humble, agricultural outpost into a restful rural home. The serene layout and spare design echo simpler times, making it ideal for unhurried, modest living in a convenient, minimal aesthetic. Cornerstones and support walls remain from the shelter’s original use as a garden outpost, but they've been updated with unvarnished wood-beamed ceilings, unadorned matte plaster walls, and smooth concrete floors. A contemporary wood stove, stainless steel kitchen wall appliances, and a plunge pool on the paved patio are the home’s only ornamentation, dressing up the pure, monastic design.

AROUND

Located in the humble village of Lamarosa in central Portugal, the home offers easygoing rural living, with nearby services such as an ATM, small market, post office, health center and pharmacy. The region’s main draws include the village of Torres Novas with its medieval fortress castle, Roman ruins, art museum, and mosaic-tiled town square. Other attractions are Constância, with its picturesque, whitewashed residences and alley-like cobbled streets at the confluence of the Tejo and Zêzere Rivers, and the notable Almourol Castle, a majestic turreted and crenellated fortress castle on an island in the Tagus River.

Also worth a visit is the small city of Tomar, the former seat of the Order of the Knights of Templar, with its UNESCO-classified castle and convent. Portuguese Catholics make pilgrimages to the regional town of Fatima, with its beautiful Basilica and the simple shepherds’ home where Mary is said to have appeared to three children six times over six months, culminating in the Miracle of the Sun phenomenon seen in October of 1917.

Natural monuments in the area include the Santo Antonio Caves (grutas), where stalagmites and stalactites formed over thousands of years, and the Mira de Aire Caves, spanning over 15 kilometers. If the coast beckons, the Nazaré beaches are about an hour’s drive away.