01 April 08

Property

Property: Port of call

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Though born in the area, Florencio and Alda da Silva have been surprised by the change in the Costa de Lisboa since they moved back in the late 1980s, having previously lived in Rotterdam. When they returned it was a decade since the authoritarian regime of António de Oliveira Salazar ended and the area was still relatively rural and underdeveloped. But today the economy has progressed at a significant pace and the country has joined the EU, enabling the Costa de Lisboa to modernise, too.

Florencio and Alda, now in their 60s, worked as a pipeline engineer and a seamstress respectively in Rotterdam. When it came to retiring they moved back to Portugal and built a small house in Quinta do Floral, near Colares and only 30km from Lisbon. The pair saved up and began adding additional rooms to the property, and even recently a swimming pool. The 10,000 sq m property has a fruit orchard and sleeps up to six people.

To supplement their pension, they rent out the house and stay in an adjoining apartment. Using the wonders of the internet, they have guests from the Netherlands, Spain, the UK and the Bahamas. Florencio likes to spend his time maintaining the grounds and planting vegetables, and though their son still lives back in the Netherlands he often comes to visit with his family. He doesn’t have to rent the place of course!WWW.HOLIDAY-RENTALS.CO.UK

Jill White and her partner Andy Hanselman have football to thank for their purchase at Parque da Floresta, in the Algarve. Andy is “football mad”, says Jill, who decided to give him a surprise trip to Portugal for Euro 2004. When she Googled “Algarve, football, golf and leisure” Parque da Floresta came up and, while they had no intention of looking for a property while on holiday, they fell in love with the area, spoke to some locals and even met ex-England player Carlton Palmer. He raved about Parque da Floresta, so the couple were hooked.

“To this day, we’re sure we must have been the easiest customers the Parque da Floresta people ever had,” laughs Jill. “We looked at a property, signed the papers, then headed back to the pool for the afternoon.” The couple bought a four-bedroom village townhouse with an open plan living area with a balcony. They visit their property about six times a year and are in the process of buying another property on the beach, which they hope will be ready by 2009/2010.

“One of the reasons we had never considered buying an overseas home was that we didn’t want to give up on discovering new places together,” says Jill. “But as we don’t tend to go in high season, we still have lots of time to travel elsewhere. It’s another home, rather than a holiday destination, and it has made a lovely addition to our lives.” WWW.VIGIAGROUP.COM