Quinta-ssential Portugal: a motorhome tour between farms, villages and flavors | Holidays in Portugal
As we stop at the door of Lavoura da Bouca, a huge but friendly mastiff is there to meet us. Behind him waddles a flock of noisy geese, followed by a scattering of sheep. In the back of our brightly colored rental van, my two sons and their classmate look dubious. Have we come to the right place?
Admittedly, the stone farmhouse with its animals and apple orchard does not look like your usual outskirt motorhome stopover. There are no other vans, no facilities (other than a very clean composting toilet) and no lighting other than the stars.
I assure them that it is in this rustic place, an hour and a half by road from Porto, that EasyCamp website directed us and so, even though it looks like someone’s private home, it must indeed be our destination. Then, as if at the right time, Aurora and José, the happy owners of the farm, emerge from behind a large fruit tree and lead us through the gate.
It’s already late afternoon and by the time we figure out how to unfold the twin beds and locate the folding table and chairs, the sun is low in the sky. It’s wonderfully quiet, a million miles from the industrial garage near Porto airport where we had recently picked up the van. The geese are silent, the surrounding hills ablaze with evening red and simmering gold in the sun, and, in a moment of phoneless magic, the boys are playing an old-world board game.
Then, to top it all off, Aurora, along with all of her namesake’s light-bearing deity, appears with a basket of delicious homemade treats. As soon as she’s gone, the boys grab the freshly squeezed apple juice, while I uncork José’s artisanal wine. The apple cider vinegar and the bag of nuts we store in the van as souvenirs.
Aurora may have cooked the basket, but the original idea of offering a selection of local products belongs to the founders of EasyCamp, Teresa and Bruno Matos. Inspired by examples from FrancePassion and British judgments – two leading booking systems that direct motorhomes to offbeat stopover sites – the Lisbon-based couple set up an online platform in 2019 that would direct holidaymakers to motorhome-friendly sites quintas (or farms).
Today, EasyCamp has about 60 such sites in Portugal, grouped mainly in the central belt, its rural heart. The idea is to help holidaymakers “get away from the asphalt” of motorhome areas while offering them a “taste of the countryside”. The second point is literal: instead of paying for a subscription or an overnight stay to park, EasyCamp’s booking site simply invites visitors to purchase a basket of goods like the one presented to us by Aurora – basket prices vary depending on the hosting site.
Quinta, like a quick analysis of EasyCamp online menu reveals, is a relatively vague term. Options range from fairly high-end wineries, such as Fita Preta in Alentejo, on a small scale cheese makersarborists, and even aromatic plant grower. What unites them is the love of their owners for their respective corner of the Portuguese countryside, as well as a willingness to open their doors to foreigners.
This is precisely what our next hosts are doing. “Relax”, Laura, the co-owner of Apibericos, texts me when I contact her to say we’re running late. “No precipitation.” We had left late, thanks to a second visit from Aurora and José, this time of other sites they have in and around the village (a list that includes a small mill and a wonderful band of shady shore). Then, crossing Alvão Natural Park On our way south to Apibéricos, we came across a lovely riverside picnic spot along the Rio Olo. By the time the boys had finished dive-bombing, rope swinging, and having fun in the water, it was already mid-afternoon.
Luckily we didn’t have much to do by car, and after parking Laura offered us a tour, with the added requirement of a beekeeping suit. Supplier of half a dozen different superb honeys, Apibéricos has around a thousand beehives scattered in various locations near its base on the Vila Real border in the Douro Valley. “Do bees sting? the youngest wants to know. “Yes,” Laura replies, with brutal honesty. His face whitened behind the netting of his helmet. “But not often,” she adds. “And if they do, you are unlikely to die.”
I feel that this information does not console him, but we go anyway and enjoy an exciting hour with Laura and her husband, Vitor, learning all about beekeeping. When our basket arrives later with different types of honey (“Brits like the flavor of heather the best”) and a little jar of pollen (“rich in protein”), we appreciate it. all the more so for having seen the worker bees go after it. Later that evening, she recommends a restaurant in the nearby village for dinner. The moelas (gizzards) and journey (guts) are a must, she tells us. The boy’s friend translates, and I duly go alone.
Our last stop is Greenval, about an hour south of Porto, on the edge of the beautiful Serra da Freita mountain range. Owned by another lovely couple, Isabel and João, the farmhouse is perched on a plateau with stunning views west towards the distant ocean. At the center of the site, which is dotted with various repurposed shipping containers, is a spacious chicken coop. Around the edge roam two sheep, eagerly watched over by a pair of underemployed but very friendly guard dogs.
I have an early night in mind, but Isabel and João suggest we all eat nearby at Mira Freita. A 120-seat restaurant in a village of 40 people sounds very ambitious, but the family atmosphere and fantastic meat dishes make it a well-known favourite. On one of the largest and most succulent steak dishes (quick no forno in lenha) I’ve already eaten, we spend a very pleasant couple of hours discussing the delights of country life (both are ex-city dwellers) and their hopes for the future.
Felgueira is a friendly village. João tells me how he recently chatted with a local man he knows who owns a donkey. The man showed João how to immobilize the animal in a good mood and then issued him with a “license to drive a donkey”.
João is now planning a hike in the hills, with a pack animal in tow. Would I like to join him? Of course, I answer. From motorhome to donkey: for a holiday experience designed to get off the beaten track, it’s like the kind of destination that would be unanimous at Teresa and Bruno. We will be back soon.
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