Our special places
We design holidays tailored to your priorities. Please contact us to discuss any destination.
Spain and Portugal
Spain
We have hand picked a selection of properties in Andalucia, Southern Spain, ranging in the position of a historic City centre to complete isolation in a rural National Park.
Corral del Rey, the latest edition to our collection, is a hip, luxurious, small hotel in the Old Barrio Afalfa quarter of Seville. Their sister hotel, a stylish country retreat, the Hacienda de San Rafael is located between the historic centres of Seville and Jerez. It was formally part of an 18th Century olive estate and has been renovated to a stylish modern hotel oozing in sophistication.
La Fuente de la Higuera is just a few kilometres from the beautiful town of Ronda and under an hour east of Seville. A former olive mill, it combines contemporary interior design with traditional architecture - all set in a stunning location.
Located in a good position near El Torcal National Park is the beautiful guesthouse, Cortijo Valverde. Ideally positioned for walking and soaking up the Andalucian countryside with a very laid back atmosphere - it is from home to home!
Portugal
Portugal is an incredibly diverse country, varying from the rivers and valleys of the north, and the dry plains of the Alentejo, to the well known beaches of the southern coast. For those struggling to escape the crowds of the Algarve, the less developed Atlantic coast offers a welcome relief, and the traditional resorts of the Costa de Prata, more isolated beaches, and small towns and villages inland, are the setting for our first Special Place in Portugal. Foz do Arelho, on the coast a short drive north of the white walled town of Obidos, and less than two hours drive from Lisbon, is a lazy combination of village and holiday homes with the beach of the Lagoa de Obidos, and a good selection of bars and restaurants, providing a perfect base for a low-key week or two in the sun.
Last year saw the opening of the Martinhal Beach Resort located on the western tip of the Algarve, close to the small town of Sagres. This property has a good mixture of a hotel and self catering villas of varying size with lots of facilities and right on a lovely sandy beach.
The properties we feature are as follows:
Martinhal Beach Resort and Hotel is a new property situated in a stunning position overlooking Martinhal Beach, set within a protected national park and close to the town of Sagres in Western Algarve.
This privately owned luxury Country Inn, located half way between the historic cities of Seville and Jerez (approx 40 minutes drive), was formerly part of an 18th century olive estate.
It’s rare for a young couple with little experience of anything to do with hotels to get so much right in their first venture but Lee and Amelia Thornley have created a luxury rural retreat that makes you think it must have been there for hundreds of years, with that level of discreet service which means you know you are being looked after without being particularly conscious of the fact.
Driving half an hour inland from its better known ‘pueblo blanco’ southern neighbour, Vejer, brings you to another ancient hilltop town, Medina Sidonia, where Renaissance and Moorish influences converge to make it our favourite of the ‘white towns’. Narrow streets and small squares overlooked by the decorated iron grilled windows that front most houses are beginning to be smartened up but not so much as to take away from its authentic appeal.
The Corral Del Rey is an old 17th Century Casa Palacio which has been sympathetically renovated into a modern luxury hotel by Brothers Anthony and Patrick Reid of the Hacienda San Rafael.
Just a few kilometres north of the attractive town of Ronda with its famous gorge and stunning views is this very thoughtfully converted former olive mill dating from the 18th century.
Driving through the Andalucían countryside with a landscape rich in citrus fruit trees, olive groves and rocky outcrops you arrive at The Cortijo Valverde to be greeted by your hosts Ali and Caroline who left the British lifestyle to set up a guesthouse.
Hotel V... is a recently renovated seventeenth century town house in the perfect pueblo blanco village of Vejer in southern Andalucia. The hotel is located in a spectacular position at the top of the village with views across its red tiled roofs, next to the Iglesia del Divino Salvador.
Fora da Caixa is a stylish architect-designed villa, with a traditional exterior look, but with a luxurious contemporary and light interior. It is situated on the Costa da Prata, or Silver Coast in Portugal, 45 minutes north of Lisbon, very close to the white sandy beaches at Foz do Arelho.
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