At the end of each year we take the opportunity to visit each of our houses and plan our updates for the following holiday season.

Our Armona house is now closed for the winter. Unless you are in need of complete isolation it really is very quiet there. However that doesn’t mean it’s not used, as we love to go with our dogs and walk the beaches searching for driftwood and interesting shells and sea creatures. Of course, living so nearby, we can choose the weather and if there is a good weekend it’s easy to head over and enjoy the winter sunshine. Ferry rules nowadays say that dogs need to travel in cages, so it will be a bit more expensive to take them with us this year as we’ll need to catch water taxis. We’ll have to see what happens but hopefully we’ll manage it once or twice.

Work there this winter will include a new kitchen and perhaps an outside loo.

Olhão however, is great in the winter, there is always something going on and it catches the best of the Algarvean sunshine. Our Olhão house is available all year round and at present still has guests there.  We’ve already put a permanent roof on the roof terrace, so it can be enjoyed throughout the year and we’ll be planning other work as we continue through the winter.

Casa Rodrigo has exciting news as we’ve decided the time has come to invest in a swimming pool.  Here in the countryside  summers are very hot and it will be a welcome addition to be able to cool off in the pool. Work should start in the New Year and it should be ready for the summer season – all being well.

So, wintertime for us, is a time of planning and work on our houses, as well as being a great time to go walking, find more trails and to take a break and explore more of Portugal.