Open the door to a Living Experience, Open Dedicated

Make yourself at home – you are invited! Effortlessly, enjoy everything we have prepared for you.

Dois espaços para uma
Vivência Ilimitada.

Quercus faginea (Portuguese-oak)

During the last Ice Age, the Iberian Peninsula served as a refuge for this oak. Around Fontes, in the transition zone between Mediterranean and Atlantic climates, it found the ideal ecological conditions to establish itself. Its flowers are discreet, and wind pollinated. In autumn, it drops its leaves and sweet, elongated acorns. These are excellent fruits for feeding livestock.

The Portuguese oak is a native forest species protected by law. It may not be cut down.

At the beginning of Rua da Servigueira, on the path from Fontes to Reixida, stands the oldest Quercus faginea in the area. You will find it on the right-hand side, at the bend in the road — a tree that began its life around the same time the Portuguese marked the end of the last and most dangerous Napoleonic invasion.

This is the name given to the room on the top floor of the complementary building. The room’s design is inspired by the village’s traditional granaries, once used to store the corn harvested along the riverbanks. A contrast later emerged between the delicacy of the room’s interior and the vibrant colours of its exterior, opening a dialogue through intuitive connectivity and fluid expression. Let yourself be gently lifted by the poetry.

Here, we host gatherings, moments of sharing, and memorable experiences.

Local products at daybreak —
let yourself be savored.

Lonicera periclymenum (Madressilva-das-boticas)

To attract the moths that pollinate it, honeysuckle perfumes the night. Dior, Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent are well acquainted with its white, spring-like, light and sweet floral scent.

It is a plant that climbs stone walls and winds itself around shrubs. It dwells in the countryside, far from direct light, in cool soils, and refuses to live in the city of men. It offers red berries to the birds it trusts to disperse its seeds. These berries are toxic to humans. In the past, it was used in folk remedies from traditional boticas — old herbal apothecaries — especially as an emollient and expectorant.

This is the name given to the room on the ground floor of the complementary building. In this room, we embrace resilience. The original stone materials, the cement flooring, the metal window frames and the solid wood offer durability in a time that seems increasingly ephemeral.

With Alice’s art, this is where we serve the first meal of the day, serving infusions of herbs from the mountains.

Authenticity and local products with Tradition Dedication

The Fontes river basin provides fertile soil for food cultivation. Vegetables and greens from small gardens — such as cabbage, beans, and pumpkins. Fruit flowering in May offers the scent of wild apples and pears dripping their nectar in August. Each season brings us even more surprises: blackberries from the brambles, figs from the spring, and strawberry trees on the slopes.

In the village, fresh eggs, homemade bread, and olives are easy to find.

Higher up, on the Senhora do Monte mountain, we have herbal teas, gathered by the hands of those who know. Dandelion, gorse, pennyroyal, lemon verbena. From here we also receive the gift of aromatic herbs such as savory, oregano, rosemary, lavender, and thyme. And honey, from the countless beehives scattered around.

And of course, the ever-present Cortesia olive oil from the GROTA family. It is produced in November, on the very day of the manual harvest, pressed by a single-pass cold mechanical process. Elegant and silky, we use it to season everything we prepare. There is even enough left over for the GROTA soaps we make available to those who visit us.