Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: journalists, more than most, really need a deadline to get stuff done. And I, more than most journalists, really need a deadline.And there’s nothing like hosting a wedding for the first time – with 100 guests – to focus the mind.“Sure,” I waved, “we’ll build a deck there, and throw up a shade over the front of the Clubhouse for the meal, no bother.”It’s all so much easier said than done...but once committed, the plans had to be drawn up, the materials decided upon and delivered, and the drilling, cutting, hammering and screwing all performed around visitors here for a peaceful getaway.There’ve been many deadlines already this year: removing weeds, planting trees, shrubs, herbs, vegetables and grapes in that little window between clay soil being mud and it turning concrete.There’s been some building work, running repairs ahead of the season, raised bed making, container beautifying and competitive grass cutting, all complicated by the conflicting demands of an early start early to avoid the heat, but not wanting guests to wake up to the far-from-soothing sound of a two-stroke engine.And so began a whirlwind month of woodworking and physics to create a deck suspended over the hillside and a shade to withstand the wonderful wind from the Atlantic which – even in a heatwave – air-conditions our valley every afternoon.A hundred guests sounds a stretch for an off-grid place like ours, but with a fabulous caterer taking care of the meal service, a top audio engineer to make the most of a very talented DJ and a brilliant barman to keep the drinks flowing...I think all would agree it was an absolute triumph.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.I’ve built decks before, but every time I start on a new project it’s like I’ve forgotten everything I’ve ever learned and have to start all over again.I have to throw myself back into the YouTube videos and reconsider all the options for how to secure the foundations, which screws and supports to use, and how strong everything needs to be.The first decision was to make the platform a lot bigger than was needed for a wedding ceremony – so it could be repurposed as a starlit-sky dining deck, a yoga platform or a performance space.There was sloping ground to contend with, hard clay to drill into and planks of wood up to 5m long to manage.In situations involving structural integrity I always go overboard...something we didn’t want the bride and groom doing off the back of the deck and down the hillside, and so a rope safety barrier was added to the design.Amid a flurry of back-of-the-envelope calculations and help from Eduardo at the local farm supplies store, Krishna, José and I juggled string and stakes, spirit levels and cement to create a new space with a stunning view.But that was the easy bit – the shade over our calçada cobblestone deck proved to be even more of a challenge.When we built the place, the Clubhouse was designed around an uninterrupted view, requiring a gigantic reinforced concrete beam to support a 9m span without any posts disturbing the skyline.So we needed something strong enough to support more than 48 square metres of coconut fibre sails...but which could also be removed in the winter.Not wanting to dig up our beautiful cobbles we decided to use wine barrels filled with gravel to anchor the two posts which couldn’t be dug half a metre down.And after experimenting with different sized pipes and tubes, I discovered the joining sections of 110mm wastewater pipe was just the right size to provide a concrete-secured hole for the posts to be temporarily wedged into.With thanks to our winemaking friend Mauro Azóia for sourcing the barrels, our Stirling Architecture prize-winning pal Alex de Rijke for integrity of structure...and Isaac Newton of course for his underrated work on equal and opposite forces...we somehow succeeded in creating something both beautiful and effective.The guests appeared as if a fashion shoot had arrived in the valley. They watched the ceremony in the shade, they lunched under cover, they partied into the sunset and danced in fading light under a full moon.The VIP toilets trailered in for an off-grid celebration were fabulous, but Ana’s idea of us building a luxurious “loo with the view” to help us with big events was a great take-away.I do love a project...I wonder what YouTube has to say about that?With thanks to Chef Maria and the whole amazing catering team; Maria’s friend Lotte and her husband Auke who helped deliver a wonderful service; to Anton’s bar; Ricardo on sound...and of course to the beautiful bride Ina and dashing groom Niels for trusting us with their big day.Their guests were brilliant, dressed to the nines and we were flattered and humbled by the kind comments from their group of friends we were lucky enough to host at Vale das Estrelas for the whole weekend.We learned so much and were filled with inspiration about what we can create in the future.Sadly we didn’t need to make a speech filled with such a long list of thank yous at the awards gala we attended – despite all the votes we received from our wonderful readers we didn’t take the top prize.But we were delighted just to be there – to be nominated for a media award for our podcast series about wine – at the Portuguese Association of Hotels, Restaurants e Similar (AHRESP).It was a fantastic night out at the Estoril Casino outside of Lisbon – the place which inspired Ian Fleming’s Casino Royal – and an interesting gathering of the great and the good of Portugal’s hospitality industry.It was a great chance to dress up for the city instead of the countryside, to catch up with a few good friends and to pick up the much-needed wine barrels...and our new own-label white wine.Yes, with Mauro the winemaker and Oda the label designer (and before the labels have even arrived) we’ve already been wowing guests with our new white wine which is a wonderful blend of Portuguese grapes Arinto, Fernão Pires and the wonderfully flowery Gewürztraminer.And while I’ll be writing more about our wines and our rapidly growing vineyard in my other blog about Portuguese wines, here’s a plug for the next two wine retreats we are running in collaboration with the Hutchins Wine Academy – in early October 2026 and in April/May 2027.Please join us...and if you can’t make it, please spread the love among all your friends – the first one was amazing.And finally...and in our spare time...we have been introducing Ronaldo Romulus the first to the household.The little mutt of a dog who was born on April 1st is no joke to the other animals – asserting himself with the confidence of a small dog with big paws to grow into.We were introduced to “Ronnie” at just six weeks old – one of a litter of unexpected arrivals to a Portuguese farming couple near São Luís.He’s a cute little demon with sharp teeth who loves to chew...and he’s brilliantly turned everything upside down.Oda named him (I asked permission to add “the first” as I liked the way it sounded), but in Portugal’s first World Cup football match we were worried that Ronaldo might not be as popular a name as it used to be!The ups and downs of the tournament and Portugal’s ageing superstar are a constant cause of concern for our small dog and the reputation of his namesake, but he’s coping quite well so far.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.And he’s adjusting well to head of marketing and entertainment.Why tell everyone about how wonderful the views are, how cool it is here by the ocean while the rest of Iberia bakes, and how welcome you’ll be in the Valley of the Stars...when we can just say: “We have a cute puppy.”So come and see him now...don’t leave it until Ronaldo’s an old dog struggling to fetch a ball!Come and see us in sunny Alentejo and enjoy the ocean breeze…book here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

“It’s how we’re related to Drew Barrymore,” is how I’ve always started Simon’s story, so it’s a good way to also bring it to a close after 14 and a half years.As a hack I do like headlines.“I met Ana playing tennis with her husband...but we got together through clowns and fire,” is a favourite introduction to our love story. More about that another time.Oda and Ana found Simon cowering under a table at a fabulous little dog rescue place called Bark n’ B*****s in Los Angeles in early 2012.Having arrived in LA from Bangkok six months earlier we had made a few attempts to adopt a dog directly from a shelter, but baffled by bureaucracy which made it extremely difficult to find one, the girls looked elsewhere.Bark n’ B*****s was a strange blend of animal accessory shop and zoo, where the dogs were all off leash to hang out with each other and interact with the hopeful foster parents looking for their soul mate, or dæmon if you’re a Philip Pullman His Dark Materials fan.It was a chaos of yapping and blurred movement, all with one member of staff on hand with a mop and bucket to deal with any accidents and an air-lock style double door to stop escapees racing out into the Fairfax and Melrose traffic.But the dogs could be themselves, not frightened or over-compensating animals alone in a cage at the pound, competing with their neighbours to be rescued.I was working away and we wanted us to decide on a dog together...but Simon was incredibly cute and the owners warned he’d soon be snapped up, so after a quick call, the adoption was agreed by all parties and the small ball of fur was brought home.We don’t know much about the first three months or so of his life – we picked November 15th as his birthday – but for years he was petrified of metal dustbins and Hispanic men.I presume you’re still wondering where Drew Barrymore comes into all this?Well, she adopted a dog called Oliver from the same place the next day...so Simon had almost certainly sniffed the ass of the Golden Globe-winning actor’s dog.I mean we don’t send each other Christmas cards or anything, but we’re close like that 🤞and definitely related.And so the only American in the family learned to walk off-leash with Ana on the streets of LA, not to beg and – honest to his Hollywood roots – learned to perform a series of tricks from “high five” to “bang” where a finger gun persuaded him to play dead.(The initial trigger word for training was “die” but I questioned that one, as Ana and Oda were shouting it over and over again while rolling him over and popping treats in his mouth. I feared the police might be called).He developed his jaunty walk in Los Feliz during the four years Oda spent at the nearby High School and we all lived in California together, and surprised himself – and us – one day when a nearby LA fire truck siren sent him into an involuntary howl and look of confusion which we forever tried to recreate elsewhere through YouTube.These wonderful little animals are so interwoven with our lives – constant companions – and it’s only after they have gone that you realise all the moments, big and small, that we shared together.Simon was part of almost half of Oda’s life thus far, and was well-travelled, moving from LA to Nairobi, from Nairobi back to northern California via a summer in Sweden, and then to here in Portugal in the middle of COVID.The story of Simon’s life is the story of most of the time Ana and I have spent together, and it’s a long story...too long to write about here...and amid a grief that is deep, I can do little more but share some memories.Oda used to joke Simon was my son, and this is certainly the hardest blog I’ve written so far. It’s taken me a few weeks to put down on paper.Simon was ring-bearer at our friends’ outdoor LA wedding...complete with a tux, top hat and small ring box attached to his collar.Ana dispatched him down the red carpet towards the happy couple whom he knew and loved, I lured him offstage with dried chicken jerky and it’s only by the grace of dog that a squirrel didn’t distract him and throw the whole ceremony into a human/dog/squirrel farce.In the heat of one Palm Springs summer we had to buy some emergency protective rubber shoes which turned him into Spider Dog at the nearby Joshua Tree boulder park...leaping between rocks he defied gravity for 15 minutes until they were worn through.We tried to instil in Simon our love of fancy dress, but as he aged and understood we were laughing at him rather than with him, he developed a very effective strategy for countering such humiliation.Dressed as a T-rex, a lobster, a Christmas elf...or in any of the other costumes we acquired...he would simply stand still and look miserable until we took it off.Only the matching Kenyan shirts Ana bought for Simon and I were acceptable...probably because they were quite nice shirts.It was a full life: he was kidnapped by the FBI, was almost killed by a tick in Kenya which left him with a weak liver which is probably what got him in the end.We hiked the Hollywood hills of Griffith Park, ran the tracks of Karura Forest, and explored the Portuguese countryside and coastline together...although he was always more comfortable in Lisbon checking his pee-mail, inhaling gasoline fumes and being the city dog he was born to be.Ever the California shade monkey, on the beach he would race ahead to steal a stranger’s towel while they swam, and after cooling off would check if they had any chicken.I prolapsed a disk helping him fight off a slum dog in Kenya, and during our year at Stanford he delighted (almost as much as I did) in pooping on rich people’s lawns in Palo Alto...and developed a brief desire to act like a dog and fetch a ball. It didn’t last long.At our Nairobi house parties he would slink upstairs for an early night, despite our bar being named after him (the “Dog and Hound” sign beneath a clock bearing our faces always prompted the question “which one’s the dog and which one’s the hound.”)A week before he died, with faltering health, eyesight and hearing, he dragged himself all on his own up the hill from our house to join a late night party...his last.He died a little before 8.30 in the morning on the last day of our wine retreat. As he was breathing his last, our neighbour Daniel took an amazing photograph of a rainbow in our valley. A weird wind whipped through the house as he slipped away.After our retreat guests had left, we dug as deep a hole as we could in the hardened clay...and then we dug it a little deeper until our hands were sore.We went to buy an olive tree, stopped off at one of his favourite beaches to take some time to remember, and then came home to place him in the ground and plant the tree above his grave.The spot we chose reflected our happiest memory of headstrong, independent Simon – that same jaunty walk developed in LA, tail wagging, as he made his regular morning trips up the drive to visit our neighbour Daniel, where he would bark at the door for a better breakfast than ours.Tree planted, we sat back to pour a little beer on the soil, say cheers and thank you to our wonderful little dog – our Sssssssimon, our SiFi, our puppy – for all the wonderful years of companionship he had given us.We hung his Kenyan, bead-work rainbow collar on the tree and as we looked up a huge rainbow spread across the sky.Being neither religious, nor particularly superstitious, we just enjoyed one of those beautiful moments that provide people faith in something greater than ourselves. Simon’s rainbow above Simon’s tree.Next morning I walked up to the spot, cried a little and then turned around to see another giant rainbow behind me above the house.Let’s just call it his farewell.We haven’t seen a rainbow since...except on the little collar that still hangs on Simon’s tree that we drive past every day and sometimes walk to for one of the most beautiful views of our valley.I’ll make a bench soon to place there. We’ve always wanted to use that space. We will be able to sit and contemplate the lives we shared – the unquestioning love and joy he brought to our nomadic lives – and the companionship he shared with us in our Portuguese home.As he declined in health, a good friend told us it’s our responsibility to give a dog a good life, but also a good death. When he stopped eating and drinking, did we really want him alone in a sterile veterinary hospital to be put on a drip and kept alive?When my father was dying I had fought the hospital hard for the energy drinks and liquid foods to give him more strength to keep him alive. Thankfully a doctor suggested perhaps it would be better to let him slip away. We had said our farewells. It was good advice.If you met Simon and have any memories or photos of him you’d like to share please send them to me…I’m going to do a little YouTube collage for us to remember him.We made Simon as comfortable as we could. Ana sang him old Swedish songs, I urged him to let go. He had a good life, and dying in our arms, I believe we gave him a good death.It’s the first time I have lost a dog. As everyone who has lost a dog knows already, it is hard – it is proper grief – especially perhaps when the grief over the loss of family – of people – has perhaps been pushed down and put off for another time.My only remaining family is on Ana’s side.One friend said he finally understood why as a child there was a “gap between dogs” as his parents grieved. One approach is leaving time before falling in love with a little ball of fur all over again, knowing our lifespans are out of synch.Another is continuity – our other two dogs have helped comfort us, despite Garfunkel’s name now being much harder to explain. Let’s go with Garfie.Through chance, circumstance, luck and perhaps with a little help from a rainbow, we stumbled across Ronnie this week...or Ronaldo Romulus to spell out the full name which Oda gave him.Ronnie was born on April 1st and is less of a daemon and more of a pure demon.As I write Albie and Garfunkel have fled the house to avoid his yapping, pin-sharp teeth nibbling and general annoyance.He is joy and energy and love. I’ll tell you more about him next time. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Before we start, I would like to ask you a favour – it won’t take long and it’ll really help us out. Portugal’s main tourism and hospitality association AHRESP has shortlisted us for a media award for our podcast series Ana & Al’s Big Portuguese Wine Adventure. We’re in the final five and the winner is decided by popular vote - your vote. Please could you vote for us? ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT - PLEASE VOTE TODAY!!You just need to click here, put in your name and email address (so they know we’re not cheating), we are the third category (“Media & Comunicação no Turismo”) and we’re the first option. Click on us, scroll down and admit to not being a robot, before clicking the big button to register your vote. Oh, and if you haven’t listened to the podcast yet, you can find it here, or in all the usual places. Thanks!The word “retreat” gets bandied around quite a bit in these parts, usually preceded by the words yoga, tai chi or tantric.But ever the mavericks, we went out on a limb and chose wine to prefix ours.And so the first Wine Retreat at the Valley of the Stars was held last weekend...and it was a rip-roaring success.We had a full house of guests from self-proclaimed wine beginners, to a couple so obsessed with vinho that their dog’s called Pinot (Noir)...and we even had a qualified sommelier join the course which was held in partnership with the Hutchins Wine Academy.Joanna Hutchins led the daily and sometimes twice-daily masterclasses, teaching participants how to “Taste Like a Somm,” blind-sampling “noble grapes” on her way into the wonderful world of Portuguese wine – with its 350 grape varieties, many of which are a lot easier to drink than they are to pronounce.Would-be wine aficionados used Joanna’s wine compass to learn how to talk about what they’re tasting, before learning which Portuguese grapes relate to the famous varieties they’ve had before.There were what-goes-with-what classes and a wine-pairing dinner along the lines of “what grows together goes together” and then participants were encouraged to define “their core wine identity” at the end of the four day retreat.We kept everyone well fed and entertained between classes, with a Portuguese wine story-tasting and taking them all to the nearby Vicentino for a tour of the vineyard and new winery by its fabulous winemaker Ana Rita Bouça.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.We tried to give everyone a chance to enjoy the peace and quiet and explore the region, hiking down the valley to our friend Jorge’s medronho distillery for a tour and a tasting.Ana was queen of the kitchen, creating three fantastic meals a day and pulling out all the stops to keep the tasters on trackI did my best to keep the charcoals hot for black pork and grilled fish, and we were blown away by how so many people from such different backgrounds bonded over the (many) bottles.Aged from 30 to 90, participants travelled from as far away as North Carolina and Shanghai to this wild west coast of Portugal’s Alentejo and tasted well in excess of 50 different wines.Among them was Prof Bob Lauterborn – one of the original Mad Men (“I drank beer rather than martinis”) whose academic work led him to create the famous marketing discipline of “the four Cs” (Consumer, Cost, Convenience & Communication).This was a joint 90th birthday and pre-wedding trip with his grandson Evan.We had ex-journalists – a former BBC colleague – business folk and a fabulous American couple who have recently retired to Portugal from the US.It was a first for us all, but we were delighted with the way it went...and the wonderful feedback we received from the pioneer gang of wine retreaters.We enjoyed it so much we’re already getting excited about the next one we will be hosting in October.Running from 1st-5th it’ll be even better...we already have a few folks interested, so if you’re keen to join, please drop us a line for the details as we suspect the next one might be a sell out!And while wine is definitely our thing we also have a couple of yoga and Tai Chi retreats coming up later in the year...and a wedding as well...off grid? Absolutely...and entertaining!And as spring marches ever towards summer and the weeds increase my land-cleaning workload by the day (yes, I am definitely starting the strimming this week!), the wine retreat was just one highlight of early May.We had a big 50th birthday party celebration featuring some of our favourite friends from Bangkok days – a fabulous festa of pig spitting, oyster shucking, Portuguese champagne popping and silent disco dancing.We are so grateful that our pal Isabell Poppelbaum picked our piece of Portugal to celebrate her birthday – and it was amazing to spend time with her and all the old friends she brought along for the weekend.We hiked the coastline to build up an appetite for a lavish lunch at O Sacas – our favourite restaurant in the region – and had loads of extra help from our friends here in the area so we could join in the celebrations as well as keeping the guests fed and watered.And this weekend we welcomed the winners of the Sovereign Art Prize Gala silent auction to stay with us here in sunny Odemira for a crash course in coastal Alentejo.With thanks to the legendary Howard Bilton for inviting us to donate a prize, we were delighted to hear stories from Hong Kong and from around the world from the winners.Canadians David and Liz even brought their lovely friends Carey and Kimberley along for a weekend of winetasting, walking and exploring...and we hope they’ll be back soon and spreading the word among their friends in Lisbon and beyond.It’s only mid-May, but we’re delighted how things have got off to such a busy start.July and August are always crazy here, but with 30C predicted for the week ahead, now is a great time to come and see us.The flowers are in full bloom, our young vines are starting to get themselves properly established, and everything is blooming thanks to all the sunshine and all the winter rain.Come and see us – we’ll offering a special discount for all our readers from now until the end of June.Just book on our website and enter the code JOYOFJUNE to get 15% off.* And don’t forget to vote for us and help us win an award. Here’s a video to show you how… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

For the best part of six years, a crazy combination of ambition, naivety, mis-placed confidence and pig-headed determination has created Vale das Estrelas.It’s living proof that ridiculous ideas which might just work, can actually work.Continuing the theme of doing something which creates far more work than we actually have time to spend...and so utterly outside our comfort zone that it shouldn’t really be possible...we have planted a vineyard.Just a small one...but if you’ve ever planted 1,000 grape vines by hand you’ll know it’s not that small.And we’ve been doing it all against the clock.The only remaining memory of the wet winter is the lush greenery taking over the valley and the flowers now springing into life.The beautiful white and yellow esteva rock rose blooms are bursting out across the hillsides of Alentejo as the race is on to get the good plants in and the bad plants out before everything gets a lot...harder.Summer arrived this week with temperatures in the mid 20Cs, and working outside in the middle of the day started getting uncomfortable again.The weeds which used to easily just lift up out of the gravel paths are now set in stone as the soaked clay soil is turning into concrete and muddy cars become dusty cars.At least the vines are in – and a few trees and shrubs alongside them. Hopefully a few more of the plants and bushes we’ve been buying will be in the ground over the next few days...when the attention will turn to cutting back brush to abide by fire prevention laws.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.Planting a vineyard – it turns out – requires a lot of planning and persuading people with machines to get a series of things happening on time and in order.In the background was always the question of could we afford the time and money of another project, versus could we afford not to convert the dusty big space behind the houses into something beautiful...the first thing people see as they arrive at the Valley of the Stars.We always planned to plant a vineyard of Portuguese grapes – not because we know what we’re doing, but because we like to learn and tell the story.I’d had high hopes for a field blend – a traditional Portuguese insurance policy mix of many different grapes all harvested together when most are ripe and ready and only a few are either green or raisins.But over the last couple of years continuing our wine journey through Alentejo we’ve been seeking advice from all sides...and after deciding this would be the year to plant, the stalking of anyone who would still pick up the phone has only intensified.We’ve been worrying winemakers in the way stray dogs worry sheep.But that’s not all: we’ve been annoying oenologists, vexing viticulturists, aggravating agriculturalists, irritating irrigation experts and getting on grape growers nerves.We’ve stretched “friendly advice” to its limits.We’ve asked everyone what we should do – at least twice – and have been sending a barrage of texts and videos: “Is this how we should water the plants?” I whined.“Is it too much water? Is it not enough? Did they go in early enough? Did they go in too late? Will they sprout? They’re not sprouting. Are they dead? Maybe they’re still sleeping.”And that’s just been the last week of worries for a would-be winemaker.It all started much earlier with a few friends and friends of friends in the know and in the business dropping by to advise us how to grow the best grapes and make the best wine from our cleared eucalyptus forest.The patch of fast-growing, soil-poisoning, water-hungry monocrop on our land wasn’t well maintained and so one of the first things we did was cut the whole thing forest to make way for the new houses.Once Lionel the chainsaw man had flattened the forest for free and sliced the wood up into half meter lengths to sell to bakers, we brought in a bulldozer to dig out the roots...and then another one to cut a trench around the perimeter and bury them.We pondered the standing water in winters, tested the soil, checked the profile and realised we had about 40cm of nutrient-starved soil atop a thick layer of solid clay.It was such a hard layer that the pine trees which had managed to find enough light to compete with the eucalyptus had roots growing sideways rather than down – which is why they toppled over in the winter winds.It was established early on that we would have to break that clay crust to give the grapes a good chance to grow down and tap into the water which would be retained through the heat of summer in the clay.Planting a vineyard isn’t rocket science – it’s farming. Sadly, I’m neither a rocket scientist or a farmer.“Winemaking starts in the field” we were told: in our case a large flat one of about half a hectare.It’s always been my job – and my approach to this crazy new life – to gather information from all possible sides and then either write up the story or implement the findings.But sometimes gathering too much information from too many people can hamper decision making by flooding the zone, to quote a phrase.At the end of it all we had to make the big decisions: which varieties, how far apart, how would they be guided to grow, how would they be irrigated?The winemaking stuff, we have been assured, isn’t something to worry about for at least a few years.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.We are hugely grateful to everyone who has advised us – and apologise here and now to Hamilton Reis, Mauro Azóia, Miguel Mimoso, Ana-Rita Bouça, Niels Ulmers, Carsten Jensen, Dorina and Luisa Lindemann...and the many others involved in the making of this movie...for either not doing what they said, or not doing it well enough.And in my defence, everyone I asked had a slightly different idea of what we should do.We leaned heavily on Hamilton – the famous Mouchão winemaker with his own wonderful Natus Vini winery – who planted not just his own vineyard recently, but also many hectares of the grapes growing in our vicinity over the past 20 years.And on speed-dial was patient Mauro – of Porta 6 fame, but also a wonderful small-production winemaker at Velvet Boutique and Artisan’s Terroir who creates our own-label wine (while we wait for our new guys to get producing).The first big decision was the grape varieties, whittled down to just three: Castelão for the red and Arinto and Alvarinho in the white.The field isn’t square and amid a confusion of measurements and drone photographs I left the geometry to ChatGPT which advised 800 grapes would be sufficient.Once we ploughed and were prepping to plant, by putting in wooden posts and stretching long lengths of wire marked with tape every 1.5m (the distance between each plant), we realised it was nearer 1,000 and so upped our Castelão order to 600, settling on 200 for each of the two whites.The delivery of one thousand grape vines was much more straightforward than I expected.It was a lot easier than receiving the 25 tonnes of compost in a 16m truck, finding a bulldozer with a big enough “ripper” to cut deep through the clay, and much easier than planting 1,000 vines.Like many of the busy delivery people who buzz up and down this coast the woman delivering Plansel’s plants wanted to meet at the local petrol station rather than venturing into our valley.You can listen to the story of how our grape vines were grafted in the third episode of our podcast series Ana & Al’s Big Portuguese Wine Adventure, in all the usual podcast places or here:I’ll be going into a lot more detail about creating our vineyard on The Big Portuguese Wine Adventure blog, so do sign up if you’re interested.I didn’t even need to hitch up the trailer – they came tightly packed and chilled in five small boxes.Of course that was the last part of the puzzle. First of all our local cow king farmer António “O Rei das Vacas” Oliveira, and his fabulously helpful son Gonçalo had to plough, distribute the organic material and plough again...all amid a much-changing weather forecast.Once the ripper did it’s work cutting through the clay in a day it was over to us, to Krishna and José, and with friends and guests Andrew Major and Howard Fenwick, Joanna Hutchins and Paul McGibney.It all took a lot longer than we expected.The grapes languished in bathtubs with their roots under water until we were ready for each bundle of them and five days after arriving all the plants were in.Rather than providing the vines with the usual wire trellis, we favoured “Bushvine” as they call it in South Africa – each plant clinging to its own bamboo stick and growing individually into a little bush.Local irrigation expert and general good-egg Cristiano taught us how best to run the water pipes and gave me a shopping list which he and his brother turned into a working irrigation system in a couple of hours.Automation will come soon, but for now the grapes have been given a good soaking – forcing the air bubbles away from the roots which everyone tells us is important.Now we wait. We hold our nerve and don’t give them too much water so they learn to grow deep roots down through the clay. Let’s hope the plants wake up soon and like their new home.* If you want to escape into the country, get away from it all and check out our new vineyard, next weekend is a great time to visit Odemira – the April 25th celebrations commemorating Portugal’s 1974 Carnation Revolution are a thing to behold. Come and see us!* And it’s your last chance to sign up for the Wine Retreat which we’re running with the Hutchins Wine Academy Thursday 7th May - Monday 11th May. We have just two places left. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Dry January is a distant memory, Lent is nearly done, the sun is shining here in the valley, and spring has not only sprung, but is now powering into Portuguese summer time.Personally, January wasn’t terribly dry (because of my birthday...and the weather) and I somehow missed the start of Lent altogether...presumably due to that food and wine binge in Cape Town I told you about last time.But my annual weight-loss programme doesn’t usually get underway until around this time of year anyway.The need to shed pounds was the biggest take-away from my annual medical MOT this week – at least the blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels are in strangely reasonable shape.But it’s a good incentive to get the legs moving with a daily walking routine – all good preparation for the Big Countryside Strim-Off.For new readers...and loads of you have been arriving recently (thanks for following our journey), there’s a legal fire-prevention requirement in Portugal to cut back all the vegetation within 50m of every building.It was tough with two buildings, it got even harder with five, and after such a wet winter it’s going to be a busy one this year.The undergrowth is exploding thanks to all the water in the soil and the power in the sun, so I am currently watching in trepidation as my workload grows by the day.It’s always that balance of leaving enough time to do the work before an usually moving deadline, but not cutting too early...a bit of April rain can bring a second spurt of growth which then needs another round of grass-cutting and a doubling of the workload.Speaking of spurts, one of our agaves has already got a head start on us...and all its chums.The oldest of the plants are maybe 20 years old now and reaching the end of their lives – their last act is to use up every bit of remaining energy and fire a flower many metres into the air.They grow incredibly quickly – this one has done its first metre in under a week.Every year we kick ourselves because the plan is to intervene just before the flower starts to grow, cut out the sugar-filled core of the plant, smoke it, ferment it and distil it into mescal. Every year the buggers beat us to it.There’s already a lot of energy being expended here in the valley – I’m amid a DIY frenzy of getting everything ready in preparation for this year’s high season.I’ve been doing what they always tell you not to do and playing with electricity – as well as plasterboard, plumbing and paint.The weeds have been exploding through the gravel and we’ve been trying to pull them up while the currently malleable clay soil turns into concrete.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The transformation takes just a week of warmth – which we’re now enjoying – and so we’ll be turning to strong vinegar and that electric high temperature zapper thingy I bought last year to keep control of our paths and walkways.Krishna is working like a demon as ever – painting, cleaning, weeding and planting.Pumps and pressure switches have been coaxed back into life or repaired (thanks Cristiano), a few solar panels which flipped over in high winds are back in business and after being some winter neglect, the salt-water swimming pool is back to its gleaming best.And it’s not just getting out the unwanted plants of course – Spring is also about getting all the new ones in!A bag of old potatoes hastily planted in our raised beds has already become a jungle of greenery trying to crowd out the garlic, spinach, spring onions and parsley which are all doing fabulously.We’ll be popping into the plant nursery this week with the trailer to plan some new additions to our landscape, but the big news this year is the vineyard.The Post-It note wall may be full of many, many projects...so many that their very presence strikes fear...but we’ve decided to become viticulturists as well.The 800 plants have been ordered, and despite all the time spent on reading, research and asking advice from so many wonderful people, it’s all happening now extremely quickly.The half hectare we’ve set aside for the vines was first cleared by Gonçalo Oliveira – the Cow King’s Son (does that make him O Príncipe de Vacas?) - before Christmas and before all the rain came along.We delayed ploughing in the organic material needed to boost around 40cm of acidic topsoil exhausted after decades under eucalyptus, and we’re glad we did – the heavy rain would have leached out many of the nutrients.Everything below that thin layer of soil is clay with a crust so tough the pine tree roots spread sideways rather than down...making them teeter in the wind.It’s a juggling act of doing everything in the right order so the young vines can be planted the day they are delivered, and it’s even more complicated because the soil is still wet.We have a narrowing window to arrange the delivery of 25 tonnes of organic material, a tonne of phosphates and whatever lime we can find to reduce the acidity, which all needs to be moved into place and ploughed into the soil.Then we have to decide where the plants are going, arrange for a “ripper” to visit - a bulldozer with a big metal spike mounted on the front to rip lines through the clay crust down to about 1.2m to give root growth a head start.Only then can we place the irrigation lines and plant the Portuguese wine grapes we have chosen: 400 Castelão reds , 200 Arinto and 200 Alvarinho in the whites.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.The clock is clearly ticking – the table grapes which grow near our house are already bud-bursting, and we need to get the vines in before summer properly arrives.The wet winter delayed building and landscaping work across the whole region for everybody, and so there’s a sudden rush of demand to dig and clear and plough and rip, so it’s a challenge...let’s hope we can keep the juggling balls spinning and the plates in the air.With a long to-do list we’re delighted to have a new arrival – Jose Perez has joined us for six months as part of the Erasmus European exchange programme for Young Entrepreneurs.Jose is from Gran Canaria where his young business is to set up an off the grid tourism lodge 1,700m up on the edge of a dormant volcano crater.The programme is about the age of the business rather than to entrepreneur, which thankfully means he’s got a lot of experience in sales and in handywork.I’d obviously heard of the Erasmus programme supporting students for European exchanges, but wasn’t aware of the entrepreneurs scheme until it was introduced to me by the head of the British Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, Chris Barton.I’m going to do a deep dive into the scheme for a magazine article which I’ll share here, but suffice to say the EU is funding Jose’s six months with us and we are hugely appreciative of his help.He’s been diving into the DIY and it’s great having someone with a business mind and fresh eyes moving into the valley.In exchange, Jose will learn about all our off-grid systems and how a new business navigates a scary new world.Jose has English to level A2. I passed my A2 in Portuguese a couple of years ago and have just passed my B1 this month...but his English is soooooo much better than my Portuguese. More speaking practice required, I think, as I embark on the next level B2.It’s unbelievable that Easter is already just around the corner – we have a fantastic weekend planned with sommelier Joanna Hutchins so why not come and join us?Our Easter Sunday food and wine pairing lunch is a dress rehearsal for the wine retreat in May (we still have two places left...and another retreat in early October if you’re interested!).And if cancelled flights have messed with your holiday plans come and stay with us for a few nights.Book online here or get in touch – the 15% Readers’ Discount still applies. Just add the code SPRING26 on checkout. See you soon! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Portugal’s unusually wet winter put a dampener on everything except perhaps reservoir levels and groundwater reserves.So it was great to swap the “conveyor belt of storms” for a real-life airport conveyor belt as we closed our doors for a couple of weeks and headed south for some southern summer and two glorious weeks in Cape Town.We’ve now returned from the sunshine, a deep dive into South Africa’s wine industry, and the celebration of our daughter Oda’s 30th birthday, feeling like we’d had the first proper break since our crazy Alentejo adventure began.The long list of named storms that hit Portugal was a distant memory in the South African summer, and we thankfully brought the sun back with us.Even my lost bag made its way home less than 24 hours after missing its transfer in Milan with wine and biltong all present and correct.There’s something deeply relaxing and inspiring about the city perched at the end of Africa. We love Cape Town.It was my first posting as a foreign correspondent in 2001 and it’s held a special place in my heart ever since.I was immediately blown away by its beauty, it’s wild oceans and mountains and its stunning winelands where I first got a proper taste for vinho at a remarkably good exchange rate.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.A few years later it was my escape from the chaos of covering the war in Afghanistan; Ana and I made a few trips to the “Mother City” when we lived in Nairobi; and Oda also fell for its beauty, it’s fabulous affordable food and its small city life.It was her boyfriend Derek’s first trip to South Africa and he threw himself into an adventure which included jamming on a township electric guitar fashioned from an oil can, leading a packed field in a karaoke bar and climbing up Table Mountain with me (boy, I’m out of shape).Despite being on a budget we ate and drank extremely well, went to wonderful wineries and rediscovered the city, the beaches and the dramatic coastline.Oda’s birthday lunch was at an amazing place called Salsify at the historic Roundhouse building above Camps Bay and with a view of the “12 Apostles” – the mountains which line up one after another south of Table Mountain.The wine pairing menu was a wonderful blend of tastes flavours with small-production and old vine wines...I’m salivating just thinking about it.It was great to hear more Portuguese grapes are growing in South Africa and even amphora wines are being introduced, but the comparison of the two countries and the direction their wine industries are taking is another story in itself I promise to share.We stayed a couple of nights in Franschhoek, dined at Reuben’s, and I was able to catch up with the indefatigable former BBC cameraman Richard Atkinson whose house building project with the best view of the valley inspired us eight years ago.We missed university pal Nick Spotswood by a couple of hours as he headed to the UK, but his folks Bill and Judith gave us a warm welcome at the family wine farm in Stellenbosch. The view of the mountains from their stoop only gets better, their wine is delicious and the welcome as warm as ever.Luke and Lauren Hirst treated us to a proper braai and we opened some of our wines they’ve been looking after for eight years. The whites had sadly passed their best, but the reds more than made up for our sense of loss.We had a close encounter with a couple of the African Penguins formerly known as Jackasses (after their call), we hung out with some seals at the Waterfront, wandered Saturday and Sunday markets and enjoyed South Africa’s version of the Time Out Market which Lisbon is famous for.It was a great reminder of the similarities between my three favourite places: Cape Town, Portugal’s Alentejo litoral and the Central Coast of California.All have an almost identical latitude, similar climate and vegetation, beautiful light, stunning mountains, wild oceans and great wine. That’s the boxes, and they’re all ticked.While we were living it large our animals were under the excellent care of two fabulous couples.Our friends Rob and Emily who live in Lisbon took the first two week shift to watch over our house, our cats and our dogs...including the now 100 year old Simon who dabbled with incontinence and old-guy confusion before his new liver and thyroid medication properly kicked in.Alan and Margery Gledson kindly took the final stretch and helped us with some Spring cleaning and some building work before and after we returned to the valley.Thanks so much to you guys for giving us the chance for a welcome break which revitalised us as we prepare for our next full season.This week marks the one year anniversary of our tourism licence and our opening up for business, and we’re already delighted at the number of people – and retreat organisers –supporting us for 2026.While we were away a few more people signed up for our first Wine Retreat in May with the Hutchins Wine Academy.There are still a few spaces left, but it’s proved so popular we’ve already set the date for our second “Taste like a Somm” residential course: October 1st to 5th...so if you were one of those people who couldn’t make May please get in touch.In preparation for one of the retreat highlights – the “What grows Together Goes Together” pairing dinner – Joanna Hutchins (DipWSET) will be in the valley at Easter to pair up with Ana to create an Easter Sunday spectacular.We’ve built a whole weekend around it, including three nights B&B, a Good Friday fish braai and an Alentejo wine story-tasting.If you’d like to take the chance to join the party, just drop me a line or go to our website, pick your room for either Thursday-Sunday or Friday-Monday, and choose the “Escape for Easter” plan. It starts from €456pp (based on two sharing).Joanna’s still bouncing between Alentejo and Nuuk in Greenland but has recently launched a great Substack page on wine and we hope to hear more about her Portuguese wine adventures.We eased ourself back into work by hanging out with the Gledsons and it gave us a great reminder of all the interesting people you stumble across in our weird little part of Portugal.We met Nils and Erling together at the Crabstaurant (A Chaminé in Brejão) and got talking...Nils Lou is a former pilot who has a small quinta on the edge of our nearest village of São Teotónio and spends his time between here, native Denmark, and the front line of the Ukrainian war.He has more than 70 years of stories all delivered in a quiet and calm 1950s-style English accent picked up during a stint with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the UK.He flew all sorts of jet and propellor aircraft, including the first civilian United Nations flight into Kuwait during the first Gulf War, has tales of daring-do in all sorts of odd and extraordinary places, and it turns out he and his visiting pal Erling have a new hobby.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.They drive donated trucks from Denmark to Ukraine to help with the war effort – delivering them where they’re most in need and then finding their own way back. Keep your heads down fellas.I’m going to post another update in a week or so about another character we’ve come across in our neighborhood – I’ve mentioned the international wood architect Prof Alex de Rijke before and I’d love to share a BBC radio programme and magazine article on Portugal’s Wooden House revolution which I produced with his help...but space is too short today.Everything looks brighter after a break and in the glorious sunshine and warmth of Spring.The colourful pointillism painting our landscape becomes at this time every year is slowly starting to take shape, with the first yellows, the white seas of daisies and the tiny blues already bursting out.The energy from the sun and the water in the soil is boosting everything – the olive trees, the succulents...and of course all the weeds. The Spring strimming workout is going to be epic this year.And the real welcome home (apart from the animals) has been all the interest in our place for the summer and the autumn – planning is well underway for our first wedding in June and more yoga and tai chi retreats are blocking dates later in the year.There’s no better time to come and visit – Easter will be fun and it’s such a special time of year here in the valley.And as a thank you for following our journey please book with the code SPRING26 for a 15% reader’s discount for the rest of March and April (not including the Easter weekend).Right...got to go...wish me luck...my final B1 Portuguese exam is tonight and I really need to cram it this afternoon! Até proxima as they say around here, or see you next time. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Marta has arrived.After being battered by Ingrid, Joseph, Kristin...oh Kristin...and Leonardo, the sixth named storm of the year has done what only storm systems can do...and is “barrelling” into Portugal.There are certain words and phrases it’s hard to separate from their familiar context.Is anything else dour (pron: DOO-er) except a Scotsman? Only perhaps the weather in Scotland...which is remarkably similar to the last five weeks in Portugal.It’s just a lot warmer here and being up on a hill removes the threat of flooding.As I write, the wind is whipping up a hoolie (that’s the Scottish gale, not the Irish party), all the animals have elected to stay inside, the fire is on and we are sitting in the warm watching the weather apps, monitoring our solar battery levels and hoping nothing too important blows away.Of course, on the news, storms barrelling into the coast often cause “devastation” and in some cases “utter devastation.”It might be a trope or journalese, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.The Portuguese government described this as “devastating crisis” caused by the wave of storms – the state of emergency here has been extended and there’s talk of generational flooding...all with a presidential election taking place on Sunday.Tens of thousands of people were still without power a week after a bomb cyclone and sting jet hit Leiria which is mid-way between Lisbon and Porto quite a way north of us.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.More about those two phenomena later – and about their connection to Britain’s Great October Storm in 1987, Krakatoa, bombing raids to Japan during the Second World War, and the two policemen responsible for sending us British weather.I have organised my life very carefully around avoiding British weather for the best part of 25 years, so you can imagine my current disappointment, even if I haven’t yet needed to change out of my shorts.But we’ve been lucky here in the valley – the worst so far was the departure of a large section of protective glass from its moorings next to the pool, which somehow didn’t break in the fall.A few sections of plastic roof have been relocated and retrieved from the forest, the solar panels deep in the valley have flipped over onto the pillow tank, which have so far avoided puncture despite Daniel’s metal pumphouse roof sprouting wings and taking flight.One gigantic eucalyptus tree has been uprooted and is being desperately supported by one of its neighbouring trees, slowing its journey to the forest floor...we’re already eying that one up to make a bench.Check out journalist Jorge Branco’s latest Substack update on the storms:Many of the tall dead eucalyptus trees on our neighbour’s land that were sheltering in place amid the new growth following the fire a few years ago have taken a tumble making the wood look more like a giant game of Pick Up Sticks.Our track is a little cut up but has been worse as main roads have been blocked by falling trees and firefighting bombeiroshave been busy with their chainsaws.At least 13 people have been killed across the country.And while some communities are still without water, others have far too much.The incessant conveyor belt of extra-tropical storm systems being guided straight into the Iberian coast since the start of the year has soaked the soil, filled up the reservoirs and sent storm surges flowing up the rivers...to meet the runoff coming down.The consequences continue to be dramatic.Riverside shops and homes in Alcácer do Sal were flooded up to the first floor as the Sado River level went up two metres in 20 minutes.Memories of covering hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones and tornadoes as a foreign correspondent have come rushing back this week.The chaos in the French Quarter as Katrina hit New Orleans; the entire bowling alley flattened by a twister in Oklahoma (but with the pins in one lane somehow still standing); Manila under water; and then riskily escaping Madagascar’s east coast by helicopter just ahead of a massive storm.But with the hatches firmly battened down – and lunch plans quite literally rain checked by a downpour that will undoubtedly trap our neighbours on their land until the flash flood has risen and abated – I’ve had time ponder wordplay and meteorology and to have a deep dive into why we’re getting such a hammering this year.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.My geography degree and years of watching weather patterns in our new off-grid home, to understand when to expect trouble, were augmented with a couple of long and slightly confusing conversations with two Portuguese professors.But I think I’ve worked it out, and with advance apologies to the meteorological purists, I’m going to have a go at explaining it...on the basis that any accuracy lost in the act of simplification is all my own fault.It’s the Jet Stream.There we go.You need more? Ok...There are a number of jet streams, but the one affecting us is a fast-flowing river of air flowing west to east at around 30,000 feet (9,000m) across the Atlantic.It’s what planes fly into when going from the US to the UK to save fuel and time...and what they try to avoid on the way back.It’s created as heat from the equator flows towards the poles and is pulled east by the earth’s rotation. It speeds up where the warm air meets cold polar air.Like a river it can run fast and straight at 250mph or 400km/h, or meander more slowly making weather systems linger longer…and it can also move further north or further south.This year it’s further south, broadly bringing icy temperatures to northern Europe, the split of weather we see across North America and more storms to Iberia.The Baltic’s been, well, Baltic. The minus 34.3C in Lithuania is the lowest since 1996 and Tunisia’s had its heaviest rain in 70 years.There’s so much more I want to tell you about the Jet Stream...about how it was noticed after the 1883 Krakatoa volcanic eruption created an “equatorial smoke stream”; about how it slowed American bombing raids to Japan in World War Two, but at the same time sped Japanese explosive-laden hydrogen-filled paper balloons towards the US.(Fo-Go Balloon bombs were the first intercontinental weapons system and there’s a great episode of the wonderful Radiolab podcast all about it).Some blue-sky, moon shot thinkers believe it could even be a source of sustainable power generation (presumably once they work out how to keep an aerostatic wing at 30,000 feet...and get the electricity back down to earth).“They [jet streams] meander around the globe, dipping and rising in altitude/latitude, splitting at times and forming eddies, and even disappearing altogether to reappear somewhere else.” [Source: NOAA]But there’s more to discuss.The jet stream guides mid-Atlantic storms and affects where the “two policemen” direct traffic to quote Prof Carlos DaCamara from the University of Lisbon.The conveyor belt of storms are delivered between the clockwise turning Azores High (in the south) and the anticlockwise spinning Icelandic Low in the north...their position and strength also contributes to pushing six named storms into Portugal this year like on a conveyor belt.Warmer ocean temperatures and a ready source of water vapour arriving on an atmospheric river from the Caribbean...and we here in Portugal have a lot of wind and a lot of rain.Many British readers will remember the Great October Storm of 1987 which killed 18 people, felled 15m trees with gusts of 115mph...and came the night after BBC weather forecaster Michael Fish joked there wasn’t a hurricane coming.He was right – in a way – it wasn’t caused by a hurricane, but by the same phenomenon that caused all the damage in Leiria, according to Prof Pedro Miranda, also of the University of Lisbon.He explained it was years later in 2004 when Prof Keith Browning and colleagues at the University of Reading identified an intense localised wind descending from a great height where you wouldn’t normally expect it in a storm system. They dubbed it a “sting jet” after a noticeable pattern on satellite maps resembled a scorpion’s tail.They happen in “bomb cyclones” – depressions which form quickly and deepen rapidly to produce higher winds and stormier weather.The discovery helped forecasters alert people in Scotland in 2011 and 2012 and it was predicted in Portugal last week...only a bit further north than anticipated.That’s a lot to take it...and if you’ve made it this far, congratulations.There’s so much more to say, but this is neither the right time or place...I need to head up the hill soon to see what these crazy winds have done.With the rain still falling and full reservoirs starting to release water into the rivers, there’s more flooding and chaos to come in Portugal no doubt, but a break in the conveyor belt of named storms is predicted.Somehow, between squalls, our solar panels bring in plenty of power to keep our batteries well and truly topped up.But it’s time to bring on some more sunshine, a little less wind and a less cloudy dramatic view of our valleys and the mountains beyond. Our tanks and our lakes are full...it’s now time for a break in the weather.To learn more about how to visit Alastair & Ana’s eco-luxe lodge Valley of the Stars or Vale das Estrelas, visit the website where you can check availability and book your stay. They’re also running their first Wine Retreat in May with the Hutchins Wine Academy. It’s already filling up, but there are still some places available. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

For a recovering news addict, the daily barrage of bad news breaks over me like the Atlantic waves on our wild west Portuguese coast.The inundation of daily briefings, updates and newsletters which arrive from the various trusted outlets from different sides of the widening political divide are a deluge to duck below, wait out and then resurface in calmer waters.Of course, the next swell is already building...it won’t be long before another crest crashes over.Take your eye off it and you’ll be washing-machined in a tumbling turmoil through the surf and delivered prostrate on the beach.The game is trying not to get washed up by this relentless surge of warmongering, right-wing rhetoric and utter indecency (mostly coming from America)...and the distasteful giving of tributes to pander to a deeply flawed king.(Really, María Corina Machado? You really think he’ll give you Venezuela now he’s styled himself as acting president).BUT...occasionally something pops up which makes riding the swell worthwhile.This week it was a nicely written piece in The Economist about how the business of wine reflects changes in society.It’s about isolation, loneliness...and the lubricating antidote which oils the wheels of social interaction.It struck a real chord because it falls in line with what we’re trying to do here: bringing interesting people together with a glass of wine, sharing a meal and a story.It reflects what we love about wine, and how it helps put storytelling at the heart of our off-grid lodge.Hopefully this link will take you to the full article, but if not, you’ll get the gist as I’ve decided to pull out some quotes, tease out a few thoughts and pick it all apart.Of course, I could have chosen mixed martial arts for my news metaphor, which for some reason I’m inundated with every time I dip into some passive doom scrolling, alongside an inundation of rugby tries, woodworking demonstrations, DIY tips and Australian dad jokes.I guess it could be a lot worse.Algorithms have become our personalised shadows following us around the metaverse like the daemons of the Philip Pulman fantasy novels and TV show His Dark Materials.But nevertheless I am slightly fascinated by the surprise flying kicks, back-handed punches and sneaky use of elbows-to-the-head in the MMA clips...yet another good allegory for world politics.Talking of inundations, we’ve been having an amazing amount of rain – the 200,000 litre rainwater tank is full to almost overflowing, the lake’s outflow stream is back and we now know exactly where to put the drainage channels in the new vineyard.Although I’m still not wearing a jumper (I am from Newcastle don’t forget), the chillier temperatures mean we can put on a lovely fire, reach for a warming Alentejo red and (with thanks to the anonymous Economist author of “Falling wine sales reflect a lonelier and more atomised world”) let the story begin...“The long, dark days can lower people’s moods”On the one hand it’s a great idea giving up booze for January, but on the other it’s a terrible time to deny yourself something nice to warm up the longer nights...especially when the act of drinking takes you to a nice cosy bar.But straight off the back of the festive season with bulging belt buckles it seems like the right thing to do (“the exhortations of do-gooders to forgo...” as the writer elegantly puts it!)Ana and I have cut back this month...but more in the realisation that running a tourism lodge around wine and joining in with every guest is going to kill us pretty quickly.I’ve never suffered from the SAD (seasonal affective disorder) short days depression, but that’s mostly because I’ve organised my life around living in places where it’s still warm and sunny most of the time.SADly alcohol sales are on the wane through a combination of a GenZers drinking a lot less (presumably as a form of revolution against the grown-ups who set such a bad example during their childhood) and the various studies citing the health detriments of booze, but the Economist interviewees say there’s more to it than that.“Wine’s decline reflects something deeper: a fraying of the social fabric that once held Western societies together.”That’s what Andrés Pérez thinks.His family runs the Alyan vineyard in Chile (which looks amazing by the way) where “Wine tasting...is more a carefully curated social event than a lesson in tannins.”I said exactly the same thing presenting this week’s wine story-tasting for 43 people...well, perhaps not quite as eloquently or directly, but it’s what I meant... it’s less about fancy language and more about enjoying what you like.Yes, you read it correctly, wine tasting...for 43...that was a first!We had a fantastic group staying on their corporate retreat, or ‘off-site’ as we’ve learned is the new word for it.In collaboration with nearby yoga centre Orada (and with huge thanks to David for asking us to be involved), we hosted the Verto Eduction management team for the week.Our solar system once again brilliantly navigated a full house despite the rain as the study abroad programme staff gathered from all over the world and cosied up in the Clubhouse to hear a little Portuguese history through wine.We treated them to our favourite Vicentino white blend, a Gerações de Talha introduction to Alentejo’s amphora wine world, some Esporão Reserva 2022 and Mouchão’s stunning 2017 Alicante Bouschet.Alyan apparently “once offered hour-long tasting sessions. Now they last four. By the end of the visit, strangers are swapping numbers and shaking hands.”While I didn’t bang on about Alentejo wine for four hours the volume of conversation certainly increased as we ticked off the wines.“Anthropologists see the decline in communal eating as part of a broader social unravelling.”We’ve loved hosting a family-style meal around a long table on the terrace when we’ve had the time in this first year of being open.(Running this place is sometimes a bit like the Trump presidency...it feels like a lot longer, but it still hasn’t been a full year!)It’s been great to bring people together over a fish braai or some grilled black pork with lashings of Alentejo wine – ideally from a flagon – to get the conversations going.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.“People across the rich world increasingly live, and eat, alone. As a result, more people now eat and unwind in front of screens.”Now that’s an easy one,We encourage guests to the valley to let their phones have a holiday too: to switch off and take it easy...ideally from the comfort of a locked box (the phones, not the guests).Phil Davies – friend and BBC cameraman from Nairobi always swore we needed to go on safari at least once every six weeks to give our eye muscles a workout.After all the close up reading we do in front of screens, he argued, we periodically need to scan a distant horizon to maintain the flexibility to switch to long vision.It’s also great while on safari with friends to be practiced enough to know the difference between a lion and a rock that looks like a lion at 400m.Our views are vast, there’s a old windmill on a hill to focus on and we do have a few rocks that look like Iberian lynx...and of course a big library of books and shelves of games for quiet days.But of course off-grid doesn’t mean always offline as there’s a need to keep in touch.“Generation Z...drink differently, increasingly seeking out quality and novelty.”Tick.Of the 350 different grapes grown in Portugal, 250 are indigenous.And nothing says wine novelty more than Antão Vaz and Arinto, Trincadeira, Tinta Miúda and the two Touriga’s (Nacional and Franca).Quality and novelty are a draw with young drinkers on the basis that the reason the hipster burnt their mouth on coffee was because they wanted to drink it before it was cool (buh-buhm-tshing).Alentejo is of course home to the original natural wine – talha, or amphora wine made the way the Romans made it...and made that way in a few places ever since.And it’s perhaps the main reason our lower, or Baixo Alentejo, has been awarded European city of wine for 2026.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.“For some people, drinking is an isolating addiction. But for most it is a social indulgence. And that, increasingly, is what people are missing.”I’ve always loved a bit of social indulging. I have been known to socially overindulge, but only occasionally.And that’s the inspiration around a few of the things we’re planning for this year. The main one is the Wine Retreat we’re doing with the Hutchins Wine Academy in May...people are signing up for that already and it’ll be a lot of fun…there are still places left, so join us!Seventy wines, some amazing meals and winery adventures and you leave it tasting wine like a sommelier!Our Detox/Retox days of exercise then alcohol are perfect for February and March when the shoulder devils and angels both get their way...on the same day.And that plan to run a regular open house wine tasting every Friday is taking a step closer to becoming a thing.We might even host something fun on Sunday February 1st...a sort of goodbye dry and welcome back wet rest-of-the-year...let us know if you’re interested.The EU is providing “funds to uproot grapevines in order to reduce the bloc’s wine glut.”Of course they are.So obviously we’re planting half a hectare while everyone’s getting money for pulling it up.Speaking of which, I really must get my wellies on, take to the field and start counting up how many plants we need...I don’t trust my geometry (or ChatGPT’s). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

One of the great things about being married to a Portuguese Swede is also one of the great things about being an only child: it really pays off at Christmas.As a kid I was the spoilt brat with no brothers or sisters to share the gift space on Santa’s sleigh; and as a grown-up I get to celebrate twice...or some might argue, three times.Since Ana and I met, Christmas has officially begun on December 24th with a julbord of pickled herring and smoked salmon, glazed ham, meatballs with red cabbage and potato bake, special seasonal dark bread and crispbread wheels of Vörtbröd alongside cheese...to make sure nobody goes hungry.It’s all finished off by saffron buns and gingerbread...and washed down with lashings of glögg mulled wine, laced with spices (and vodka). Tack.Then to continue the excess, the 25th kicks in with turkey and all the trimmings, sweet mince pies and a Christmas cake which spent the first few months of its life soaked in brandy.And, of course, British celebrations come with the bonus of Boxing Day for turkey and all the trimmings (round two) fried up in a bubble & squeak and then a thick soup to make sure we don’t go near a turkey for another year. Musical Odemira: it was great to see the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra play at the opening concert of the Estação das Artes in Santa Clara/Sabóia presented by Miso Music PortugalThis was part of a fantastic medley of Christmas songs (hence the hats!) - great to have such an amazing performance in our regionWhere I still love the Christmas specials on British TV and the King’s Speech, Ana loves the decades-long Swedish tradition of watching Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul (From All of Us to All of You) - an animated best-of-Disney special which was first shown in 1958 and they’ve been watching it at Christmas in Sweden pretty much every year since.But with us still knee-deep in learning marketing (as I mentioned last time) and the occasional guests to attend to...and with it being just the two of us for Christmas this year we’ve cut down on the decorations and the inevitable food mountain.All those Swedish and British specialities are bad enough when shared with a dozen people, let alone just us and the animals...even though the animals might disagree.Normally we go Christmas-crazy...imagine an explosion in a tinsel and fairy-light factory.But having lost so many old and treasured glass baubles to the wrong kind of Christmas tree harvested from our own land with their non-stick branches we’ve decided to go tree and tinsel free this year.The nearest we get to a white Christmas here is fields swathed in daisies after the autumn rain, and although the weather’s not as unseasonally strange as a southern hemisphere December (Joburg also celebrates Xmas in July don’t you know), we’re still enjoying temperatures in the mid-teens Celsius by day, and not much less than 6C by night.It did feel a little more Christmassy in Lisbon this week.We had a little end-of-year business to do with our amazing accountant Madalena, talking all things wine with our friend Mauro, and recording a radio story I’m doing on Portugal’s wooden house revolution.And we were also invited to a fabulous event organised by Stephen O’Regan and his People of Lisbon...at André Pinguel’s secret wine & dinner club Flores.An amazing gang of interesting people gathered – including magician Magic Douglas and the famous performer Lamb Chop...assisted by ventriloquist Mallory Lewis (daughter of Shari Lewis who created Lamb Chop in the 1950s!).We visited a few Christmas markets, discovered another of the old-school amazing bars in the Pavilhão Chinês family, and took Simon the dog to all his favourite places including the Jardim da Estrela where he picks up his Lisbon pee-mail.Garfunkel remains less convinced by the big city.The only two safe spaces in town for the big dog are our flat in Estrela and “The Big Red Box of Freedom” (Cassie the Hilux) which he knows is the only way back to his monte in Alentejo.We visited a couple of our favourite old-style Portuguese lunch and dinner places and treated ourselves to a few fun desserts.And it’s been a good week for Portugal on quite a few end-of-year measures which are usually published this time of year.Not only did TasteAtlas name Pastéis de Belém the best “sweet pastry” in the world, it also awarded it third place along with all the other pastel de nata makers in Portugal.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.I do love a Pastel de Nata – and we certainly consider the ones from Belém in Lisbon the original and the best.And in the cake category – it was a straight one/two for Ana with both her countries taking top honours.In second place was the Swedish rich chocolate cake kladdkaka which our daughter Oda has mastered.First place in the cake charts went to Pão de Ló – a famous creamy egg-yolky sponge cake which I had never heard of...let alone tried...until just this week when our winemaking friend Mauro gave us one for Christmas.He also handed over another car-load of his own fantastic Castelão red wine and some wax for us to put Vale das Estrelas labels on and seal ready for the year ahead.We also tried a white wine – an Arinto – which he thinks could be a good one for us to stock...or perhaps a white blend he’s still perfecting...so we can have a Vale das Estrelas red and white wine next year.The only problem is we need a label...are there any artists we know out there? (I’m thinking of you Ed Sumner and the Cheese & Wine Painting Club!)Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.And speaking of cheese, TasteAtlas awards Portugal the world’s third best cheese, with its Queijo de Azeitão semi-soft sheep’s cheese from just up our coast in Setúbal.Portugal also claimed top spot in the Economist’s end of year measure of which economy did best in 2025.Topping Spain’s performance to take last year’s honour, the magazine praised Portugal’s “strong GDP growth, low inflation and a buoyant stockmarket.”And there has been some good news in terms of big investment coming to the country, and some great news as far as we’re concerned – with tourism heading for a record €30bn year.There are two sides to the story of course – although the government announced the minimum wage would be increased by €50 next year, it only takes it to €920 a month.It goes some way to explain why it might be the best performing economy, but again in the Economist, it’s only in 40thplace for living standards.And the European Commission estimated house prices are overvalued in Portugal by more than 25% which is contributing to a lack of affordable housing here.All figures which make my story on the rise of the wooden, modular house in Portugal even more relevant...I’ll let you know when it’s out.But for now...all the very best for the holiday and the year ahead...and don’t forget the reader’s discount code when you book to come and see us (XMAS25 )...and our first wine retreat in partnership with the Hutchins Wine Academy in May.We hope to see you here in 2026! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

We have already learned a lot of new jobs in this new career path, and for the past two weeks we’ve been trying to learn another one: marketing.Having just about got to grips with off-grid living (first basic, then advanced level), building site project management, landscaping, interior design (Ana, definitely not me), accounting and basic small-hotelier-ing...we’ve reached the next rung on the career ladder.We built it and they came – in the summer – and now we have to keep them coming back in the quieter seasons too, telling their friends to visit, and drumming up some new business on the basis this is a remarkable place we were very lucky to find.For now we have to do what we can until Adelin arrives – a Swedish communications undergraduate (and Oda’s cousin) who is doing a work placement with us early next year to take control of our social media and play the algorithms at their own game.Until then, we are diving into the world of pricing structures, discount deals, combination packages of rooms and meals...and retreats.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.We’ve been emailing travel agents, contacting friends of friends who are retreat leaders and working out how to use our website properly...including all the data and marketing information it can provide us.And, dear reader, we do have a couple of things coming up which might be of interest...primarily an introduction to wine by a sommelier, marketing exec and author – our friend Joanna, whose Hutchins Wine Academy is hosting its first wine immersion course at our place in May.She has a coveted Wine & Sprit Educational Trust diploma and is a qualified wine educator…we’re going to have a lot of fun with this in May 2026. First come, first served!Check it out...it’d make a great Christmas present! (see, I’m learning!).I had always considered myself to be quite entrepreneurial while working at the BBC – in selling stories to my editors in the competitive world of limited money and airtime.I’d often get extremely excited about a particular idea and go all-in to sell it hard – often to different TV and radio programmes and online outlets to scramble together enough cash pledges to afford the trip.I didn’t always succeed, but did get a big safari series commissioned in Africa and managed to secure a not insubstantial amount of cash for an ambitious six-week trip on the Congo River filming in Virtual Reality and recording binaural sound.(I still love the fact that in the world of short attention spans and “you’ve got to grab them in the first 5 seconds” our 45min TV doc on the DR Congo on YouTube has more than 20m views!).Having sold the story, our team then had to deliver it...and that often took even more effort to make things happen with a limited time and budget in difficult places.As British military officers in Afghanistan often told me: “no plan survives first contact [with the enemy].”I’ve discovered there are at least a few transferrable skills from journalist to small business co-founder, but dogged determination and bloody-mindedness stand out as perhaps the most useful.Accounting comes into it too: I would often have to keep up with long lists of expenses in a range of random currencies while on assignment.Thankfully the amazing producers I worked with were very good at that...as well as all the other things they don’t get the on-air recognition for, such as securing access and interviews, editing, and managing the “flesh puppets”...annoying correspondents like yours truly.There were times when I had to manage big-ish budgets and I understand why one fellow journalist, on discovering a receipt for $50 was missing, attempted some creative writing while on a flight out of a Middle Eastern war zone.Sadly, the ploy of copying some random Arabic script for a hastily scribbled receipt was uncovered by an Arabic-reading accountant back at head office who queried the $50 claim for a “Your lifejacket is under your seat.”Special Offer for all readers: * 15% off for stays at Vale das Estrelas for all blog readers * Valid between now an April 1st (no joke)* Book before the end of January* Use code: XMAS25 on our booking siteHaving just logged one thousand receipts and more than two hundred invoices for 2025 in this latest accounting job, I think I’m doing OK, but the “sell, sell, sell” mantra of marketeers isn’t as straightforward.For a start there’s the barrage of self-declared influencers looking for a freebie to navigate: “we’d need at least three nights to truly capture the essence of your lodge,” one wrote.There are so many travel sites out there who for a reasonable annual fee will feature our property on their website...but we can’t justify signing up to all of them and it’s a bit of a lottery.We’re happy to be working with Sawday’s and Further Afield, and hope to have more collaborations in fitting with our ethos of sustainability.I’ve been writing a column for the Resident magazine (formerly known as the Portugal Resident) for a while now and they’ve just started a new podcast. I was delighted to chat to Carl Munson about our story. With all the disruption going on in the world – not least in the USA – I’ve done a few interviews telling the story of our dramatic decision to change lives before 50, give up our jobs and retrain in lots of new ones…and hopefully that will bring a few extra guests to our door!Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The price of promoting things on social media seems to be going up all the time, and we need to learn how to target audiences better, but that all takes time.We were delighted to be invited to donate a luxury two night package to the Sovereign Art Foundation’s annual Gala auction – and even more excited about being invited along to the event.We were pleased to see it was a very competitive auction and we’re looking forward to welcoming the winners in May!As well as working on making posts and programmes, we’re also learning about how to measure what’s going on through data.I’ve written before about the challenges of managing Booking.com, AirBnB, Expedia and our own direct-booking website...and I’m only now starting to understand how they undercut prices and also pay us a lot less after taking their cut.I’ve also mentioned the desire to host more “retreats” – package trips for groups based around yoga, or painting, or reading (or wine!), corporate get-togethers that are now known as “off-sites” apparently.Even Better Offer for our Pioneers: * If you are one of Our Pioneers and have stayed with us before, we’ll give you and your friends an even better discount* Book before the end of January* Valid throughout 2026 as long as the rooms are available!* Drop us a line and we’ll send you the secret promotional code.The title “retreat” does conjure up the idea of 5am yoga sessions, cleansing shakes and a large amount of wellness.We’ve joked for years about how rather than detox, RE-tox is perhaps a better fit for us: the Retoxification Institute of Portugal, perhaps, or R-I-P for short.At our daughter Oda’s suggestion I can officially confirm we are starting a Detox/Retox package for those who like a balanced diet of healthy morning activities, followed by plenty of wine and a fabulous meal to finish: Detox, Retox, Rinse and Repeat. Would you buy one? Do let us know.We’ve already learned about the seasonal nature of tourism on this coast, and it’s certainly quieter in December.But apparently it’s not just us: for real data you need to speak to the cheesemaker.Queijaria do Mira receives real data from real people in real time…and knows when occupancy rates are down...because they know exactly how much cheese the tourist lodges are buying.Low cheese sales mean low occupancy.Blessed be the cheesemaker and her buying barometer. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

On the rare occasion the entire Portuguese power grid goes down for a few hours we are positively smug, but the other side of the coin is keeping everything running when a big storm hits.And all of us on the western edge of Europe have had some kind of encounter with Storm Claudia (as Spanish meteorologists named her) over the past week or so.As any household relying on nothing but solar power will know, there’s only one drawback to having 300 days a year of sunshine in Portugal – and that’s the other 65 or so without.When we first moved into the Valley of the Stars we very quickly learned which power-hungry luxuries to save for the sunshine.For example, one never makes toast while blow drying the dog (not that one would necessarily ever want to...I rarely eat toast).Relying completely on renewable power means learning how to carefully monitor exactly what is being used where, and deciding on contingencies as each cloudy or stormy day arrives.And as we have increased the number of buildings, guests, pumps and water treatment units, the more power you use and the greater the need for planning and backups.We sort of fell into the off-grid thing without really thinking about it and looked into the figures for connecting to the Portuguese grid when we were planning our construction.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.It turned out the combination of inverters, pylons and cables was going to cost almost the same as a brand spanking new solar set up.So our decision to go the sustainable route was aided by the idea of having one very large electricity bill at the beginning and free power after that.Having dodged the late October storm courtesy of a big mountain getting in the way, we were battered by Storm Claudia like everyone else.Anything coming up towards us here from the south tends to hit the mountains of Monchique and Fóia peak first, leaving us in the rain shadow.The apps often predict we’ll get many millimetres, but weather from the Algarve usually ends up dropping far less rain on us than the apps predict.Of course in dry times that works against us, rule one is “never complain about the rain,” however much there is, because we depend upon it to fill our lake and our giant 200,000 litre pillow tank for mixing into drinking water.Thankfully there were no tornados to report like the one which Claudia brought to the Algarve, but as always, the first big storm of the autumn helps us switch back into ‘winter mode’ of carefully monitoring all our energy consumption...and keeping an eye on the weather.There’s a lot more at stake than knowing whether or not to take our brolly, or if I should make the move from shorts and sandals to trousers and sensible shoes (I believe that time has now come for this year...but that’s not bad given it’s nearly December).As far as weather forecasts, most predictions for our valley are at very best only half correct, and so I channel my inner weatherman, hark back to my Geography degree and start muttering about cold fronts and barometric pressure.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.Our favourite weather forecasting apps are Weather Underground and Ventusky which provide us with a broad outline, real time radar and some big-picture predictions as the various models plot expected rainfall and front movements by the hour.Our friend Niels – who has sailed around the world and records climatic data in his vineyard – put us on to Ventusky and also introduced us to Weather Watcher on YouTube, which gives great regular summaries of Europe for the committed weather nerd.After five years I am starting to learn some patterns, but it’s tough with everything becoming more unpredictable and extreme thanks to global warming.Storm Claudia was a tricky one – she hung around a lot longer than the average storm thanks to being sandwiched between two areas of high pressure in the Atlantic and over mainland Europe.And she also had a nasty habit of bringing rain all day, and then clearing all night – perfect for star gazing but not great for our solar system.I’m not sure of the science behind it, but we usually get more rain overnight and at least a little sunshine during each day...and thankfully we don’t need much to boost our batteries and regenerate our confidence.When designing off-grid systems, Solar Iain told us there’s no limit to how much power we can generate and store, it’s just a matter of how much we are prepared to invest.After estimating how much energy 22 people might use and expecting expansion we built a system that is way bigger than we need for most of the year.We swan through summers barely looking at the solar read-out, blessed as we are by enough solar panels to happily ensure the batteries are full every day before breakfast is over – despite the pumps, the power use and all the people.And even when the days get shorter, we have confidence in our 84 solar panels which still bring in power when it’s overcast.But when a storm hits and the clouds persist, we really earn our keep as an off-grid resort.That is when power monitoring becomes an obsession.Our first port of call is the Victron app on our phones which immediately shows us how much power is coming in and how much is being used on each of our three phases.Battery percentages are notoriously inaccurate, but we’ve found voltage level to be the best measure keeping everything going – once it drops to 48V the power goes off.The key is staying above 50V – something easily achievable with some tight management and a backup generator.Going the next level down to monitor individual buildings and pump houses took a fair bit of research, but we went for Emporia Energy from the US.The sensors clip around cables to measure how much electricity is moving through them.Sadly, some cost-cutting by our electrician left far too many things crammed into one small box...confusing even him.He grumpily clipped on the monitors and even managed to wedge the box shut, but at one point the car charger circuit was using the most power, which is confusing as we don’t have a car charger yet.Having switched the labels around we now get a pretty good idea of what’s going on, even if I need a few more hubs from the US to give us the full picture.Now I’m ordering some internet-connected switches to save me running up the hill and turning things off manually in the rain.Despite the days of rain we stayed well out of the danger zone, and as we watched the sun rise and its rays start reaching our panels...despite the forecasts...our overall outlook became even brighter.The first test is always the toughest as we tweak our pumps and get back into our power-saving routines, but once again our system passed with flying colours.Speaking of flying colours we’d love to find a decent but affordable wind turbine which can integrate into our Victron solar system...anyone with recommendations, please get in touch!With the batteries filling up fast, our trip to Vila de Frades and Vidigueira for the talha opening celebration weekend was back on.Driving into the interior Alentejo the skies cleared in front of us, the storm headed off into Spain and we entered an adega packed full of some of the most exciting wines and interesting winemakersIt was Simon the dog’s 98th birthday (14 human years x 7) and if I ever make it to his age I’d be more than happy with a day like it: McDonalds lunch, a load of excellent wine, a huge amount of attention and a late night dance party to finish.We’ve got the power.And now the storm has passed we’re enjoying crisp cold nights and beautifully clear sunny days with bright blue skies...and yes, I am still wearing the shorts. 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It’s more than 30,000 years since elephants last wandered the rolling landscape of Portugal’s Alentejo, but that’s all about to change.The last known tracks the pachyderms left behind are a series of fossilised footprints discovered here on our wild west coast of Alentejo.Not long after their steps in the sand were frozen in time, the giant, straight-tusked elephants were extinct.It wasn’t until 218BC that they returned – when Hannibal of Carthage shipped a North African herd to the Iberian peninsula and marched them over the Alps to the edge of Rome.Now they’re coming back to inland Alentejo, and this week I was lucky enough to have a guided tour around their new home.“It reminds me very much of Zambia,” Kate Moore told me as we drove onto the 400ha of land which will soon be Europe’s first large-scale elephant sanctuary.“It’s a really beautiful site. It used to be a cattle farm and a eucalyptus plantation, and we’ve spent the last one or two years basically trying to restore the biodiversity on site to get ready for elephants.”Kate Moore, who spent years working in conservation in Malawi, is managing director of the UK conservation charity Pangea which has spent years scouring Europe for the right site (and whose video footage I’ve attached above).“We did a feasibility study looking at all the different landscapes, honed in on the Iberian peninsula mainly because of the habitats, looked at hundreds of properties and finally shortlisted and got down to this one.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.“Gentle, rolling hills, lots and lots of water, good diverse habitat, and also privacy,” were the reasons they chose the site which straddles the two municipalities of Vila Viçosa and Alandroal just south of Estremoz.But this isn’t a safari park, or a large zoo – it will be a sanctuary for elephants to retire after spending their lives in the circus or in zoos around Europe.“Our first elephant is confirmed as an elephant from Belgium – she’s called Kariba – she was wild-caught in Zimbabwe 40 years ago, she was shipped off to Germany and has spent the last 40 years in zoos in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.”And as most EU states have banned circus elephants, and zoos are planning to give them up voluntarily, they need somewhere to go.Pangea will have space for 20 to 30 elephants, and they are preparing to receive Kariba early next year.A large shed for the elephants to take shelter from the summer heat and the chill of winter is almost finished and holes were being dug for the last sections of giant metal tube fencing – think Jurassic Park.“Basically it’s ready to receive the first elephants,” said Graça Fonseca, a board member at Pangea and a former Portuguese minister of culture.“First because it’s really a foreign investment that comes to Portugal not for tourism, but for a project that’s about conservation.“It’s about our connection with the land and the connection between humans and animals and I think that’s why it’s special and will put Portugal on the map.”It’s certainly got people talking in the local coffee shop.Graça Fonseca told the story of an early visit when the shop owner asked “are you the people bringing the elephants?” and she was delighted to hear they were, as none of her customers would believe her when she told them the animals were moving in nearby.The plan is to have open days for schools and the local community, and to create a discovery centre nearby to raise awareness about elephants and their habitat.“The most important thing...is giving them as much space we can give them in as natural a habitat as possible and all about giving them autonomy and freedom to choice, but it’s really important they get expert care,” Kate Moore told me.The Mayor of Alandroal, João Grilo, is a teacher and welcomes the educational opportunity it brings, but he also hopes the project will bring new life to a poor rural area.“I think it’s very important because we are giving an example of conservation and restoration of natural environments,” he said.“If we find ways that people could live here, build their life projects and still preserve the natural environment and create jobs that’s a great way we can do it.”The sanctuary is being paid for by large donations from individuals as well as grants from trusts and foundations.Pangea is also a registered non-profit organisation in Portugal…just saying for those people out there looking to get a golden visa...Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.One of Pangea’s ambassadors is the famous Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos who created a huge colourful woven blanket for the launch of the sanctuary.There’s been a huge rush of interest from the Portuguese media this week at the thought of elephants silhouetted on an Alentejo landscape, reminiscent of the African savannah but with the characteristic flat-topped acacia trees replaced by cork oaks.After years spent making films and telling stories about elephants across Africa it’s nice to have a story like this come to my new home.This one is about poaching arriving in Botswana – and it got me into a lot of trouble with the then-president.And here’s a piece from back in the day when the BBC was happy to pay money for these types of big impact stories:This is the TV documentary version.Each elephant which will retire to Portugal will have a traumatic back story shrouded in crime, corruption and the pursuit of ivory.I’m looking forward to telling more of their tales as the Pangea sanctuary takes shape.“They’re going to love it here,” Kate Moore believes.Into the Alentejo…It was a six hour round trip to Vila Viçosa for the journey to the elephant sanctuary, and despite my iPhone going flat and having no charger I was still back in time for Portuguese class at the local school (if a little late).Alentejo covers a third of Portugal and there’s so much to see inland...from impressive castles, monasteries, vineyards...and soon elephants.Next weekend we’ll be heading back to Vila de Frades – Friars’ Town – for the annual opening of the talhas, or amphora wines…I’ll let you know how it goes.Traditional Cante Alentejano singing, local meats & cheeses and wine straight from the clay is the order of St Martin’s Day – November 11th – when the vinho starts to flow.I’ve written a couple of pieces in the past about this time of year – this is the history of St Martin and the various autumn traditions across Europe…And this is the great tale of former diamond miner turned winemaker Teresa Caeiro, of Vila de Frades and the Geraçoẽs de Talha winery where she grew up…and the audio version from our podcast Ana & Al’s Big Portuguese Wine Adventure - you can start listening to episode 1 here or wherever you usually get your podcasts.And Finally…It may be November, but we’ve been enjoying a bit of St Martin’s Summer and ocean currents from the south have made the water the warmest it’s been all year.We’ve been hosting a yoga retreat this weekend and they’ve been treated to some amazing morning mists over the valley. We’re talking to retreat leaders and wedding planners, so if you’re looking for a venue do get in touch.* Please come and see us - we’ve extended our discount for readers booking a room or apartment to stay in November and early December (with the code BLOG25). Book here.* AND…we will also be open for a cozy Christmas and New Year when it’s sunny during the day and cold enough at night to justify an open fire! Should be fun. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

In the voyage of discovery that is making it up as you go along, our little late-summer lull didn’t last very long.I last wrote about us suddenly realising it was September with the brief moment we had to reflect on our first summer season as small-hoteliers.In retrospect I can put an exact date on that lull: Thursday September 11th – our first night without guests since the rollercoaster ride pushed out of the stalls in July – and the only night we’ve had to ourselves since then!Presumably, real people who plan, design and build eco-luxe lodges have a pretty clear idea before they start as to who will come and visit.We hedged our bets by building a few apartments and handful of en-suite rooms, but also a communal Clubhouse space for events and meals.It was about variety – appealing to different people with different needs – big families spending a week or two together, couples wanting a get-away and ‘retreats’ where some people like to share and others prefer their own space.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.And somehow amid the naivety of the “build it and they’ll come” business plan, we’ve continued to have an amazing mixture of fun and fascinating people finding us.Some spot our little lodge on Google maps, some ask ChatGPT (which for some reason seems to like recommending us) and others see the reviews generous people have been leaving and look us up.Of course it’s been an easier sell during the guaranteed sunshine of a Portuguese summer, when beaches beckon and the pool is the perfect antidote to some time on a sun-lounger.Like any double-speed investment ad disclaimer, temperatures here can go up and down; rain does sometimes fall in Portugal (thankfully); and 300 days with sunshine does mean an average of at least 65 days without.But there aren’t many places left in Europe quite as wild and untouched as our southwestern coast of Alentejo – and not many places like ours in the area.It’s still the beauty of the landscape, the seascapes, the clifftop coastal paths, the star-scape by night...and the simple silence which are the top attractions.Whether a glass of rosé with the pink tint of a reflected sunset, a morning run through the mysterious mist and an encounter with a large stag (yes, that happened to our guests this week) or with the dramatic clouds of an impending Atlantic storm, it’s always special.It’s inspired us to plan for future expansion already and apply for an innovation and sustainability grant, set up to support young and small businesses like ours in our region.Our architect has designed some additional apartments which can be built elsewhere and lifted into place to avoid us returning to the bad-old building site days. Here’s the plan:But until people realise what they’re missing out on and discover what we fell in love with here, they need a reason to come and visit.And that’s what brings us to the paint and the porn-stars…It had been on the calendar for months...a colourful little block of days closed for new bookings labelled “Art Retreat.”It was our first multiple-day, full-board retreat in the Valley of the Stars, and we had a full house of amateur painters.The group were mostly from the UK and were members of my old pal Ed Sumner’s Cheese & Wine Painting Club.We knew a four-day full-on retreat would be tough with all 17 guests needing breakfast, lunch, dinner...and drinks every day.And with just us and our first employee Krishna, we asked our daughter Oda to fly back from LA, after her heroic six-week stint in the summer had helped us get through the hectic schedule of bookings.Ed started his painting club in London a few years ago – running events in pubs where he’d teach basic techniques by showing would-be artists how to paint their own master.Copying a Constable, making a Monet or having a go at a Van Gogh was a great way in for many folk.But during the pandemic when Ed’s Yorkshire lilt helped hundreds of people keep connected to the outside world...by joining his online painting classes.Friendships formed over WhatsApp and Zoom and it helped a lot of people through the loneliness of lockdown.That’s why some of those gathering in Vale das Estrelas had only met fellow club members online, so it was their first chance to meet in person.There was also a last minute appearance from an American couple Craig and Betty who’d read about the retreat and signed up a couple of weeks before.Craig writes the Pat the Expat column in the Portugal Resident magazine (where I also do a version of this blog once a month) and thought it might make a fun place to explore while Betty did the painting.The Cheese & Wine Painting Club crowd enjoyed the food and the wine as much as the painting classes, as they tucked into Ana’s amazing and endless repertoire of local specialities, sampled some of Alentejo’s finest wines and worked their way through Oda’s cocktail menu.Many hadn’t tried bochechas (pig cheeks) or arroz de pato (duck rice) before.They loved the flame grilled dourada, their beach picnic, and Ana’s Asian twist on Portuguese bifanas thanks to an amazing chef and super sous chef Oda.Oda cut her teeth as a bartender in the fancy rooftop terraces of Los Angeles and“If we have it, I can make it,” her whiteboard boasted, above a list of suggested cocktails to which someone added “Porn Star Martinis.”Apparently a core of club members have meet-ups in the UK and Porn Star Martinis have become a tradition.Not in her usual repertoire, the special request sparked the search for passion fruit liqueur and vanilla vodka in remote, rural Odemira.Maracuja (passion fruit) booze was easier to find than expected, not so much vanilla vodka, but with a little magical syrup-making Oda transformed the Valley of the Bars into the Valley of the Porn Star Martinis.The group were from a fantastic range of backgrounds and included an actor, a dentist, an author and an astronomer; a moth and butterfly expert who educated us all; and a nurse (whose skills were only required once or twice).They set up on the calçada deck outside our Clubhouse and painted the view we fell in love with when we first found this spot in 2018.They sketched the surf from the comfort of Bar de Praia in Almograve, inspired by the sun, the sand...and the strawberry daiquiris.They learned a bit of history through one of our wine story-tastings and met the French/British couple behind the delectable new Delância wine – with a fabulous artistic and colourful label with a story to match.They all seemed to love their stay, and for us it was a great lesson in how to prepare the meals, run the logistics and understand where to bring in extra staff next time.Speaking of next time... anyone fancy another painting retreat in April 2026??Speaking of next time... anyone fancy another painting retreat in April 2026??It also taught us that group getaways are certainly the way we’d like to go as it can all be planned and organised well ahead of time.We have our first yoga group coming in a couple of weeks, a big corporate retreat in January – a collaboration with the fantastic nearby Orada retreat centre and were recently visited by an Ayurvedic retreat leader looking to run training classes in Portugal.And it seems a lot of all sort of people like the idea of a few days away in the beauty and silence of places like Alentejo...without necessarily the need for 6am exercise classes.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it - especially if you know retreat leaders!!Just this morning I saw an article in The Times about Reading Retreats (paywall) – retreats where you just read and relax...reading retreat leaders look no further!With the clocks going back and the nights closing in, we’ll certainly be reaching for a good book this winter, and hope we can lure a few of you to join us.And in case you needed any more persuasion, we’re still offering a 15% discount for all stays through November with the code BLOG25 when you book here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

So that’s what they mean by the silly season...how did it suddenly become September?It’s been both exhilarating and exhausting, but we couldn’t have asked for a better summer start to the latest stage of our off-grid Portuguese adventure.And this week we enjoyed something which a few months ago would have been utterly terrifying in the face of an rapidly expanding overdraft...a night with no guests.As the kids started to drift back to school and the summer holidays started slowly coming to an end, a gap in our arrivals calendar allowed us the luxury of coming up for air, getting some rest, and starting to think beyond the next breakfast, lunch, dinner (or all three...on the same day).We ended the summer with a flourish...dinner for 16, wine tasting for 12, a short but first proper retreat and then a very welcome little lull.Somehow – for two months – we’ve kept the treadmill of arrivals and departures going without too many mess-ups or laundry-lacking panics.Our personal washing production line is tested enough by all the towels, so we outsource our sheets to a fabulous laundrette half an hour’s drive away in Vila Nova de Milfontes.Only once amid the madness did we reach for the iron, despite having bought three times more sheets than we needed, and thankfully we were just four pillow cases short before the overworked launderers saved our skins.Some would call it bad planning, we call it learning by doing: we set out at the start of the summer with a ‘bring-it-on’ attitude to running an eco-luxe lodge.In June we didn’t even know if anyone would come, let alone test our laundry logistics.Even with the wonderful Oda spending six weeks helping us through our first season – crafting cocktails, clinking wine glasses and making meals – it’s been a blur of guests, welcome tours, beach and restaurant advice and many, many lovely people.We have the best guests hands down and haven’t had a bad one yet...and the great reviews continue to flow in.Krishna has been cleaning like a demon, turning around rooms in a few short hours to keep all the people coming and going.We now understand what tourist season means: everybody working in the bars, the restaurants and the tourist lodges of Odemira is absolutely exhausted.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.Some places have closed already, either to take some late summer sunshine themselves, or to sit in a quiet, darkened room with a stash of sedatives.Others are powering on...knowing it’ll be quieter in the off-season and sprinting towards the finishing line.But as the families are returning home from the beaches, the walkers hiking the Rota Vicentina long-distance foothpath are back in force...extending the season well into the winter and with it the workload.We always planned to be open for much of the year – that’s why we installed underfloor heating – but didn’t expect the clifftop trail and the historic inland path which cuts through the bottom of our valley to bring so many more visitors to the area.Now we have the time to properly promote our three night stays for the walkers looking for a little more luxury: a daily, backpack-free hike followed by a dip in the pool, a slap up dinner, a new wine each evening and a hearty breakfast to set them up for the next day.We’re also getting all the logistics in place for our painting retreat with Ed Sumner at the beginning of October.The paint and the canvases has arrived, the winemakers are ready and from the WhatsApp group, the attendees appear to be getting excited!We’ve have had a cancellation...so there is space for one more person (or two people sharing) to join...please get in touch...here’s the info: it starts on October 3rd.Suddenly the sun is setting earlier, the mornings and evenings are that little bit cooler and we even had some rain last week.It was very much welcomed by the plants who’ve suffered from my only occasional irrigational interventions, and I was so out of touch that the remnants of Hurricane Erin took me totally by surprise.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Guests had been mentioning how the red beach flags had been flying and the ocean was in turmoil, but even the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina didn’t draw my usually weather-curious eye to the satellite images.As I was being interviewed on BBC Radio 5Live recalling memories of reporting on the storm hitting New Orleans (on BBC Sounds here at 1.39’00”), I was utterly unaware that one of the largest hurricanes ever recorded was churning around the Atlantic, flooding New Jersey and moving Iberian beaches.Only in the last few days have I realised just how much sand has moved and changed the shape and flow of our favourite beaches as it usually does only in the Spring.Thankfully Erin didn’t make landfall – but its last band of rain which hit the UK and barely clipped our coast gave me a little reminder that the long summer days of endless solar power are coming to an end.It robbed us of a clear lunar eclipse (although day 2 of the blood moon was still pretty special), but more importantly the batteries went flat and our power went off.I’ve always been obsessed with monitoring our solar system, but for some reason I didn’t turn off the pool or water treatment pumps, ran washing machine-loads of towels all day, left a load of lights on and then started the 3-phase industrial dishwasher before the sun came up.Thankfully our guests were checking out and the gas cooker provided all they needed for breakfast, but I was a little shell-shocked by my own complacency...and that’s definitely a good thing.Our systems have been remarkably robust, aside from the little power cut and the occasional water “pump cavitation.”Whether it was a leaking pipe or a pump “running out of curve,” we would have loved a little more attention from our water engineer, but for an off-grid system and an average of 18 people a night, it’s been impressive for season 1.After our quietish week guests are starting to return to Vale das Estrelas and September is already starting to look busy.We love all the readers and listeners taking advantage of our special blog-following discount...and by way of apology for my six-week absence from Substack, we would like to extend that offer into October.We’ve happily eroded our overdraft and our young business is going well, but we could really do with your support to help us through winter.If you go onto our website and booking engine here and then enter the promotional code BLOG25 you’ll get a 15% discount for the rest of September and the whole of October (but don’t tell anyone).In my old life, the silly season was the summer lull when everyone went on holiday and we needed to find quirky stories to fill the airwaves.I’m not sure “silly” is the right word for the mad world and relentless news cycle that continued throughout the summer, but that lull is certainly over...it’s been quite a week.Israel bombed a new country; American political tension exploded with an assassination; France, Japan and Nepal all lost their prime ministers; Russian drones entered Polish and Romanian airspace; and NASA (maybe) discovered life on Mars.Exhausting isn’t it? And those were just the top stories.But this news hound now listens to classical music, we still marvel every evening at our amazing view at orange time and pink time, the reorganised beaches are beautiful, and you really can get away from it all.Come to the Valley of the Stars: we’re in the country, on the coast and off the grid. And above all, it’s quiet here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

We’ve heard many encouraging words in the various iterations of these despatches, from Off-Grid and Ignorant, Off-Grid and Open and now Off-Grid and Entertaining (people)...in Portugal.And having welcomed quite a few guests already this summer, we love seeing their words left on the website reviews sections even more.Obviously the five out of fives and the ten out of tens aren’t going to last forever, but right now we’re loving it...and loving the people enjoying our infinity pool, those doing a wine story tasting, having breakfast, or joining one of our big-table family-style meals.“Congratulations” said Pedro as I introduced our latest guest and his partner to the valley, explaining how we fell in love with the view at first sight and how it was all a eucalyptus forest just a few years ago.I’d just explained their arrival had brought us a full house for the first time – all rooms occupied and one hopeful guest sadly having to be turned away.It was another marvellous milestone on this journey towards running our own little eco-luxe lodge in Alentejo.Our first full house involved an interesting mix of Dutch, Portuguese, French and British folk who somehow stumbled upon us and arrived curious about what we’ve done, or just in need of some well-earned summer rest.The following day was a second – not quite so impressive milestone – our first overbooking.We’re getting to grips with the software which keeps all the calendars on all the various booking sites up to date, but we made a mistake filling in the cleaning schedules spreadsheet and it left us thinking we had a room when we didn’t.Easy to do...much harder to resolve.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Thankfully our friends at nearby Monte de Silveira had an open room and we were able to solve the problem before the guests even realised there was a problem.In July that’s tough but possible...in August everything will be packed, so we can’t make that mistake again! A good lesson early on.Speaking of which, the calendar is now a sea of colour...we’ve been overwhelmed by just how many people have booked...and how many keep calling every day asking if we can fit them in.We’ve had a wonderful range of guests: German newlyweds on their honeymoon, a Polish couple who loved their wine and their wine tasting, two Spanish guys working in the area and loving the pool in the evenings.The banking consultant who helped us buy our flat in Lisbon more than 10 years ago arrived to celebrate her birthday and we managed to get a dinner together.Rachael, Daisy and Ed the painter stayed a week – Ed will be back in October for his painting retreat (just one space left!).We hosted our first Valley Sessions event featuring businessman and candidate for the Portuguese presidential election, Tim Vieira to talk politics and answer some tough questions over wine.Mauro the winemaker walked the soon-to-be vineyard with me suggesting when to do what to the land, how many bush-vines to plant and which grape varieties to mix in.There have been so many wonderful people...and all have left very kind comments.Two young women arrived in a taxi happy to spend all day in the pool and relaxing in the shade – we usually tell people coming by car gives you a much better chance to explore, but these guys were incredibly happy just hanging out here!September is also starting to get busy and that’s a fantastic time of year on this coast, with the ocean at its warmest and the summer rush of tourists having past.That’s why we’d like you to come and see us! If you go onto our website and booking engine here and then enter the promotional code BLOG25 you’ll get a 15% discount from our soft-opening rates for the whole of September (but don’t tell anyone).It’s a huge relief after all the worries about whether people would find us, whether they’d like the place and whether they’d tell their friends about their time “In the country, on the coast and off the grid”...as we sometimes put it.Well, they have. We’re actually doing it...we’ve built it and they are coming...It’s been a little over five years since we arrived in Portugal in the middle of COVID and the diplomat/journalist couple who’d bounced around the world for decades decided to give up their old lives and try running a business.In retrospect, the first few years were easy: we just had to spend money – now we have to make it.Regular readers will know how funny those retrospective words sound, given the challenges we’ve faced with funding, battling bureaucracy for permissions, project managing the construction and working out all the off-grid infrastructure.We almost gave up a couple of times as inflation soared, paperwork stalled so long we almost lost our funding and we battled to keep control of our budget.Naivety has certainly been our friend.For three years worries over water kept us awake at night, but now there’s lovely, soft minerally water running from the taps and the off-grid systems are holding up well to the high demand.There’s still plenty of DIY work to do tweaking the occasional leaking pipe and putting in some extra infrastructure, but the focus has switched to something we’re more practiced at: providing people with a warm welcome.It did lead me to the realisation I didn’t have any nice clothes left, having trashed them all working on the land.Thankfully Ana discovered a hidden box of the smart shirts I used to wear while reporting for the BBC – crisply collared shirts worn with the sleeves rolled up in whatever war zone I’d been thrown into.Now it’s a fabulous roller-coaster ride of guests arriving and departing as a new and steeper learning curve of invoicing, payment systems and booking engines is providing the stress we’ve been missing since we got our license.At least the money is now coming in as well as going out.We take turns leading a little tour explaining what off-the-grid means...urging people to try and beat the 5-minutes’ worth of sand in the hour glass when they shower.Anyone showing a brief flash of additional interest soon regrets it, as I get into the weeds on pipes, pumps, LPWAN monitoring systems, pH regulators and salt sensors.(On that note, I have a short radio documentary going out this week on the rise of LPWAN and the Internet of Things) on the BBC’s Business Daily programme – not sure exactly which day yet, but it’ll appear here when they’ve filled the schedule).I officially bore myself now when I enthusiastically dive down the water-filled rabbit hole and confuse people with TLAs (three letter acronyms).Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Amid busy and creative breakfast-making – and the fun bit of getting to know our guests who’ve somehow discovered us from all over the world – there’s a new sea of bureaucracy that any small business owner will recognise.Invoices, three different rates of VAT (IVA here) and balancing the books has taught us how we’re just one part in a complicated system of helping other people making money...out of us.Everyone seems to get their cut, but I guess that’s just how the world works.Luckily the local parish council levelled our dirt road just in time for the summer rush – still providing guests with a suitable amount of adventure, but without as much risk to their vehicles.Thankfully the guests who I accidentally (and massively) undercharged the other day came back to say they owed us money after realising my mistake.Business basics.They say ignorance is bliss...and we enjoyed being Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal for ages...but now we have to step up and know what we’re doing.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.There are big laundry and recycling runs – to drop off the empties from our wine tasting events – visits to the local butcher and the lovely lady at the little cheese shop to show off to guests all the wonderful things we’ve discovered since we arrived.And there’s something strangely satisfying about one-day turn-around of rooms as one set of guests leave just as another group arrives.Our marketing education resumes whenever we come up for air, and amid the demands of high tourist season, we make plans and put out posts for painting retreats and walking holidays in the autumn and spring.It’s a new and fun stage in our transformation from international travellers to hosts and professional entertainers.We took a bet on our beautiful view and so far everyone seems to agree with us...that this part of coastal Alentejo is something very special with its wild beaches, hidden coves and great restaurants.We’ve still got a long way to go, but I think we’re heading in the right direction. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Portugal loves a party, and the summer season smoothly segues from festa straight into to festa.Since most schools were out from early June the festivities have been off to a flying start with both the unusually hot weather arriving unseasonably early this year...and with a football trophy.Beating the old enemy Spain on penalties in the UEFA Nations League final set the tone for the opening holiday weekend, then came Portugal Day and the celebration of the national epic poet was quickly followed by the Santos Populares – or Popular Saints celebrations.If you try to get anything done in Lisbon during the second week of June around St Anthony’s Day, the phones ring out as the city comes to a standstill of block parties awash in a sea of sardines.Thanks for reading Off-grid and OPEN in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.And there are three popular saints: António, João and Pedro. Porto goes St João crazy on the 23rd and then June rounds off with St Pedro...and that is really just the start.Across the country, live music stages are popping up on every street corner and you can’t move for parades, bunting and long outdoor dining tables.Here in coastal Alentejo it’s the Marchas Populares which bring the Sagres and Super Bock beer kiosks out of winter storage and music to the town squares.Our nearest town of São Teotónio has its annual ceiling of handmade paper ribbons as the traditional mastros festival (of masts) is underway, and across the country traditional town celebrations and full-on music festivals fill the calendar from now until the autumn.On the praias, big sea swells have been keeping the surfers entertained and the beach guards on high alert; our supermarkets are newly stocked with suncream and beach umbrellas and the summer people are starting to arrive.Having just opened our doors for guests at our new tourist lodge – and being happily surprised at the number of bookings we’re already getting – we don’t have as much time as we did to join in the parties.But we’ve been celebrating in our own way...with the arrival of our first member of staff to be officially on our books: Krishna Shrestha from Waling in the western region of Nepal (a bit south of Pokhara).Krishna is a machine, whether it’s gardening, cleaning, building, or as it turns out cooking (as we signed the contract he casually mentioned working for years as an assistant chef in Dubai).We’ve known Krishna a while now and are delighted to have him as our first employee...especially as there’s so much to do in Vale das Estrelas.Hot on the heels of our first hire, we acquired our second member of staff, and in the fast-changing world in which we live, it will be no surprise to hear we recruited a robot.Our daughter Oda hit the perfect creative chord by calling the pool cleaning WyBot Herbert Hoover. Herbie is already making a big impact on the infinity pool...if not yet and beyond.While Ana selflessly held the fort for our guests, I did manage a couple of hours at one event that no self-respecting establishment like ours can afford to miss: the local tourism festival Fei-Tur.Being in the biggest regional tourist town of Vila Nova de Milfontes and on the fabulous Mira River estuary, the FEIra de TURismo do SW leans heavily on the river and ocean sports side of things with surf schools and stand up paddle boarding.But it’s a feira packed with local producers, peddling cheese and wine, honey and olive oil, preserves and cakes com or sem gluten and on the strong booze front, a muddle of Medronho-makers (or whatever the collective noun might be: a mess? a mash? a murder? Let’s hope not).It was a collection of exactly the kind of people we need to meet in order to keep our guests happy.Our fabulous lawyer Ana Aleixo treated her husband Sérgio to a surprise Vale das Estrelas staycation, our brilliant bank manager Wilson Gonçalves dropped by with the family to see what all the money’s been spent on, and we’ve been welcoming some pioneering guests who found us online and wanted to be the first to discover our place (and tell their friends).We’ve been making daily breakfast spreads for a lovely German couple, a few young Lisbonites have been spending nights escaping the big city and our first venture into painting retreats with Ed Sumner in October is pretty much sold out already.A big part of what we want to do is introduce visitors to the tastes of Alentejo – the wines from the interior and from our region, the fresh fish and the black pork, and so a local tourism fair was the perfect place to collect a tote-bag full of business cards and flyers and a notebook full of numbers.It was also a great reminder of all the things visitors to our area can see and do – beyond visiting all the beautiful beaches – and it means I’ll have to update the guides left in our rooms for guests.Horse riding, motorcross schools, freediving courses, bird watching guides, kayak tours and boat trips, and foiling...whatever that is.But at the heart of it all is the hundreds of kilometres of walking and cycling paths which are bringing thousands more visitors to our Costa Vicentina every year.The number of people hitting the trails is growing at an astonishing rate – the bars and restaurants along the clifftop route of the Fisherman’s Trail are constantly busy with resting hikers from all over the world newly discovering our wild Atlantic coast.The Rota Vicentina had a whole line of exhibition tents at this year’s Fei-Tur festival and was promoting cycling routes as well as the stunning inland long-distance hiking path and the circular trails.Pedro Almeida is the head of cycling, and was buzzing with excitement over the free downloadable maps, a new range of automatic bicycle service stations and how electric bikes are attracting a new type of cyclist.“The Fisherman’s Trail is incredibly popular as people want to see the coast – and it’s a beautiful coast,” said our friend Pedro.“But we have so many circular walking and cycling routes and we’d like to bring people here for slow tourism and natural tourism – to spend more time in one place and learn more about the local food and culture.”Many long-distance hikers stay in a different town or village each night as they track all or some of the 226.5km from São Torpes (near Sines) to Sagres and across to Lagos.Thanks for reading Off-grid and OPEN in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Sunday Times chief foreign correspondent Christina Lamb – a friend from when I lived in Afghanistan – visited while walking a long stretch of the Fisherman’s Trail.Wearing her travel writer’s hat she seemed to enjoy the hike and visiting our place in an area she first discovered many years ago.Like many others she used a tour company to shuttle her luggage around. Transport companies are thriving and the local guesthouses are heaving, but they have a a lot more work to do with one-night stops rather than week-long visits.It is something we’ve already realised running a small eco-luxe lodge: the costs of cleaning and laundry push us towards a two or three night minimum stay.But with trailhead drop-offs and pick-ups, local bike hire suggestions, scenic circular routes, and a peaceful place to return to — where guests can rest their legs by the pool after a long day on the trails, sip a glass of Alentejo wine, and enjoy a fresh fish or black pork dinner with a stunning view— we believe we’re offering something really special.“We want to encourage responsible travel and responsible tourism: to attract people to do more different activities. There are boat rides, a bird watching festival – and of course cycling,” said Pedro.“The great thing about e-bikes now is you don’t have to be an athlete or to bring your own bike with you – you just need to know how to ride a bike and then you can discover more places.”And as luck would have it, the focus of the Rota Vicentina circular walking and cycling paths is all around us and the inland Historical Way crosses the bottom of our valley.The SW coast of Alentejo is well worth a visit...for hiking, biking, wine tasting, surfing...and foiling (whatever that is).We love our Atlantic coast and while we keep quiet about our hidden coves and wild beaches, a lot more people are now starting to discover this still quite secret corner of the country.So now’s the time to come and see us...before everyone else does! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

The metaphors have moved from walking through mud to battling thick undergrowth as the moment in the year has passed when the clay on our land turns to concrete.A very wet winter has given everything an extra spurt of growth, and now that the days are getting longer and sun is getting stronger it’s a jungle out there.The dogs have shed their muddy socks and now bring dust rather than wet pawprints into the house.And the Scarab Cult are back – the annual bombardment of drunken beetles careering into the house and heading for “the flame...the flame” obsessed as they are with our gas stove.Apparently they get smashed on honeycombs and then inexplicably make a beetle-line for the kitchen.Simon the dog used to chase them, but these days the old man is more obsessed with bothering us and our neighbour Daniel for human food and snoozing than chasing bugs...however much he used to like the crunch.We catch each one, try to persuade it that life is worth living and then launch it back into the wild hoping it can stay off the honeycomb, out of the hive-bars and not be lured back to the flame.It’s that trimming strimming time of year again when I dust off the weed whacker and reacquaint myself with our land patch by daily patch...shedding a few pounds in the process.Thanks for reading Off-grid and OPEN in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The legal deadline for fire-prevention land-clearing within 50m of every building was thankfully pushed back until the end of May as usual, but it’s a time consuming business with more buildings built and temperatures rising.A dodgy knee hasn’t helped, but there is something very calming about spending hours methodically clearing hillside patches of esteva (rock rose) and silves (brambles)...and the instant gratification that brings.It’s nice to actually see the fruits of our labour as our indoor work is mostly sending messages out into the social media ether without the immediate feedback.We’re fine-tuning our video and photography, delving into design software and experimenting with Facebook ads and Instagram reels to reach the people – that we know are out there – who will love the wonderful place we’ve created.It turns out there’s more to it than just “build it and they’ll come.”We had a crazy idea, made a plan, got a loan, learned how to build, how to install a fully off-grid power and water system for a small hotel and somehow beat the bureaucracy to open something truly remarkable...in record time.Having retrained as builders and project managers, we are reinventing ourselves once again as marketeers, IT experts, accountants, social media super-spreaders, hosts, chefs, landscapers, gardeners and event organisers.Now we’re working around the clock to manage everything and make it all work.We’re fluctuating wildly between the fear of failing and having every confidence we’ll succeed – in the sense of having money coming in as well as going out, which I’m told is quite important.We’ve been blown away by the people visiting us and staying with us who have been so brilliantly baffled by the beauty...and spontaneously asked why our prices are so low.It’s our opening year and we really want expectations to be exceeded – and it’s hard on a website to do justice to the peace and quiet, all the nature and the open spaces.And it’s great to hear from people even more convinced than we are that we can make a success out of this crazy adventure.We are still caught deep in the weeds trying to get our booking engine activated, as connecting to the sites where people go to search for holiday homes has been an inexplicably uphill struggle.A bad user always blames his bad user experience, but linking Booking.com, Expedia and AirBnB to our own “channel management system” has been the equivalent of cutting through a bamboo forest with a blunt blade.Days of our lives we will never get back have been spent adding multiple photos and detailed descriptions, trying to avoid double bookings, one-night stays (due to cleaning costs), and dogs...at least for now, until Garfunkel and Albie get used to guests.After weeks of helplines and service desks some apartments still aren’t appearing online and rooms people want somehow can’t be reserved.It’s perhaps reassuring that the lower than expected booking numbers may be our own fault, but now we need bom dias on beds sooner rather than later.Thanks for reading Off-grid and OPEN in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.In many respects we’re lucky the season hasn’t quite got started yet as it gives us time to finish things off properly and to do the noisy stuff every morning...like cutting the grass.But it’s a nervous time for us first-time entrepreneurs and with loan repayments already fleeing our account, my childhood eczema is back and we’re both running around figuratively (and sometimes literally) shouting “Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic!”We’ve realised the best way to settle our nerves is to create retreats we can plan for ahead of time – package deals including pickups and drop-offs, meals and activities.There are far too many great yoga and wellness retreat centres in the neighbourhood, but with artist friends like Ed Sumner we’ve started proposing painting retreats and get-away-from-it-all weeks based around walking and wine.There’s been a huge surge of people hiking the Rota Vicentina clifftop trails on this last wild coast in Europe, many stopping in a different place every night.But we’re building a package plan to pick people up and drop them off each day so they can do stretches of the route while basing themselves in on place: in the Valley of the Stars.I’d happily spend three or four nights walking in the morning, relaxing by the pool in the afternoon and then trying a local dish and a new Portuguese wine every evening...all while avoiding luggage logistics.And if people aren’t obsessed with walking every single step of 200-plus kilometres of the Fisherman’s Trail or the Historical Way in a straight line, then the lovely circular routes nearby for some light hikes – or rides on bikes – can give structure to a very relaxing week.So if any of this might be of interest to you or people you know please get in touch and we’ll test out some package plans.As I write, the sun is already getting higher in the sky and the shrubbery isn’t going to cut itself, the scratching sound of a hungover beetle trapped in a plastic bag is calling for an intervention and Simon the dog wants some human breakfast.We’re discovering how tough it is to get a business up and running from scratch when the personal stakes are so high.But we’re also in a very beautiful place surrounded by pets and wildlife, a chorus of birdsong, and plenty of sunshine and wild beaches.With the undergrowth cleared and the clay firm underfoot we have a pretty open path to our first summer season. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Surprised, interested, shocked, concerned and intrigued all sum up our reaction to the massive power cuts across Portugal and Spain, but perhaps the most appropriate description of our mood was: smug.When the traffic lights went dark, petrol stations closed and panic struck the ice cream shops of the nearby tourist towns on our southwestern coast of Alentejo, we could rest easy.Our freezer-load of wild boar (wild boar) wasn’t defrosting, our water pumps were working well and our wine remained nicely chilled.While the lights went off across the Iberian peninsula, a healthy hum was heard from our control centre as our 84 solar panels were piling power into our batteries as usual.We have the storage capacity of a large electric vehicle – a BMW or a Porsche Taycan – and yesterday when the lights went out we felt very much at the luxury end of the market.We were buying fruit trees when the plant nursery billing system went down.People in Vila Nova de Milfontes were standing in shop doors and milling around street corners burning through the last of the mobile phone tower batteries for online information and updates to understand why the “apagão” or power cut, had happened.There was much speculation at the coffee-less cafés over what, or whom, might have been responsible for the outage.The explanation as to why the whole of Portugal and Spain lost electricity for many hours has to get a lot better for people to stop thinking it was Mr Putin, Mr Trump or a cabal of satanic paedophiles.I do tend to lean heavily into cock-up over conspiracy, but I’ll admit my work countering Russian disinformation led my first suspicions towards a Russian cyber-attack.Thanks for reading Off-grid and SMUG in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.But we were fine.After years of learning to live off the grid, the thousands of euros of investment, power cuts and teething troubles, our system finally came into its own.From the early days when we moved into our new off-grid home in the Portuguese countryside in the middle of the COVID pandemic we’ve been playing catch up with power.We have learned the hard way what a lot of people realised yesterday – just how much power we consume every day and how dependent we are on electricityThe off-grid system which came with our house provided a lot less energy than we were used to – even moving from Kenya where power cuts were common, but we had a generator in the garden.Toasters and ovens are the biggest culprits – and I’ll never use my hairdryer while ironing ever again!After failing to keep the giant Tamagotchi of a lead-acid battery system alive we installed new panels and lithium batteries for us...and then for the 20 plus people we can cater for at the eco-luxe lodge we’ve just opened.Three phases, hundreds of meters of buried cables, a lot of maths and fuse boxes later and we are...smug.Last week my mornings had begun with a nervous eye on the app, as 17 Easter guests and some pretty rainy and cloudy weather tested the system, which happily passed with flying colours.But while the rest of the region was powerless to do anything, our batteries were at 100%, our satellite connection kept the communications going and we were one of the few restaurants still open.We hadn’t planned on making a fish braai for our guests Robert and Kim – and we’re not even a restaurant – but in the absence of a mobile phone signal to even ask the best seafood places if they were open, we confidently offered a three course meal complete with electric light.The candles were merely for effect.And the country-wide shortage of internet connectivity led a BBC producer back to my WhatsApp and the offer of a chance to play at my old job for an afternoon.BBC Radio 4’s PM programme in the UK was interested in “some colour” from Odemira so Ana and I headed off for a wander (hear the story 38 mins in here).Our local Intermarché supermarket boss was almost as smug as we were – because their massive generator was keeping the meat and fish cold, the freezers below zero and the ATM cash machine running.There was a touch of the early COVID days about it – even if the toilet roll stocks remained largely undisturbed.We bumped into our friend Francisco from the A Terra glamping lodge – everything had gone off at his place and so he was at the ATM paying for 20 new solar panels.“Because tomorrow the price is going to be crazy,” he told me.“I should have bought them a long time ago, but now it needs to be done.”Glenn Cullen who with his wife Berny runs a beautiful tourism lodge called Paraiso Escondido was also at the supermarket stocking up on water to help guests flush.“The power cut’s a bit inconvenient...to say the least,” he told me.“We rely on pumps for the water, electricity as we’d expect for the power, so cooking – breakfast, lunch, dinners. We do have gas in one of our kitchens, so we have got a standby.“It’s a bit of a worry and something we have to think about for the future. Already we’re talking about getting generators to have backup. We have solar for hot water, but all the other things we take for granted: every day you turn the tap on, you flick a switch and communication – the WiFi is down. We rely on it so much.”I do care a lot about ice cream – and was keen to volunteer my services to stop large amounts of it going to waste, so next stop was beach-front Zambujeira-do-Mar and Rita’s Restaurant.Nuno Rita explained the gelato was straight into the freezer as soon as the lights went out and the door would remain shut until it came back on again.“It will be fine as long as the power comes back within a day,” he explained, as much to my disappointment I realised my ice cream eating sacrifice was not going to be immediately required.The Sunset Café was packed – André had his sleeves rolled up and was washing dishes while hikers on the long-distance walking trail Rota Vicentina were fuelling up on lunch.“Traditional work – no lights, washing glasses with my hands, salads, sandwiches and Portuguese bifanas,” he said, talking about the traditional bread rolls filled with thin pork steaks he was dishing out to walkers.Thanks for reading Off-grid and SMUG in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.I’m pleased to say it was a mere 17 hours that our region was without electricity.Our neighbour Daniel was up before dawn as usual and spotted a distant glow from the nearby town at around 5.15am.Now is a great time to talk about community micro-grids rather than national grids, and how renewable energy can be better managed at a local level...however much the giant power providers may protest.Solar panels have never been cheaper, but integrating small systems into national grids are not as easy as the “sell your renewable power back” offers suggest.Our friend Niels discovered it was costing him money to sell his excess power to the grid and so invested in large water tanks and heaters to create different types of “battery” instead.And our neighbour Jeff in Lisbon had taken steps towards energy independence by installing panels, but because he is connected to the grid he couldn’t use them when the blackout happened.While conservative newspapers say the Iberian power cuts prove renewable energy can’t work at scale - because of the huge steps Spain and Portugal has made towards running on green energy - we have to remember that it must.It’s perhaps more down to the traditional systems and the big, rich power companies which need to change and adapt.And it’s also a good reminder that come the next zombie apocalypse we should be fine – all we need is a couple of extra shovels to hit them with and maybe a shotgun. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

For more than three years now there’s been a loop of thinking, building, pushing and waiting...but we’ve finally opened our doors to a flurry of guests.With thanks to friends – and friends of friends – for booking in advance and betting we’d be ready, we had our biggest test so far this Easter holiday week, with six of our seven units filled and a peak of 17 people staying.Despite all the fears of the whole thing descending into a terrible Fawlty Towers epsiode – particularly when two of the visitors were German – I think we managed pretty well.We barbequed porco preto black pork, served Portuguese arroz de pato duck rice, braai-d some sea bass alongside Ana’s amazing moules and introduced our guests to some top Alentejo wines.If only the weather had stepped up and given us a helping hand.It’s the one thing we can usually rely on, but the glimmer of Spring which followed the reservoir-filling deluge of March evaporated into more heavy rain.Whether it’s meteorologically correct or not, I am convinced that in these epoch-changing times of isolationism and authoritarianism...that Britain stole our sunshine.It’s not the kind of behaviour Portugal should expect from the world’s oldest alliance.As far as I can see, the weather doesn’t feature in the 1386 Treaty of Windsor, but in an age of re-interpreting old documents...things like the American constitution for example...I wouldn’t rule anything out.It’s what I believe and therefore it’s true – it’s my truth and you just try to prove me wrong! Opá. As they say around here: oh boy.Truth or not, it was certainly a reality for our guests from London who gave up an unseasonably warm Britain for an unreasonably chilly and disappointingly damp Alentejo Easter.I’m very pleased to report a typically stiff-upper-lip keep-calm-and-carry-on attitude from guests and proprietors alike took us all through.Thanks for reading Off-grid and OPEN in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.Apologising, however, by suggesting they stay another week as “it’s going to be beautiful from Tuesday” is straight from the Basil Fawlty playbook. (Note to self: don’t ever do that).Without the lure of constant sunshine, our Clubhouse became the Clubhouse it was meant to be: where people hung out around a roaring fire, chatted around the dinner table, and where younger guests played cards and started learning to play the guitar.The rainy March didn’t give the pool much of a chance to get up to a good temperature, but that didn’t stop many people from giving it try...some of them every day.We’re so lucky that cold water swimming is a thing.But the ocean proved to be surprisingly warm for the surf lessons, and on the occasional beach days the sun forced its way through with enough potency to sizzle unprotected skin (guilty as charged!).Our neighbour Daniel kindly patched up some of the bigger holes in the road for Ana’s birthday, but the holiday and the continuing rain means it will be next week before the proper repair work begins.The horse riding was a great success, the secret beaches a big hit, the local restaurants proved popular and most importantly the off-grid power and water systems thrived in their biggest challenge so far: lots of people and lots of weather.We’re still tweaking our water dilution system for automatically mixing rainwater with mineral-salted borehole water, but it’s got off to a great start.I’ll be writing more about the long range WiFi / Internet of Things LPWAN technology we’re using soon as I finish editing a BBC radio programme I’m making on the topic with some really interesting Portuguese examples.The tech is keeping our swimming pool flowing for infinity and beyond (hopefully), watching over our tanks, keeping our drinking water perfectly palatable, and will soon be managing the fabulously nutritious water emerging from our treatment plant ready for irrigation.My maths surrounding our whole power grid was always shaky, and with many showers testing water pumps and heat pumps, and lots of induction hobs being used, there were some nervous early morning checks on the batteries, but the system held up really well.Gamifying the shower experience with “beat the egg timer” hour glasses attached the wall seemed to generate some interest and some competition.The guests were the Jennings family from Yorkshire...Sarah, my godson Atti and Hugh who has been many times before to help out and was lured into the occasional odd job despite being a paying guest.Dedicated blog reader Jeremy Grant surprised his partner Siobhan with a trip to Alentejo and landed amid the chaos of people with delight over the view...after having followed our progress almost from the start.The other families are friends of my old pal Matthew Price – adventurous London professionals with a love of exploring with their brilliant young teenagers – who he strongarmed into coming along to an Easter excursion on the coastal Alentejo.Thanks for reading Off-grid and OPEN in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The German couple were early adopters on Booking.com who stayed for some comfort at the start of their long Rota Vicentina hike down to the Algarve.Different dietary requirements got us thinking about how to make the perfect dinner, I started developing some breakfast skills...and there was some troubleshooting running roof repairs in high wind.It was a fantastic start to our new venture and adventure – thanks so much to all four families involved for visiting Vale das Estrelas.We are realising that there are two sides to this job: attending to guests while they are here, and working even harder behind the scenes to find new ones to come and visit in the future.“It’s marketing, marketing, marketing,” our friend Vera told us, and she and Cam have already made a thriving business out of their tourism resort Quinta Camarena a bit further north of us in Cercal, so it’s good advice.Our own website and booking engine has been at the heart of it and despite the urgency, we’d been waiting for a break in the rain and the return of a little sunshine for our talented interior architecture photographer friend Cia to take some proper photos.She spent hours working with the light and the angles to edit together an amazing set of images.It’s always going to be hard to properly capture the scale of our views and the feeling of calm here through photographs, but @ciajansen (check out her Insta) has done us proud.We’ve fussed over the photos, tweaked the text and agonized over the pricing strategy, but finally can unveil our new website www.valleyofthestars.co.uk or for those in Portugal www.valedasestrelas.ptI hope you like it – please have a look through it...if only to search for the glaring mistakes we’ve made in our prices which will allow bargain-bucket bookings.It’s our soft-opening year, so we have lower prices than similar properties in the area to give us the leeway to learn.Ana’s new mantra is that every visitor’s expectations must be exceeded when they arrive – rather than the other way around.Please help us out by sharing it with all of your networks – and if anyone wants to rent the whole property for a retreat please get in touch directly and we’ll make a plan.This journey is going to continue having its challenges – first with our workload as we learn to do everything ourselves and then bring staff in to help us in the most important places.And that’s also a challenge for us here where staff are in short supply.We’ve been so lucky that our fabulous friend Lotti – a former deputy Swedish ambassador and top lawyer – used her Easter vacation to come here and help us wash up!We couldn’t have had such a successful week without her (thanks Lotti!)And on that note, I’m turning to you again…wonderful readers...if you know anyone looking for some paid summer work, we’re looking for people experienced in the hospitality industry, working in wine, or restaurants to help us out.It’ll be hard work, but there’ll be time to enjoy this wonderful coastline. Let us know [email protected] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Well, that was easy.After years of waiting and hoping, begging and pushing, of sleepless nights and stressful days our reaction was...understated when the email came through.We’d roped in a trade organisation to help us bother and worry the town hall decision makers and were told everything seemed on track and a decision would be delivered on Friday or Monday.Friday nervously came and went as a warning that unrequited expectations can put a cloud over a weekend.But on Monday morning the letter from our local câmara – or town hall – dropped into our inbox, and as usual was written in a way that needed translation, interpretation, further consideration and expert reassurance before we could believe what we thought we could see.“Regarding the above-mentioned matter and for all due effects, I am obliged by order of the Councilor dated March 14th 2025...”Yes...do go on...“After a classification audit, a copy of Report No. 25/25 of which is attached...”Yes, yes..?“To inform Your Excellency,” yes-yes-yes, that’s definitely me, “that the Tourist Enterprise called Vale das Estrelas...meets the conditions to be classified as Tourism in Rural Areas - COUNTRY HOUSES.”No need to shout. Wait, what? So that’s it then? Has anything else been slipped into the five pages of ifs and buts that says in some convoluted way how this will only come to pass after we have provided x and y additional documents?No? Really?OK.In this way, played out in real time, was the anatomy of an anticlimax.“The number,” we both remembered. “Now we need the number.”We’d like to think we’re not just a number, but in terms of opening to the general public...of getting the quantity of people through the door we need to pay back our loans and pay staff we haven’t yet got...everything is about the tourism number.We are just a number.How many weeks, we wondered, would it take to get that?Monday afternoon was rainy and not packed with optimism as we dived into the Turismo de Portugal online portal and started filling things in.We called a few times for guidance...and a woman called Maria João picked up pretty much straight away...every time.But the last call to Turismo irritated the person who picked up.“Yes...of course,” she said sternly. But we repeated the question anyway: “So that’s our number? Our actual tourism number? The number we need to open to the public, to list on AirBnB, to run our business? So what do we do now”“Well rent out your rooms of course! Is there anything else?”There wasn’t.There was just a number. One. Two. Five. One. One.Not the snappiest, nor the most symmetrical, but it was ours and it was beautiful. Our. Own. Number.Finally, licensed...to bill.We reached for the champagne as we had some other numbers to celebrate.It was St Patrick’s Day – and the 15th anniversary of Ana and I getting together.1, 2, 5, 1, 1; 17, 3, 2010…15. Pink Portuguese espumante. Nice.And then the work began…It’s been a stormy March here in Portugal, and we’ve been using the time to get our new website firmly under construction.As four named storms pummelled the Portuguese coast, we’ve been pulling together years of photographs and months of thoughts and ideas about how to best describe our property, and do it justice.As I said last month, all we’ve got to do now is make sure all those people who will love the calm, the serenity and the undiscovered beauty of this place will find us.As storms Jana, Konrad, Laurence, and Martinho rattled our windows, scared our dogs, tested our dams, filled our water tanks to overflowing and gorged out a river down our valley, we sent Word files full of copy and folders packed with pictures to GuestCentric’s designers.They’re a website and booking engine company for small-hoteliers like us (I like the sounds of that), and will hopefully take the pain out of listing properties, prevent double bookings and encourage as many direct enquiries as possible.But while they work away finessing and finetuning we plunged straight into what is the hell of AirBnB and Booking.com profiles to put ourselves out there ASAP.That was a frustrating couple of rainy days in our life that neither of us will ever get back.Why is adding photos to room profiles so difficult? How do we navigate the different included or excluded fees and taxes to set prices that match our expectations but aren’t too much for the visiting public?Why are there so many sections that need to be filled in?As the squalls of heavy showers are becoming more scattered and infrequent, the sun is shining through literally and figuratively as our room profiles have gone live.So here they are – finally – links to our AirBnB profiles. Taking their name from stars and constellations the three suites are called Sirius Altair and Vega; the Bungalow’s one-bed place is called Aquila and the two-bed apartment is Lynx; and the Villa has Andromeda and Cassiopeia.Spread the love, my friends...please spread the love.Our website works for now, but will be shiny and new very soon.But also bear in mind AirBnB add fees on top…and contacting us directly works better for everyone ;) Back to the weather and it really has been quite remarkable.We always say we never complain about rain as we need all the water we can get, but I have an admission to make...enough already.I know the aquifers continue to love it, and although the massive Alqueva Reservoir was half a meter from being full a week ago, our local reservoir Santa Clara is still only at 55% and it would really help our region if it filled up.Four major storm depressions in March is a first and although the rainfall hasn’t overtaken levels of 2018, the year 2000 or the more historical averages, there have been 100mph winds along the west coast and quite a bit of damage caused in Lisbon. There are trees up and flood damage all around our region too.“Unusual...but not unprecedented,” is how the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere or IPMA is quoted by Portugal Decoded.It’s a great news site in English which I’d heartily recommend. They have an obsession about making a carefully crafted infographic every week...and who doesn’t love an infographic.The winter weather has certainly become a personal obsession as we need to balance our power use on those rare weeks when sunshine is at a premium, and so keep a close eye on the Apps: Weather Underground and Ventusky are my go-tos.And I learned early on that it’s the Azores High which is the most important influence on the Iberian peninsula.When it’s a little weaker and further away from the Iberian Peninsula, as it has been this winter, some of Britain’s weather ends up here. Imagine.“Rising ocean surface temperatures suggest climate change may be playing a role,” Portugal Decoded add, with North Atlantic sea temperatures 3 or 4 degrees Celsius above average in places.But proper Spring is now most certainly on the near horizon.Despite the high winds, the cuckoo is back...somehow it made it through storm Martinho!And I’m sure I heard a Nightingale the other day.And the medium-range forecasts are no longer packed with precipitation and the temperatures are going up into the 20s Celsius next weekend.As soon as this rain stops and the temperatures soar we’ll get out planting and prepping the land before the mud turns to concrete, and get started on clearing all the rapidly growing brush to protect us from fire.But the main priority right now – as our finances reach pinch point – we have to learn how to run this place properly...and fast.Thanks for reading Off-grid and OPEN in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.Some of you reading this despatch will have followed our progress for years, others a little less, but it’s a major milestone to announce we are finally open for business.Thank you for your support...it’s really helped...and if you or anyone you can think of might like to come and visit to see what all the fuss is about, please share this post.I’m pretty sure there’ll be plenty more to write about as this journey continues to unfold! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Since our Portuguese adventure began, there are certain phrases I never thought I’d say out loud.For example: “Once we discovered pillow tanks we knew we had the answer to rainwater capture.”Then there things I never knew I’d even know, let alone say out loud: “The LPWAN system is like WiFi over kilometres and it helps us blend our mineral salted water with rain to make drinking water...oh, and stops the pool overflowing.”I mean, really.And then there are those truly out-there unexpected sentences: “So we’re having an event in two weeks’ time celebrating Alicante Bouschet – a French grape the Portuguese made their own.”I like wine, I like history, I love telling stories...and it turns out there’s a wine grape which does all three across Portugal, France and America and thoroughly excites normal people like us (or is that pushing it too far?).More about the event on Saturday March 1st coming up.But there was one message we received last week which we really never thought would come.It was one of those distant hopes lying at the top of the Penrose Stairs – that infinite staircase you climb forever but never reach the top.One of those things that for every one step forward, you take two steps back...and it’s only when you give up and turn around that you actually get there.Or it’s like penguins toppling over watching a plane fly overhead: an amazing idea which could be true, but is actually just a myth.You get the general idea. Anyway, the message said: “You have your licence.”Drumroll please.Now, before you get overexcited and start inundating us with messages of congratulations, it’s only the licence to use the buildings...there’s still an inspection from the tourism authorities to come before we get our final stamp to fully open for business.But...actually...do please inundate us with messages. Because we’re delighted, astonished, amazed, blown away and all sorts of other predictable synonyms one can use, given the circumstances.The message just popped into our inbox one afternoon, but to begin with the letter kept us guessing.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.Written in the fabulously complex high Portuguese and in the best traditions of formal legalese we read it, looked at each other quizzically, ran it through DeepL and were even more confused than before.“I hereby inform Your Excellency,” it began, “that following the approval of the aforementioned request, the application timely submitted to that effect and the payment of the respective fees, the ‘Response to the communication, for use after urban operation subject to prior control no. 9/2025,’ which is attached hereto, was issued.”“Is that good?” we asked each other.“Is that good?” we asked our architect.“It’s good,” our architect replied.So now we have a long list of things we need to make sure are in place before the tourism inspection.It includes mirrors, soap, electricity, a big rule book, drinking water, a pile of local tourist guides, a complaints book and a waste water treatment plant.There are a few other rules for “Agro-tourism” establishments, but we’re classified as Casa do Campo...or country house.(Just as an aside, I love the concept of “agro-tourism” – presumably when you arrive you are greeted by a furious host hurling a string of verbal abuse and screaming at you?)Anyway, there’s plenty of work to be done.The website building is progressing, but we’re waiting for the sunniest of days to take the best photos.And we keep being distracted by fabulous visitors.Top Portuguese winemaker Hamilton Reis came to visit and Ana cooked up a feast for his wife Susana’s birthday dinner.“Is it OK if I bring my own wine?” he asked. “Oh, go on then,” we replied.Hamilton is winemaker at the legendary Mouchão winery and produces his own Natus Vini wine...which is usually served in the best Michelin starred restaurants.Some old university friends were in town and were treated to some of the best Alentejo wines going.Among them was Nick Spotswood who has the Spotswood wine estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa and loved his first steps into Alentejo vinhos, even if his dinner table deep discussion with Hamilton over the brix system for measuring sugar content in grapes wasn’t for everyone.But all were blown away by what we’ve achieved – at least that’s what they told us – by the local fish and porco preto black pork, by Oda’s amazing LA-style cocktails, and by the beaches (yes, we managed a February ocean dip).Shameless PlugTo celebrate our successful licence approval...and the launch of our next podcast episode about one of the oldest, most historic, and most amazing wineries in Alentejo, we are holding a special wine event on Saturday March 1st.Space is limited, but we have two amazing winemakers talking about Alicante Bouschet – a French grape which (as I found myself mentioning at the beginning) Portugal has made its own.Developed in the mid-1800s to give poor French wine a deeper red colour, it was brought to Portugal in the hope it might resist a bug destroying Europe’s vineyards (it didn’t), but it then thrived in the heat of Alentejo.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Hot on Hamilton’s heals we have Mouchão’s custodian Iain Reynolds Richardson telling the many amazing stories of his family’s 250 years of Portuguese history, how they introduced Alicante Bouschet to Portugal and how he now champions simplicity and tradition in his winemaking.And French winemaker Baptiste Carrière Pradal (Domaine de la Massole) is bringing his single varietal Alicante Bouschet from the region in the south of France where Henri Bouschet created the amazing red grape with red juice in the first place.If you’d like to support us and help us celebrate do come along.Contact us directly for more information, but we’re offering a three course dinner, a guided wine tasting by the two aforementioned marvels and a stay in our lovely eco-luxe lodge for one or two nights at a really good price.So, if you’ve been thinking about coming to see us, now’s the time! Ping us a message. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Birthday presents can reveal a lot about one’s age, stage of life and current circumstances, and this couldn’t have been closer to the truth than on the occasion of my 53rd birthday.I mean this year’s couldn’t have been much more self-explanatory:* two chequered shirts* working dungarees with lots of pockets* steel-capped safety boots* a two-pack of crowbarsI presume this means there’s stuff to do in the country.We are, of course, all aware that Darth Vader knew what Luke Skywalker was getting for his birthday...because he felt his presents.But I imagine even The Force wouldn’t have helped the bloke in the black cape work out what was in the long and extremely heavy silver-wrapped box.In retrospect, the clue which Ana always writes on presents should have given it away, but in my defence I had just woken up.“Where Murders of These Guys Would Go,” it said.Adding “...for a drink” still didn’t help me. But it was a high bar.“Of course,” I exclaimed, as I excitedly ripped off the wrapping paper, forgetting how I’d mentioned a while ago how much I wanted a new crowbar.But why two? You might ask.Well either – like dogs – you can never have too many crowbars...or Lidl were doing a special two-pack deal...and you can never have too many crowbars.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.Itching as I was to get outside with excellent foot protection, carrying loads of tools in my dungaree pockets to start crowbar-ing things, there was a birthday to celebrate.And so the most colourful of the fabulous chequered shirts was the first present to be pressed into use...once I’d enjoyed my fabulous birthday sandwiches and coffee despite the kind offer of help from the dogs.Lunch with Ana and neighbour Daniel – during one of his fleeting visits to the valley – was at our favourite clifftop restaurant O Sacas, and then it was back to the Clubhouse via the beach to continue the shelebrations.A January birthday is always a nice lift after the post-holiday comedown, but the holidays extended themselves this year as we were lucky enough to have our daughter Oda and her boyfriend Derek staying with us from mid-December well into the New Year.Derek also celebrated his birthday before Christmas – with a trip to the birthday beach and a stunning lunch of all his favourite things.We’ve found an amazing straight-from-the-source oyster supplier (with thanks to our friend David) and our butcher considers bone marrow to be only suitable for dogs which makes it considerably cheaper than in Los Angeles!Our present, and the theme of all his birthday sandwiches was “a night in a castle” and so we took the guys to the fantastic Estremoz Pousada in the Alentejo interior.Derek really enjoyed the trip, the meals, the experience...and to be honest his baggage allowance wouldn’t really have stretched to one, let alone two crowbars, to take back to LA.A few projects were ticked off at the farm including getting the raised beds built, but we also took advantage of a slow tourist month to take a couple of trips up to Lisbon to stay at our flat and enjoy some city time in our suitably named Estrela neighbourhood.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The calçada cobbled pavements in that part of Lisbon feature various black star designs which inspired those arranged in a constellation on our limestone deck in the valley.We’re just across the road from the landmark Basílica da Estrela and one of my favourite places in the world (and certainly one of Simon’s favourites) – the Jardim da Estrela.Dating back to 1842, it was designed in the style of an English garden and has the most incredible mature trees: towering palms reminiscent of LA (with matching streetlights) and giant spirit trees like the one under which we were married in Bangkok.Parrots play in the treetops, ducks do their thing in the ponds and a peacock puts in the occasional appearance.Sculptures and statues, an old bandstand, lawns, coffee kiosks, a giant children’s playground and a maze of paths makes it the go-to place for workout classes, dog walks and happy hour.Simon the ageing Hollywood dog is utterly in his element there, spending hours piecing together the pee-mail stories of every dog in Lisbon and becoming less obedient and more food obsessed with age.Garfunkel is less keen. Order, security and control are what cattle dogs pine for – not the chaotic city sounds of trams and traffic.There are only two safe spaces for Garfie in Lisbon: the flat, and the big red box of freedom which magically transported him here from his rural home at great speed...and can just as magically take him back.Most trips to Lisbon involve the running repairs required from a short-term rental property and it’s a good yardstick to how far my tinkering skills have come.I’m pleased to report replacing toilets, fitting ceiling lights, extensive drain cleaning and advanced shower replacement are now firmly in my repertoire.The place is back to being tip top, so if you fancy a stay in Lisbon this is our listing on AirBnB...but if you have dates in mind please contact us directly.But Lisboa was not all work – we discovered some wonderful new wine bars and restaurants and were honoured to attend our friend Mauro’s 40th birthday bash in the very cool Fábrica Braço de Prata.It’s a former munitions factory in the artsy Marvila neighbourhood of Lisbon close to the river between the city centre and Parque de Naçoẽs.It’s an area emerging from an old industrial zone to give vibes of San Francisco when artists could still afford to live there.It was fantastic to wander the arts space and meet Mauro & Rita’s friends and family and – in the same week as my birthday – to be treated to my own cake.I do hope Mauro wears that Alentejo farmer’s flat cap we brought him from the countryside!Back in the valley, outdoor work has taken a bit of a backseat as a decent bout of rain has kept us indoors making sure all the animals are warm enough.With the rain coming down and amid cloudy skies, there’s something strangely exciting about having a hot shower, knowing the water was heated at the same time as we were, courtesy of the roaring wood fire.And there’s something even more exciting about watching a 200,000 litre pillow tank gradually filling up with rainwater to see us through the summer.We’ve been staying in each new unit making sure it’s comfortable and properly equipped, casting a critical eye across everything, making tweaks and improvements as we go.The list of DIY tasks never seems to get any shorter, but the slow calm approach to craftwork makes it more of a hobby than a chore.Anyway, a higher priority right now is to make sure all those people who will love the calm, the serenity and the undiscovered beauty of this place will find us.We’ve been plotting and scheming marketing strategies, planning retreat proposals, making lists of people to approach and getting down to the serious matter of website construction.If running a retreat – or just attending one – is something you’d like to do with us, please get in touch. Art, writing, wine, wellness - send us a ping.The next date for your diaries is Saturday March 1st when we’re planning our next wine weekend of tastings and dinner at Vale das Estrelas with a chance to stay over.This time we’ve decided to celebrate the French grape that Portugal’s made its own: Alicante Bouschet.We’ll be hosting a dinner with the amazing Mouchão winery and our great friend Baptiste Carrière Pradal who will be visiting the valley with his family wines.The Alicante Bouschet grape has been a personal obsession for a little while now – and there’ll be a new podcast episode coming out very soon, so if you haven’t signed up for The Big Portuguese Wine Adventure, now’s your chance! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Januaries here in Portugal are more palatable than most northern hemisphere winters.For one, I never do the whole Dry January thing because it’s my birthday month, and while we do need more rain, I love the clear chilly mornings which open up into beautiful sunny blue skies.The low arcing winter sun strikes our south facing glass and pours heat into our house – something it doesn’t do in the higher-in-the-sky warmer summer months.And the winter sun also brings enough heat for beach walks in shorts, ocean dips and plenty of power to keep the heat pumps running.Cold air coming in off the ocean blows over our hill and sinks into the valley keeping our temperatures higher and providing spectacular sunrise views over seas of mist below which in the mornings slowly burn off and melt away.Unusually we saw a little frost last week, but the new villa we’ve been trying out for ourselves has remained toasty thanks to the underfloor heating.Of course as I put the finishing touches to this despatch the rain has finally arrived and we’re monitoring water collection pumps and power systems and getting our energy saving levels right.Sun or storm, it’s a great chance to put on the fire get into the reading and research and to plan for success in this first year of being open for business.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.Every new year brings plenty of predictions of tourist trends for the year ahead – and so I’ve been deep-diving into some of the articles, reports and industry advisories to learn about Bleisure, Calmcations, PTO hacking and the “new dawn for oenotourism.”It’s a lot to unpack, but at least one or two of every “top trends” list is exactly what we’re creating, so I thought it was worth sharing:* I got most excited about the BBC’s “Seven travel trends that will shape 2025” article which listed Noctourism, Calmcations and “Off-the-beaten-track goes mainstream” at numbers one, two and five respectively.* In terms of tourism for nighttime, our skies are really dark and usually clear. The reason we called our place “The Valley of the Stars” was because of that first night we spent at our new home when we sat outside with a glass of wine and stared up, gobsmacked, at the Milky Way soaring across the sky above us. We’re a bit too far south to offer the northern lights, despite this coming year’s peak of solar activity, but I’ll be working on my astronomy knowledge over the winter months for another string to the storytelling bow and we’ll be investing in a telescope or two for a closer look.* Calmcations “focused on creating a sense of tranquillity” are very much our bag, and I can understand why, after this WHO noise report quoted in the article revealed that 20% of Europeans live in unhealthily noisy places. The quiet calm in our valley is something our friends always love – relaxing time to take in the nature – a silence only interrupted by frogs, owls, the eagle that lives over the hill and occasionally the extended playlist of the Nightingale. With yoga and massage to suit some visitors and wine tastings to calm others, this style of tourism is front and centre of what we’ll be doing at Vale das Estrelas. We’ll be offering little retreats based around painting, pottery, wine, writing and hiking....that kind of thing.* As for “Off-the-beaten-track goes mainstream” I’m happy to report our off-grid track is firmly in the un-beaten category and our area is home to the last truly wild and undiscovered coast in Europe. We face the hills and valleys, but there’s an endless supply of rugged wild beaches and coves to explore just 15 minutes from the lodge.* According to The Portugal News there are More Brits heading to Portugal and why wouldn’t they? The UK was the largest source of flights to and from Portugal from January to November last year and the number of British travellers increased more than any other nation. Quoting a Statistics Portugal report, the article explained that more people in general are heading to Portugal. It was apparently a record year for visitors, and November 2024 saw a 6.2% increase in passenger numbers year on year. Research Nester’s Global Tourism Industry Market Overview reports Ryanair will have 5.2 million affordable seats to Portugal available as part of its summer 2025 schedule.* And even more are coming – the IPDT Tourism Barometer predicts 33 million tourists will visit Portugal this year – up from 30 million in 2023 (the last year with figures). According to their survey of professionals in Portugal’s tourism sector, they highlight “a focus on sustainability.” Reinforcing the “Off-the-beaten-track goes mainstream” thing, they predict 2025 will be about “demystifying the perception of overtourism.” The IPDT believes “dispersing visitor influxes from overcrowded areas to less-explored regions is key to maintaining balance and reducing tensions in popular destinations.” So leave the city and come and see us in the country!* And it’s not just about holidays any more – a BBC article about people staying away for longer talks about “blended travel trips that include both work and leisure, which are occasionally referred to by the mush-mouth portmanteau of ‘Bleisure’". So now you know. That’s also where I discovered the concept of PTO hacking (Paid Time Off) which was apparently a big TikTok thing – the idea of combining national holidays with paid leave to get longer breaks. Quoting a Skirft Research report there’s apparently a “shift to spending on experiences over things” and it could be "the year of long getaways." With the continuing popularity of remote working and Portugal’s Digital Nomad Visas we’re hoping to lure some people to WFV (Work from the Valley) and stay with us through the winter. It’s why we put in underfloor heating.* That fits in with record November numbers seeing the tourist season extending deeper into Autumn and people travelling earlier in the year. “Spring is the new summer,” according to Zicasso’s luxury travel report, which says March to May is becoming increasingly popular for holidays and that Portugal is now the sixth most popular place to visit in the world – up from eighth for the last couple of years. There’s still a broad interest in “food, culture, wine, wildlife and adventure.” And younger travellers are showing more interest in culture and history. Repeat travellers are interested in off the beaten track tourism and there’s “an increase in requests for eco-friendly and sustainable luxury options.” Marvellous.* The most interesting thing Conde Naste Traveller announced from our perspective was “a new dawn for oenotourism” as “curiosity around lesser-known and re-emerging wine destinations is growing.” The Alentejo wine region is becoming increasingly popular, but it’s crazy hot inland where most of the wineries are! By bringing their stories and their wines for tastings at the cooler coast we hope to take advantage of the interest in 250 indigenous wine grapes and put vinho at the centre of our tourism.* The Portugal Portfolio puts the Rise of Sustainable Travel in first place, both with the demand for “eco-friendly experiences” such as eco-lodges and Community-Focussed Tourism. “Tourists in 2025 won’t just be looking for breathtaking views; they’ll want responsible ways to enjoy them,” the property management company says. They emphasise Off the beaten path exploration: “Travellers are seeking lesser-known spots, avoiding tourist-crowded hubs. This desire to discover “hidden gems” will shape new...local tourism economies.” And on ‘Bleisure’: “Digital nomads are no longer confined to coffee shops in major cities; they’re branching out to smaller, scenic locales offering reliable internet, cultural richness, and a stable environment.”Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.* And as a final thought...less about tourism and more about a longer term move...the Financial Times featured a big report recently on “Creating new utopias in Portugal.” Sadly it’s behind their firewall, but all their examples were in Alentejo and they quoted Claus Sendlinger, founder of Design Hotels saying “Portugal has become the new California,” and a “fertile ground for experimental developments.” We’re certainly that! Portugal Portfolio has a similar take: Portugal’s New Utopias: Sustainable Communities is about environments that “blend modern comforts with eco-friendly practices.”So my take-away from all this is that we’re doing something right. Eco-luxe, off-the beaten track, place for Calmcations, Noctourism and the “mush-mouth portmanteau of ‘Bleisure’". What a great line, I do love the BBC. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Despite the excesses of Christmas, and the many visitors we’ve been welcoming to the valley, I’ve managed to put together a video of our whole building project as it took shape from start to finish.As well as writing updates and despatches, I’ve been photographing and videoing our land ever since we started cutting down our tatty eucalyptus plantation almost four years ago.I’ve documented every stage of the building process from the moment the first building supplies arrived (and we realised this crazy idea was actually going to happen) to the very first wine tasting event we held a few weeks ago.Edited together from thousands of photos and hundreds of videos I hope you enjoy our look back at what we’ve achieved so far as we prepare to start the next stage of our journey and start running the place in the New Year.There’s so much more I could have included about our water treatment and electrical systems: the hundreds of metres of trenches dug and the miles of pipes buried, but this is a quick review of how we created our new eco-luxe lodge.The loan is not going to pay itself back, the rooms need to be filled and we need to start employing local people to help us, so please get in touch and book a stay.Ideally we’d like to start out with big bookings - groups of friends and family - or running retreats based around wine or walking or painting…so if you know anybody who runs retreats please put us in touch. With group bookings in the diary we can bring in chefs, arrange trips and transport, set up yoga classes and massages and introduce visitors to the amazing hidden beaches of the last wild coast in Europe.Yes, we were in the ocean yesterday, and yes it was a little on the chilly side.And don’t forget…the clue is in the title…we’re off the power and water grids: fully sustained by the sun, and by the water from our land.It’s eco, but it’s luxe…and it’s not just a great place to get away from it all, but also to learn about Portugal and about sustainable living, enjoy the peace and quiet of our countryside and our amazing coastline, try the local food and wine, and to do it all leaving just a tiny footprint.We need your support as we soft open…it’s even more beautiful once you get here…so please help us make a success of the lodge now we’re finally ready to open. This is a big year for us.The new website will be live soon, but for now here’s a summary of the rooms we have available and the prices we are offering in our first year of opening:Thanks again for following our journey and for reading my despatches from Vale das Estrelas. Your support, comments and great advice along this journey means a lot to us - perhaps more than you think. Please spread the word about this blog and what we’ve created, and I’m sure the stories of the next stage of our new life will be just as…interesting. Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.And even more importantly, all the very best for the New Year. Let’s hope 2025 holds great things in store for all of us.See you next year! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

We started the Google search with escarradeira, then moved on to cuspideira and then we started calling people.A few hours and many phone calls later we realised we just weren’t going to be able to buy any spittoons for our first big wine event at Vale das Estrelas.And there are some pretty compelling statistics for why that might be.Who, you might ask, are the biggest wine consumers in the world...France? Italy?No, and no.At 61.7 litres per person per year, it’s Portugal by a looooong way, so I guess people here don’t really feel the need to spit it out.It was explained to us very well by João Barroso of the Alentejo wine commission: “Wine in Portugal is a staple food” he told us. And that’s why the prices are so low, the quality so good, and the consumption rates so high.People here like to lunch – for at least a couple of hours every day – most shops shut, workers gather around a shared dish in their favourite tasca and it’s all washed down with a jug of table wine and maybe even a shot of the local medronho firewater with a coffee to finish.As foreigners in Alentejo the options are to: a) get stressed about not being able to go to the shops in the middle of the day...or b) learn to have a long lunches.You can imagine which option we’ve settled on.In The Big Plan for Our Second Life, wine has wound itself into the centre of everything we’re doing here.Wine, of course, is all about the story – a good wine can sell for three or four times the price – if the story is good enough.And what can be better for a storyteller than to ply one’s audience with booze while the story unfolds? It is only going to improve.With this in mind we held our first public event in the valley in partnership with Howard’s Folly – a wonderful winery headquartered in the eastern Alentejo town of Estremoz.Howard Bilton is a Yorkshireman we met through a Hong Kong connection, and he makes wine in collaboration with Alentejo’s favourite Australian winemaker David Baverstock (hear him talking about the iconic Esporão winery he's famous for here).I’ve written about Howard’s Folly before...back in 2021...have I really been writing this blog for that long? I guess I have.The winery is run by Howard’s son, managing director Tom, who brought their whole range of wines to our stretch of wild coast for our first tasting event.We decided to make a day of it – invite some friends to stay, hire a chef and put on a proper dinner afterwards...and take the first tentative steps towards running our hospitality business.Our plan is to hold regular events for locals and visitors alike to bring the history and the stories and the wines of the Alentejo interior to the coast.We sent out invitations and were overwhelmed by the interest...but then had to deliver!A stressful couple of weeks preparing everything followed.It was ambitious to have a wine tasting and a dinner in the same place on the same day...having never done this before.But it was also a deadline to get the kitchen ready for professional use and the apartments finished and fully furnished – down to the last knives and forks and whisks and colanders.Thankfully the weather was beautiful and 45 people joined the wine tasting outside with our amazing view as a backdrop to the event. Tom was fantastic – and the wines were great.We bridged wine and the dinner with more booze: an adventure down the hill for guests to try some medronho made by our friend Jorge, kindly hosted by our neighbour Daniel.Our vizinho has been working some magic on his property recently – totally transforming his whole hillside with plants and trees: landscaping like a demon before winter takes hold. Daniel was the perfect host.The three course dinner back up the hill was a huge success – helped along by Howard’s wine – and it was great to meet some new folk and bring people together.Our winemaker pal Mauro Azóia, his wife Rita and the kids also joined us and brought a special delivery: a car-load of our first Valley of the Stars wine...and the labels we had lovingly created and he had arranged to be printed.We roped in our friends Danny and Carole and their friends Alfredo and Carol to help us label the first hundred bottles and dip the tops in colourful wax.It’s a red wine made entirely out of the Castelão grape and we used the beautiful image of a sunset over our valley painted by Ed Sumner, as the artwork for the label.The first wine to carry the Vale das Estrelas logo is now available for sale! Come and stay with us and buy one while stocks last...we do have a couple of hundred bottles, but Christmas is coming...so you might not want to leave it so long!We still hope to plant our own vineyard in March if finances allow – we’ve been asking advice from every oenologist and viticulturist who would listen, on the proviso that we will only plant Portuguese grapes.Close to the ocean and away from the classic Alentejo wine region we will have to battle with the moisture – and the bugs that can bring with it – but it’s likely we will plant Castelão for our red wine.Unveiling our new wine; with Mauro the winemaker; Danny, Alfredo & Carol with the newly labelled bottles; and the label with art by Ed SumnerSo it is even better to be able have a fantastic Castelão hand-crafted by Mauro as our first ever wine.We think Arinto and Alvarinho will be the whites we plant, but the study continues – we’d love to get it right first time!Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The wonderful Portuguese-adopted Dane Carsten Jensen who’s the bedrock of the nearby Vicentino winery, paid us a visit to advise how to prepare the land for planting, and we’re hoping to secure the plants from Dorina Lindemann and her Plansel nursery.It’s an amazing process seeing how they prepare the vines by grafting Portuguese varietals on to American rootstock...as they have done since the phylloxera bug first devastated Europe’s vineyards in the late 1800s.That’s episode three of our podcast series Ana & Al’s Big Portuguese Wine Adventure and we think it’s worth a listen – and it features us learning to spit out wine for the first time.We may not have had any cuspideiras available for Howard’s Folly, but as sensible grown up wine people, we did buy some vases which could be suitably repurposed.Suffice to say they weren’t needed.But we do now have a few spittoons on order for next time, and the time after that… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

I’ve recently realised we don’t live like real people.When real people have a problem they call someone: a workman, an expert, a master technician, Ghostbusters, or whoever it might be - and they come with some tools and they solve it.It costs some money and takes some time to arrange, but it works. They know what they are doing, and grumbles aside, they get things working again and real life goes on.But somehow I’ve found myself in the position where I’m kind of responsible for everything...and when stuff breaks I have to work out for myself how to fix it.I’m not entirely sure how that happened.Obviously the not-being-connected-to-anything thing means we’re pretty much off most workpeople’s grids when it comes to the usual sorting of things like gas and electric.We’re very lucky to have some amazing people who we’ve met over the past few years who are the real experts...but I don’t want to bother them for the small things which I can probably do myself if I’m careful...or if I find the right YouTube channel.In retrospect, taking my expensive De Walt drill apart to repair it was a bad idea...but I really didn’t know it was going to be that fiddly or complicated to put back together (it now just about works, but slips and makes a terrible grinding noise).Given that getting this place up and running - and keeping it running - falls under my area of responsibility, I do pay a lot of attention to what the professionals do when they’re here.Much more so than real people might do.They trust the experts to get on with it unsupervised and don’t need to know how they do whatever it is they’re doing to make problems go away.Perhaps my engagement and enthusiastic nodding confuses them into thinking I understand what is happening, can remember it, and might even be able do it myself next time as it will save them the hassle of a home visit.And we are “bootstrapping” things as they called it at the Stanford Graduate School of Business classes we sat in on while there on a journalism fellowship.In other words doing it on the cheap: if I can do it myself next time, then we save money.All this perhaps explains why, when the solar hot water pump started making a very expensive sounding noise, Guido the German boiler master felt confident enough to tell me I could do it myself.“You just need two pairs of pliers of the right size,” he said after watching the video of the screaming water system and recommended a new pump.I’m sure there’s a lot more to it than that...but he is very busy at the moment...I mean, what could possibly go wrong?Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.One thing we can now do very successfully by ourselves is roast chestnuts on an open fire.This year I celebrated Verão de São Martinho (St Martin’s Summer) - officially now one of my favourite times of the year - by buying a metal chestnut roasting pan.(I say that, but we could have smoked some salmon as well while we were at it - the first use of the fire filled the place with smoke until I gave the chimney a good old brush and we were back in business).St Martin’s Day (November 11th) marks the opening of the talhas and the releasing of the fresh natural wine still made in huge clay amphorae here in the Alentejo as it was by the Romans two thousand years ago.We made our now annual pilgrimage to Vila de Frades (Friars’ Town) - the spiritual home of talhas - to taste the new wine and meet the winemakers.And this year we were invited to take part in a couple of films being made by famous Portuguese wine writer Madalena Vidigal called Rota Tesouros do Alentejo (The Treasures of the Alentejo Route).Our programmes aren’t out yet, but here’s a sneaky peak at Episode 2 in Portuguese of course.Each episode looks at a different aspect of Alentejo wines, and we were invited along as special guests to learn more about old vines and talha wines - at Vidigueira cooperative and ROCIM where Pedro Ribeiro makes amazing wines with clay pots.He hosts an Amphora Wine Day every year with wine producers from all over the world who make wine with clay...and it gets bigger every year. Again it was a great day out - as was the amazing annual Wine & Friends lunch at Hamilton Reis’ Natus Vini.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.It’s a great story with wine and song and you can hear it come to life in Going Roman, Episode 4 of our podcast series Ana & Al’s Big Portuguese Wine Adventure.I wrote about our trip to Vila de Frades for the opening of the talhas last year and it’s great to look back at this time a year ago and see how far we have come in our building project and how chaotic things were 12 months ago.Hopefully we’ll soon be hosting talha winemakers here in Vale das Estrelas.St Martin’s Day also tends to coincide with a spell of beautiful sunshine, warm temperatures and a surge of growth for all the plants before the temperatures drop.The meteorological explanation is a little wobble in the high pressure zone over the Açores - one of the most important influences on Portugal’s weather.The Atlantic is the warmest it has been all year thanks to the warmer southern waters being pushed north during this annual transition into winter. Maybe we’ll even venture to the Birthday Beach this weekend...I spent a good amount of time down a rabbit hole investigate g the story of St Martin’s progression from plain old Hungarian Martin, to patron saint of the poor, of tailors, winemakers and curiously both soldiers and conscientious objectors. Oh, and of France.It’s all linked in with Halloween, Martinmas, bonfires, Remembrance, tricks and treats... and some Polish competitive croissant baking.This year the temperatures quickly dropped after the wine jars had been opened and all efforts in the valley were focussed on making sure all the dry wood was chopped and stashed under cover before the real rain arrives.My old pal Hugh Jennings was on a whistle-stop volunteering trip to help, and after some back-breaking hours with the splitting axe we had enough prepared to see us through winter.We also took the chance to make sure the rainwater collection systems were properly set up.It’s a vitally important part of our water plan to collect loads of rain over winter, and so Hugh spent hours siliconing the gaps between our solar panels while I secured the guttering and pipes we’d installed last year to increase the flat surfaces area to harvest rainfall from.This time we have a reception tank and a proper pump to take all the water we can up to the storage on the hill, so we don’t waste any.The pillow tank has already grown courtesy of some October rain and now I have meters installed to see just how well the system is running...and to keep tabs on our water collection. Full is 200,000 litres…fingers crossed.I guess there are some things I’m becoming an expert at - living sustainably...that we are certainly doing!I wrote back to Guido asking if it was really all that easy to just change the solar water pump without emptying the whole system of very hot water.“You’re right, that will probably be too much of a problem for you,” he replied, while requesting more photos of the offending items.The dials revealed perhaps a leak in the system and the pump might just be whining about it rather than failing...maybe it’s something I can solve it after all...watch this space. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Sometimes we thought it would never happen, but four years after moving to Portugal full time and two years after construction work started on our retrospectively but objectively crazy off-grid eco-luxe lodge project we are finally ready to open.The cut-down-and-dug-out eucalyptus forest where our new buildings now stand is a distant memory, the views are as stunning as the first day we found this amazing property, and we’re ready to start tackling a new chapter in our second life: running a tourism business.We were warned how long the finishing works would take – especially as it’s all been down to us – but the beds are made, the rooms look beautiful and we’ve already been using our Clubhouse for trial-run dinners and wine tasting events with friends.You won’t find us on AirBnB just yet of course...the licensing process and the permissions are still pending, but we’re on track to start hosting some events and retreats over the next few months and will open to all in the Spring.The tourism authority’s help in postponing capital payments has lifted a huge weight off our shoulders, but now it’s up to us to lure people to our perfect part of Portugal.Alongside frustrating bureaucracy, the biggest challenge of all has been overcoming our lack of connections to power and water grids.But our water is no longer salty, the waste-treatment reed beds are thriving, and a test run of the villa’s underfloor heating sent the temperatures soaring along with our confidence that it’s going to be a toasty winter.Real time power use data is streaming into my phone, which I’m also using now to control the heat pumps.We haven’t got all of the monitoring systems in place just yet, but the first post-summer storm was a good test for the rain-collecting systems and to work out how to manage all the pumps and heating systems so we’re never without power.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.It sounds so easy written down, but we’ve been ironing out all the bugs, and learning by doing I’ve realised I need to write a guide-book if we are ever going to get away from the valley for a few days and leave it all in the hands of someone else!I’ve grumbled about DIY, but seeing things finished and installed lifts the spirits.The coffee tables look great, the wooden tables work as well as the wall of homemade shelving units and we’re happy with our homemade outside LED lighting.Ana’s done an incredible job with the interiors which look amazing – so much time and effort has gone into choosing the furniture, the finishing touches and the style and now we’re plumping up the beds ready for their first proper photo-shoot.Once those are taken we can launch our new website, and that comes complete with booking engine so we can start lining up some guests.We’ve been doing some tours for friends who visit, so we thought we’d record one to give you an idea of what we have done with the place so far.We’re obviously itching to get open and it’s been a frustrating time with the goalposts moving and different documents being variously needed or not needed.We have been stalking our architect and our structural engineer to the point that the latter complained he feels like we’re holding a gun to his head.After months of waiting for his particular piece of paper we have occasionally considered it...although his draftsman assures us that this won’t be necessary and it’s “almost ready.”There seems to be some movement at the town hall as well...with a request coming in for a final payment...and then of course there’s the tourism license to come...but we’re quietly confident.The Post-It Note wall is back and is filled with ideas for retreats and packages to bring people to Vale das Estrelas.We’ve decided the best way to get started before we can advertise accommodation to the general public is to run specific events at particular times.The notes on the wall include writing and storytelling workshops, art and photography classes, making ourselves a base for long distance walkers on the Rota Vicentina trails...all interspersed with wine, local food and a bit of yoga and massage.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.We’re thinking of astronomy stays and events based around our own personal solar system (and water system), to encourage people who might like to follow in our footsteps either off the grid or into an entirely new direction in life.Would you, or someone you know, be interested in partnering with us and getting something fun up and running to bring people together in Portugal?We’re open to all sorts of ideas so please get in touch.Wine is going to be at the heart of what we’ll be telling stories about, so what we can get on with in the meantime is some events to bring together friends from here with visitors from overseas.We hope to host something new next month, so if you’re interested in coming to see us in the last weekend of November to hear more about Portuguese wine, do get in touch.We’ve learned so much about Alentejo wine over the past few years and the Wines of Portugal marketing body seem keen to help publicise our podcasts worldwide.It was amazing to attend the opening party for our closest local vineyard’s brand new beautiful winery.Vicentino has invested in a cutting-edge winery just a few minutes down the road, and owner Ole Martin Siem toasted its opening with their first ever Espumante – or Portuguese champagne.Vicentino is the first stop on our podcast wine journey and we had even had a sneak preview of the new winery a few months ago.I’ll be writing more about that on the wine blog soon, so do sign up for updates and new podcast episodes.Our friend Luís Martins also made a big step recently – leaving Vicentino to launch his own wine-tasting business, and we’ve been happy to host him for an introduction to some local wines we hadn’t come across before.The Gledsons were back in town for some dog-sitting duties while we ran some errands and did some DIY on our flat in Lisbon (which we do rent out on AirBnB!).There’s still a load to do, but finally the momentum is starting to switch from the construction, to constructing thoughts about how we make a success of Vale das Estrelas – particularly during the winter months and our first proper season in 2025.We hope to see you here very soon! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Today I’d like to start with an apology.You’ve been very patient with me as I’ve bumbled and grumbled my way through the past few months, mostly moaning about DIY, crossing the Valley of Death, Losing Perspective and treating my despatches more like therapy sessions.You didn’t sign up to be armchair psychiatrists, so I’m sorry...but thank you.After a bit of self-reflection and a little “enough already” advice from people whose opinions I trust, I would like to announce the official end to my searing negativity.I’ve been leaning this way for a little while, but a piece of important news this week has lifted a heavy weight from our shoulders.Like the magical morning mists that sometimes shroud our valley, the doom and gloom has been steadily lifting – burning off to reveal the blue skies.And of course they were always there – I just couldn’t see them.But now it’s time to stop looking down at overwhelming to-do lists and obsessing with the small things, and to look up and see the big picture – the picture we fell in love with when we first came to this valley.And it’s also time to stop looking backwards, but looking forwards to the next step in our career transition through builders to proprietors.                 Our friends and VIPs (Very Inspiring Proprietors) Vera and Cam went through a similar construction project and have quickly grown a really successful tourism and retreat business up the road at Quinta Camarena in nearby Cercal.“Oh, the building work,” Vera told us, “I remember that – it sucked,” she said...just six months after their hugely stressful race to get everything finished.Of course the pressure has mostly, but not entirely, been self-inflicted.Years in journalism have left me obsessed with deadlines and the desire to throw myself into something, get it mastered, get the story told, and move onto the next thing.But of course not everything works like that.Since the building work began a little over two years ago we’ve had a singular aim in mind: to get the lodge finished and open to paying guests this summer.A year ago we were confident that we’d be ready by May, and even after the winter rain we still thought June was do-able, while the builders, engineers and every artisan in earshot said: “what, you’re planning to open this year?”“August for sure” we told ourselves, each other and anyone else who’d listen.But it wasn’t just a hope – it was a need.We’ve taken a big loan to do this project, and although most of it is zero interest courtesy of the tourism authority – to promote growth in remote and traditionally poorer parts of the country – it still needs to be paid back...in just 10 years.The capital repayments were due to start next month – just in time for the winter tourism lull – but thanks to our bank manager’s confidence in our project and lobbying on our behalf, Turismo de Portugal have agreed to postpone payments.We don’t yet know for how long, and this certainly doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels (or the succulents we are busily planting), but it gives us a bit of breathing space.In a few short weeks, even the dreaded DIY has been transformed into a series of “craft projects” and thinking about it that way has completely changed my approach.I’m not sure why it all became so overwhelming, but I’ve done a full 180 and have started really enjoying tinkering with some wood, creating a couple of coffee tables and pondering how to turn railway sleeper screws into coat hooks.Thanks to both Niels and Ola for their advice on proposing a solution to attach the heavy metalwork into the wall.I’ve had so much encouragement and advice from my crowd-sourced therapy – thank you one and all – but as I sat down to write this despatch, Bernard from beautiful Marvão up in the Alentejo hills, made some time between his own DIY projects to send me a note:“DIY is a skilled undertaking and like gardening requires a lot of attention and organisation and you get better and faster at it. In rural Portugal it's there for life,” Bernard noted with a smiley-face.He put my moaning into perspective – remembering a time before my mate Leroy (as in Leroy Merlin, the French B&Q/Home Depot) had even made it to Portugal...and how much harder it was to find the things needed to do the job back then.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.“DIY is underrated, regarded as trivial, especially in Britain, so you may think it's a frustrating waste of time, especially when in competition with seemingly serious tasks like getting stuff through the [town hall].”Well that process does continue – we’re still wating for our licenses, but each we we get (hopefully) a step closer.My decision to embrace “craft projects” began with two planks of our fallen cork oak tree, some epoxy resin, an electric sander and a pot of varnish.Rather than rushing to finish and move on to the next job I did a little every day – filling in the cracked wood, carefully rounding it off and sanding it smooth and I now have two beautiful benches for the mezzanines for guests to drink at or to work over.The next job is only harrowing because it involves two old Portuguese wrought iron ploughing harrows which need feet and a glass top to become coffee tables.I can’t wait to get stuck into the wine label project, and my new relationship with wood makes The Clubhouse bookshelves sound like an adventure.But the clearing mists have also made me realise we’re coming to summer a little late this year.The whole point of this crazy adventure was to design our lives so we could live here – in the beautiful Portuguese countryside with our amazing views and the wild beaches and golden sands just a short drive away.We love the fresh fish – I’ve spent a long time perfecting my grilled fish, butterflied and braai-ed – and we’ve not been to our favourite seafood restaurant in a while.We haven’t even dropped by the Crabstraunt (as Oda calls it), or tried wine at our local Vicentino winery’s beautiful new tasting roomPart of that is due to what our friends in the Algarve Richard & Pauline call the “Agostinis” – the tourists who rock up with their outsider demands every August (but also perhaps could be the name of a noble and serious new martini cocktail).The beaches are already starting to thin out, the ocean water is warming and our summer sidles onwards while everyone else goes back to the office.We have managed to sneak out to the beach once or twice for planning meetings, and the occasional working lunch picnic.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.Alongside the ongoing craft project, our office currently includes Ana’s series of rockeries under construction, experiments with LPWAN technology for monitoring and automating our water supply, and gradually getting everything ready for a photoshoot for our website.The pressure over opening may have been released a little, but we still need to make some money – attract some late summer visitors and try and run our first retreat.Our villa will be toasty all winter thanks to the underfloor heating and my mind is already wandering into water collection for when rain eventually drops by.In the last couple of weeks I had another countering-disinformation trip to Nairobi (we now officially have enough Maasai blankets to keep a full house of guests nice and warm in the evenings), and I’ve just finished narrating our friend Joanna's book for Audible...it was the first one I’ve done and it was tougher than I expected!It’s an amazing book for western CEOs though – Chinafy by Joanna Hutchins: Why China is Leading the West in Innovation and How the Rest of the World can Catch Up.Once the audio book goes live I’ll post a link, but it is a brilliant insider’s account of just why China’s economy will soon be top of the world.I’m not sure our little business is going to change the world, but it’s certainly changing our world, and with the challenges, the things we’re learning to do...and about ourselves...it’s certainly change for the better.Especially now we’ve emerged from our summer of stress, newly invigorated to take on the bureaucracy battles which will allow us to open, and with a nice number of craft projects to work away at. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

With all the talk about gender at the Olympics I’ve been reassessing how I identify.I’ve spent the last few years trying to move towards something approaching the Oxford English dictionary’s definition of handyman: “a person able or employed to do occasional domestic repairs and minor renovations.”I’ve slowly being moving towards the “Mr Fixit” label my mum used to have for my dad when I was growing up – I’m actually still using some of his tools from the 1950s box with his initials on it.But my attitude towards our project recently is making me reconsider.Now I think I identify as “unhandy man” or a “Mr Fixit-NOT”I am so totally done with D-I-Why. I’m so over it. I don’t want to Do It Myself anymore. I’d like someone else to do it.Hours spent trying to work out how to do stuff has allowed me to ponder the alternative meanings of this TLA (Three Letter Acronym):* Died Inside Yesterday* Dammit. Idiot. You!* Done? Isn’t Yet.* Drilling Incomplete. Yawn.* Daily Incompetence? Yes.* Don’t I Yearn...to do something else? Darn It, Yes.Hopefully this is just a passing phase...given the amount of tinkering time, drill-skills and general knowledge about our solar and water systems I am going to need to keep this show on the road.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.But right now I really can’t face putting up any more lights, filling the remaining gaps between the skirting boards and the wall, or faffing about with wood and hinges.I’ve thrown everything at a long running battle with the kitchen sink, hopefully have found the final solution to a leaking industrial dishwasher, and we have secured all the headboards.But then there are the coffee tables and the wooden benches to make and varnish and fit and finish....I make almost daily trips to the nearby agricultural supplies store and the hardware place because I haven’t bought enough nails or the right sized pipe or the correct tap.But a lot of what we need involves a day trip.The local DIY superstore down in the Algarve is Leroy Merlin – pronounced in Portuguese with an odd fake French accent: Leh-roh-ah Mare-lahn.But I’m now comfortable just calling him Leroy – not even Senhor Merlin, or O Leroy – we’ve spent so much time together we are definitely on first-name terms and converse in the tu form.I almost know what all the different silicones are for, what kind of paint you use on what and where everything is in most stores.I even felt let down when one of his people refused to let me buy an air conditioning unit for the adega (wine cellar) because I didn’t have the name, licence number, date of birth, mother’s maiden name and inside leg measurement of the person who was going to install it.It’s the law apparently...presumably thanks to a well-connected and strongly lobbying AC Fitters’ Union (perhaps known as the “AC-FU”?).The car happily drives itself the hour and a quarter cross-country to visit the Holy Trinity of IKEA, Leroy and Makro.I’ve overdosed on Swedish meatballs and hotdogs and burned hours pondering different sized parafusos (screws...up there on my list of favourite Portuguese words with rodapé or skirting boards...why use two words when you can do it in one?).We’ve bought so many flat-pack things which need assembling, that we have spent hours just putting waste cardboard into recycling bins.The annoying thing is that after all this I am still rubbish at it.Lists of things to “just finish off” take hours – many of which are spent walking from one building to another searching for missing tools or drill bits which I’m sure I left somewhere.The place is looking great – and every day it gets a little closer to being “finished” – a technical definition indicating “the placement of essentials allowing the rooms to be habitable” while other things are gradually added and finessed over time.Of course to be officially habitable we need a licence...and little happens here once you hit August.Businesses close, people head off on holiday and the town hall kicks the can down the road by asking for some additional signed piece of paper which we were categorically told by our architect we didn’t need a month ago.Endless regulations, high taxes and several six-month long delays – which have twice been resolved with the official response of “oh, I forgot” – have left us financially and emotionally drained.Both the town hall and key professionals have been unresponsive for months throughout this process. The lack of accountability from all sides is far more exhausting than we could have imagined.Ho-hum. Let’s just hope the tourism authority are generous when they read the letter our bank manager sent on our behalf asking if we could put off payment of the loan capital until we are actually allowed to open.We were hoping to make money this summer to get us through the more fallow winter months so are hoping to put off repayments until next Easter when tourism picks up again.After all, compared to others in the area we’ve done things very quickly for Alentejo, but so very frustrating to spend so much time and effort to do things above board, when many people here take the approach of asking for forgiveness rather than permission. It’s often faster and cheaper.Friends and visitors are generous with their praise for what we’ve achieved in the four years since we arrived here in the Valley of the Stars.That’s quite an important number for me, because for all the years spent bouncing from country to country I have never lived in one place for more than four years since the 1980s when I left school in Newcastle.Breaking an adult-lifelong nomadic habit hasn’t been as hard as I might have thought, probably because we’re so busy I suppose.But I am happily settled in the place where we have settled and am looking forward to the next four, by which time I hope we will be running a successful business...ie one that brings in more money than it spends (very much against the current trend).A thousand boxes of linen arrived the other day, the cutlery is on the way, you can never have too many vacuum cleaners and Ana hitched a lift north with our generous neighbour Daniel to order the crockery which we picked up a day later (at 6am) at one of the monthly markets in the area.We’ve had a few friends road testing the facilities this weekend and while we grabbed a bit of downtime.Ed, Rachael & Daisy were back for a week...officially our best return guests (we think it’s nine trips so far); Tim & Trish came with a camera...but we aren’t quite ready for the glamour shots just yet.Their water was cold – but that’s just because I forgot to turn on the heatpumps – and it smelt a bit plastic-y, so I need to run a lot of water through the system.But the pool was “amazing” and the clubhouse has the seal of approval as a great place to hang out.And we had the first visit of our sommelier/acrobat/dancer neighbour Candace and her husband Geoff, who arrived generously armed with some wonderful wines for us to throw into the mix for a lovely wine tasting dinner with endless views over the hills.For those of you wondering, yes the wine podcast has been on hiatus in lieu of all the other stuff we’re trying to do...but the next episode is almost finished and is coming soon. If you haven’t heard the first half of the season check it out:I just keep remembering things and panicking about not getting them done...the LED lights in the bathrooms!...the website!...the fan system for the adega...the woodwork!We have achieved a huge amount against the odds: out lack of experience of building, of Portuguese bureaucracy, of knowing how to do things...but we are so nearly there.While the place will never be finished, it will be nice to be able to have time to think again...and to plan the vineyard, the marketing, the retreats...and learn how to run a lodge.But for now, I suppose I need to haul myself up the hill, try to gather all the possible tools I could need today into one shopping bag and try to spend more time doing it myself than looking for missing tools myself. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

“Well, now you just need to get through the valley of death, don’t you?” was the unexpected message of encouragement from one of our recent guests.I met Professor Eric Lambin at Stanford University in northern California where Ana and I spent a fabulous (albeit COVID-interrupted) back-to-school journalism fellowship year.He might be a world-renowned geographer, a member of the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors and a Blue Planet Prizewinner, but he was also one of the three students rocking up for beginning Portuguese classes every weekday morning.All of us wanted to learn European Portuguese, but with more than 200 million Brazilians out there, that wasn’t an option and so we were learning to say the word city (cidade) with a swagger as “sid-AD-gee” rather than “sid-ad” and speaking virtually “shush”-free.There’s quite a difference between the two versions of Portuguese and every evening Ana would make me rewrite all the verb tables adding the “tu” form (second person pronoun) which is largely ignored in Brazil, where você is favoured for everything.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.And the letter S is often pronounced as a “shh” in Portugal at the end of a word or before a consonant – it’s why it sometimes sounds like Russian...and while the Portuguese can understand spoken Spanish it doesn’t work the other way around.You’ll get a better idea if you listen to the audio version of this despatch, but here’s an attempt to explain what I mean through a few words and a Portuguese tongue-twister:Three plates of wheat for three sad tigers (Três pratos de trigo para três tristes tigres) is pronounced Tresh prAT-osh duh TREE-go pah-ra tresh trish-tesh tig-resh)Festa meaning party is pronounced FESH-tahRatos meaning mice is pronounced RAT-ooshOh, and hashish is spelt haxixe!But I digress...Eric’s disturbing talk about death in the Valley of the Stars was taken from his knowledge of Silicon Valley and a pattern which leads many startup companies to fail.As a geographer myself, graphs and maps always help illustrate a point, but Investopedia describes “the Death Valley Curve” as “the span of time from the moment [a company] receives its initial capital contribution until it finally begins generating revenue.”In other words having spent almost all our money we need to keep going and finish everything until we officially open and guests start providing us with income to pay our costs and pay off our loan.Now, I know this is not world-changing tech we’re developing: we’re not trying to train drones to swarm, or reinvent The Facebook (interestingly pronounced FacEY BOOK-ee in Brazilian), we’re just trying to build a few houses to rent out.As regular readers know, there’s a bit more to it than that – building a totally solar-driven off-the-grid eco-luxe lodge is very challenging – although the only world we’ll be changing if we don’t make it through death valley is our own, but you know what I mean.We’re nibbling away at the to-do list a bit slower than we’d hoped, but every little thing left to do by the builders needs to be done by us...and there are still a lot of projects.Connecting the new Starlink to our ethernet network was a nightmare – I mean have you ever tried to wire up a fiddly little ethernet plug? Madness. Is it A, is it B...there must be an easier way of doing it?Skirting boards remain un-fitted and un-sealed, headboards aren’t putting themselves up and the remaining furniture is slowly being assembled.Next is to rename our buildings in a snappier way. For two years we’ve been using the arbitrarily labelled names from the architectural project: E, F and G.Building E is the “main building” or the “pool house,” F is the villa and G is the row of en suite rooms. Maybe we need to name them after wine grapes...or stars...hmm.Senhor Manuel the builder returned for a final run through of what still needs to be finished or tweaked and he brought an unusual warm glow and broad smile on his face...which could be either relief or perhaps pride?After nearly two years he’s transformed this hilltop from a tatty, overgrown eucalyptus plantation into a stunning tourist lodge...and the only big part of the job left to finish now lies with the electrician who hasn’t been well.What’s the problem with the occasional live wire sticking out here and there? Hopefully he’s feeling better and will be back this week.We’ve been helped hugely by the surges of activity provided by visiting skilled friends, and hosting our first sardine and wine dinner at our main building gave us a real boost.Our Portuguese winemaking friends Mauro and Rita stayed with their kids for a few days, road testing the pool and bringing a small lake of their own wine and some much needed help and advice.They make amazing wines and are just starting on a similar tourism project in Cuba, Alentejo which claims to be the original Cuba.They’re naturally putting natural wine at the heart of that project and I’ve written about them in a previous wine blog – it’s in the Vidigueira region famous for Alentejo white wines and talha or amphora wine made the way the Romans made it.They’ve put us in touch with someone who might help us navigate these last crucial stages of the project, and have proposed a little arrangement that will allow us to have our own house wine this year...watch this space.Ana’s old pal Joanna is the third person we’ve lured to buy a house in this still-undiscovered part of Portugal, and she was here to get to grips with what needs to be done to the new place.She has a Wine and Spirit Educational Trust (WSET) diploma in wine as well working in Greenland (I mean how cool is that...quite cool apparently...well actually pretty chilly, but stunning)...and so we’re trying to persuade her to run wine training courses at Vale das Estrelas.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.Her partner Paul also arrived from Shanghai to take a first look.Paul’s very handy. As well as working on their place he spent some time helping us out, creating an amazing storage space and daybed headboard for one of the mezzanines (in just one day), and helping bring an added bit of Irishness to some sports watching.He could have been slightly more sensitive during the final of the Euros, but did put in some hanging lights above the bar while Ireland beat South Africa in the rugby and stepped in with a drill when the new braai inexplicably needed installing.It was chaos in the kitchen as Mauro and I tried to fit the taps and U-bend before people arrived (ultimately unsuccessfully) and it took an age for the coals to fire up.But with the pink sky of a sunset over the valley, a mountain of sardines sizzling on the table, and with Mauro and Swiss winemaker friend Niels’ wines flowing we began to realise that we really have created something special.This was just the first of many fun-filled al fresco evenings of wine and stories ending under a dark sky crammed with stars and the Milky Way flowing across the valley.It was a great reminder of that first night here when we decided on the name Vale das Estrelas, or Valley of the Stars.Maybe we’ve climbed up the steepest side of the valley of death, or maybe it’s a false summit...but as I never used say at the end of a BBC report (because it’s a terrible cliché) “only time will tell.”We’ve decided that encouraging people to visit with a lure of a package, or some form of retreat is the best way forward.Prof Eric may have scared us a little using the phrase “Valley of Death” in the Valley of the Stars, but he and his wife Régine also greatly inspired us with their project in central Portugal.They bought an estate house, spent a few years doing it up beautifully and now run a successful business at Qunita da Marmela and run cultural tours and horse-tours...packages of things to do...reinforcing our idea this is a good way forward.They wanted to hike some stretches of the Rota Vicentina long distance trail and loved it – despite the summer heat.Rather than walking to a new guesthouse each day, they used our place as a base and balanced time on the clifftops and beaches with the pool and the serenity of our countryside.“This could easily be a five day package,”  they agreed.So there’s the first idea...then there’s the wine...and perhaps a painting retreat...and something involving exploring Europe’s last wild coast.* And if you have any ideas about “content” to fill a week while enjoying an undiscovered part of Portugal - or experience of leading retreats - and would like to explore a collaboration...do let us know! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

I’m sitting on a plane in the skies over Africa trying to put everything we’re doing into perspective.It’s silly o’clock in the morning here, but recently we’ve been no strangers to sleepless nights, recurring dreams about buried pipes bursting and cold sweats over finances and licencing.Big things are happening in the valley, but they’ve been wearing us down.I lost perspective last week on one of the most difficult days on this crazy journey so far.Another no-show from our architect and another week-long delay was the final shove towards the realisation we weren’t going to be fully open this year.There have been many challenges, pressured decisions and self-reflections on whether we would ever have started this madcap scheme if we knew how it would unfold.Now there are even deeper doubts about what we can do before the debts are called in and expenditure starts to spiral above the lower autumn and winter income.But landing on a sunny June evening in Amsterdam after a short hop from Lisbon, traversing the chaotic airport terminals and now sitting here in the dark, wedged between the two other biggest blokes on a flight to Nairobi, I hope some of that perspective is returning.At the very least it’s giving me some quiet reflective time to think about what we’ve done, how far we’ve come and what we’ve still got left to do.The workload has been relentless – my precious early morning thinking hours to get podcast episodes published and blogs written have been cut short before 8am when workers and machines arrive and the firefighting begins.The days are long and we have been using the light and the time; bedtimes are early, but bodies are sore and minds are busy.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.Planning...we try...there are pages of re-written and slightly updated to-do lists in notebooks, but something always comes along like a water leak or an unexpected artisan to throw a spanner in the works.Extra screws for the patio covers, materials to order, emergency trips for vital components...more things to do than we have time for in a day or even to get through in a week.I’m good at the firefighting, but not so good at the big picture; I push things through by force of will, but don’t properly prioritise; I immerse myself in the technical details, but am overwhelmed when faced with an onslaught of competing demands.Thank goodness Ana is better at that...if only she could have more space to do it.Ana deals with all the angry conversations in Portuguese and the old-school mansplainers, and has to manage the pressure of me pushing demands to the brink of destruction.It really is one of the most difficult and stressful things we have ever done, but the hardest part is all the things that are out of our control.And the process of licensing – the town hall bureaucracy – is certainly out of our control.Our architect has been absent for long periods and different people are telling us many different things about how a changing process works – what we need and what we don’t need.Expensive acoustic inspections, energy certificates that could take a year, six months or just a couple of weeks...depending on who you ask.We pushed hard for our final architecture project to be submitted, but it wasn’t accurately done. Now it needs to be withdrawn and then re-submitted.The topographic survey was done quickly to keep us ahead, but now we’re told our recent spurt of landscaping also needs to be marked on the map and the survey needs to be redoneWe’ve done some extreme gardening before, but the last couple of weeks has been all about landscaping – cleaning up after the builders, levelling the land and putting in a few degrees of slope here and there so rainwater flows between the houses and down into the valley.We know water lingers in the clay at the top of our valley, and as soon as the soil is saturated, any little indentation can become a lake.Hopefully it will be managed by the long drainage trench cut between the future vineyard and the houses, and the new roadside ditch filled with drain pipes and gravel.We bought many cubic metres of material – carefully calculating the cost of different colours and qualities to try and stay within our trimmed budget.With the builders’ cabins gone the area in need of prettification required before welcoming guests, was a lot larger than we expected: hundreds of square metres.Thankfully we had Helder from the material supplies and plant hire place up the road – he smooths and levels piles of gravel using the tractor buckets like extensions of his own hands, flicking here, patting down earth there.The list of things left to do is overwhelming, but with Alan & Margery Gledson staying again we got the final building’s concrete floors sealed and all the wooden bathroom sink tops and bowls installed.The marble kitchen tops arrived – they’re beautiful – and slowly but surely the electrics, the metal safety railings and the water system are being completed.The beds will be the last things to go in...once the workman boots have moved on.Even a beautiful Portuguese paradise can become a millstone of pressure and worry.But retuning to Africa, meeting some Ethiopian journalists who live their lives in fear of the police knocking on their door in the night, helps bring some perspective.I’ve been doing some work on the side countering disinformation and that’s what brings me to Nairobi – our old home – for the first time in five years.A vast concrete overpass – the lauded Expressway – now flies above the city.It took just a few years to build...a little more than our lodge which pales in scale.High-rise buildings have sprung up, development is everywhere...but so is protest – five years on, different voices are now being silenced by the same water cannon, riot police and teargas that were so familiar I owned a gas mask.These are the voices of the youth facing down a tumult of new taxes.Maybe it’s time for me to mix the morning classical music listening with a little more news again, to read those Economists, to re-engage in that big world beyond the valley.There are books waiting to be read, there are beaches ready to be visited, there’s calm to be restored and chaos to be tamed.Balance needs to come back into our lives – we need to be running this, and not letting it run (or ruin) us.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.It’s time for a reset, a plan, a strategy...to be ready for guests as soon as we can and to get ourselves rested and ready for themAfter all, this is just the beginning of something that will never be finished, but will just get better and better.Spread the word, help us get this soft-opening year off to a good start. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

In the end they left with a whimper rather than a bang.Almost un-noticed, things on the building site gradually started disappearing until suddenly there was nothing left – except for a large pile of building rubbish and some unfinished digging work.We’d agreed to pay for some of Justo’s digger time by the hour, and just as I was stressing about which work we needed him to do in what order he started loading it on the back of the truck.“Broken” he shrugged and headed off to the mechanic.He came back with an empty truck and as if by magic the last builders’ cabin disappeared. We haven’t seen them since.I suppose that’s when we realised it was up to us now, and that all the things that still needed to be done...need to be done by us.And there’s quite a long list.The gradual departure of the builders passed us by because we were just so busy.Cleaning the land with a strimmer within 50m of every building needed to be done by the end of May, and having prioritised other things I found myself facing quite an uphill (and downhill, and uphill, and downhill again) task.With huge thanks to volunteer helpers John Rourke and Hugh Jennings who took some good chunks out of the work, I have been rising at dawn to get out on the land before the heat really hits.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.(Although I wonder if there’s a connection between John’s Scottish roots and the propensity of remaining thistles? I do hope you’re recovering well John!).Summer has arrived and strimming after 11am quickly becomes a very energy-sapping endeavour when there’s so much else to do after the work out.Weed-whacking might be a great weight-loss programme, but it steals my thinking and writing time.This is the longest I’ve left between delivering despatches from Vale das Estrelas since I began, and the early morning exercise along with the bi-weekly podcast episodes have nipped my creativity.By the way, if you haven’t started listening to the podcast yet please go over to our other Substack page – or search on Spotify or Apple Podcasts for Ana & Al’s Big Portuguese Wine Adventure. We’re up to Episode 5 already!Help us, part 1…The first way you can help us is to rate the podcast and leave us a review to get the algorithm working for us…and getting more people listening.The other big deadline was saving the lives of our 250 olive trees, scattered citrus and newly planted rosemary and lavender bushes in front of the new houses.They were all starting to seriously sag and even though we started the process of replacing a broken irrigation pump early it was a close call.We decided to install a submersible pump in the lake to provide all the irrigation water for now – until we have a full house at the lodge and the waste treatment plant starts providing us with ample nutritious agua.The brilliant Cristiano and his brother Eduardo built an island out of an old pallet and four second-hand blue barrels bought for the occasion, but sadly the island sank and we had to switch it for a bright orange buoy.The guys laid out the 300m of pipes in the blink of an eye, because they are experts in what is an undervalued, but hugely valuable skill.Then the thief of time became the drippers.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.You can buy ready-to-install systems with a connector to the main pipe, a tube and then a spiked dripper which you push into the soil near the tree or plant to deliver water directly to the roots.My decision to buy the constituent parts rather than the whole thing, and then put them together ourselves was meant to be time saving not money saving, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.It took us hours and at the cost of blisters and holes in our fingers which have still not recovered.And then after Ana connected them all, they didn’t work - water was just flowing out and not reaching half the plants.We realised we were supposed to have installed regulators as well so each plant receives a certain amount of water and everyone gets their share.That took hours more of blistering bother.Irrigation systems do need regular care and attention and there’s a lot to monitor, but despite a few losses they’re broadly doing well.The calçada guys know all about working under an unforgiving sun – it took four days for the white limestone blocks to all be carefully chipped and placed by hand and tightly tesselated. The result is stunning.The pool, the deck and the calçada all look amazing, we put some wooden poles in to stop people falling (the protective glass is under construction), and after weeks of looking at the water we finally found the time to take the plunge. Lovely.The lack of Sr Manuel’s builders doesn’t mean everything is finished – a long line of his and our contractors are still coming and going as the deadline for “finishing” drifts ever into summer.The electrician occasionally drops by with complaints about his worsening gout while his mate takes up the slack; Rui the water guy pops in for a few hours here and there to keep our plate spinning while he juggles 70-plus other jobs; and the carpenter, plumber, glass people and metal work guys still have a few things to finish.We’d brought in some help in to hammer in wooden posts, cover the pergolas with willow and waterproof roofing, and to make our old water tanks drinking-water ready by emptying them and scrubbing them clean (much harder than it sounds).Then things need doing NOW:* get LED ceiling lights after the Amazon delivery never turned up (drive to the Algarve, realise later we didn’t buy enough)* pick up finished handmade sink basins from Monchique (drive to the Algarve, realise later the plug holes aren’t big enough)* fight with angry cork furniture delivery guy (he actually knocked me over with his van as he left)* pick up new Starlink dish because the old line-of-sight internet providers unexpectedly pulled the plug and left us on EDGE (rather than fibre or 5G) pretty much overnight* deal with a dramatic water pipe leak here, a demand for a big decision thereBut all efforts are currently focussed on the landscaping – the literal moving of mountains...of earth and gravel.The removal of the construction cabins revealed just how huge an area we have on the top of the hill behind the houses. We need trees, but can’t now plant much until the autumn, so we need ground cover to beautify our eco-luxe lodge.The process involves breaking up the already baked-hard soil with a giant tractor, then moving and levelling and rolling it with enough of a slope to help water runoff next winter.At least three truck loads of 23 tonnes of white tout venant were delivered – a mixture of gravel and rock dust which compacts well and will surround every building, make paths and the pétanque court.Grey tout venant will follow with some gravel, wood chips and mulch...and felled pine trees and white stones for edges.And with every machine hour - and truck-load of material - our landscaping budget has a big chunk excavated out of it.The payments have been flowing out as the spending curve accelerates to the end of the project, and amid it all the tourism authority who has given us the loan blocked our final (and pretty significant) block of funding.“No money until the work is finished” they said.“We can’t finish until we get the money,” we replied.After weeks of back and forth, our legendary bank manager Wilson worked some more of his magic and secured an agreement...the cash should arrive this week.Even with the rest of the loan, we were worried about whether we had enough money to make it over the line.We’ve thrown all our savings into this, and I’d been putting off the full audit because I was scared about what I might find.But with a strict landscaping budget to define, we needed to know how much money is left.I’m glad to report that despite some big and unexpected hits like a broken borehole and spiralling water system costs, the figures just about add up. It’ll be tight, but we should make it...as long as we can welcome guests this summer.Help us, part 2…So, for those of you who couldn’t make it here to volunteer...please help us by coming to stay.With our last burst of helpers expected soon, everything should be open-ready by the end of June, and while the online booking engine is still on the really-must-do-now-but-haven’t-got-time list, please let us know when you’d like to come and stay as paying guests.It’s a soft opening year, so the prices will be good! Come and visit and claim your free bottle of Alentejo wine...with a story. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

“So when do you open?” is a common question as everything on our hillside starts to look a little more finished.“Last Saturday” is my current response – because that was the original plan.Great friends of ours from our Bangkok days...and their friends...had booked last year to come and stay when the finish date on the building contract was optimistically set for the end of February.“Yes, this February,” was my common response (often to the builders) while we prepared for a group of 28 people – half of them children, but we felt that even if it slipped a month or two we’d be all set by May.It was a very generous offer to help us with a soft opening – to give us the practical experience of running a retreat for a large group with varying demands – safe in the knowledge they are friends and would understand...and give great feedback.As the year began, and the combination of heavy rain delaying the construction and the growing realisation that we are not super-human led us to suggest they book the larger and more established Pé no Monte hotel nearby.We are so pleased they did.Their slimmed down early-arrival group of 20 came over to see us for a tour, a wine tasting and a sardine supper.The ratio was the same: ten adults to ten children.Obviously diggers make great climbing frames, rock dust is perfect for sandcastles and “don’t go close to the precipice by the pool” translates into child as “we must go over there.”The electricity is now connected to all the buildings and the spaghetti water system is working – including to the toilets and showers – but the sinks aren’t quite there to help the water to its final destination.All but one of the outside doors and windows are now in, the interior doors are ready to hang and the metal safety railings for the mezzanines will go in this week (they could have plunged off those precipices too).The wine tasting went well, the sardines feast was saved by our friend Adam Cooper’s quick intervention and we ended the day having learned a lot of lessons about hospitality...and health & safety.Our wonderful daughter Oda has been staying with us – en route to managing the emerging American indie rock artist Taylor Sackson for her first UK tour.Check out the dates and if you’re local, drop in and show some support for Oda and Taylor (she’s got an amazing voice).Oda knew it was going to be a busy time in the Valley of the Stars, but none of us anticipated just how manic the last couple of weeks were going to be – it was a proper case of spinning plates while juggling (or a combination of the two).She arrived in the middle of our filling-the-pool water crisis which I wrote about last time, a task made much more difficult by a broken borehole.After trying everything he could first, the ever impressive Cristiano and his brother Eduardo set about hauling the pump 120m out of the ground to discover it needed to be replaced...along with its cable, pipe and rope.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.It was another unexpected cost which merely contributes to my active avoidance of checking the accounts to see if we actually have enough money left to finish our project.My former BBC colleague and audio-genius friend Peter Emmerson helped us through the first two weeks of the podcast launch.Episode 2 went live yesterday – please head over to the wine blog and sign up if you haven’t already...or just search for Ana & Al's Big Portuguese Wine Adventure where you get your podcasts or have a listen here:You’ll remember our friend John Rourke from my last despatch: the Scottish strimmer and cork floor fitting fiend who dragged his pal Tony over to cork click-floor our mezzanines.John said he’d be back to finish the job after a short trip home, but decided to have a heart attack in Scotland instead...I mean, as far as excuses go that’s a pretty good one.Thankfully he was just 10mins away from Glasgow hospital and out a few days later struggling more with the regime of enforced rest than anything else.Wishing you a speedy recovery John – all that strimming made him as fit as a butcher’s dog which should help – and in terms of places to keel over I’d certainly choose Glasgow over the hills of Alentejo for speedier emergency care, rather than the scenery.Most items on our post-it wall of ambition are proving stubborn to shift, but my old university pal Hugh Jennings was also on hand this week to help us make some impact.“Finish the cork floors” was high up on the running order, and Tony insisted on coming back and giving us a masterclass in click floor installation as we fussed around him trying to help.Hugh and I moved a lot of heavy things around, unpacked the entire restaurant kitchen, assembled some furniture and conquered a lingering gutter which has been staring at me for weeks, begging to be installed (just in time for the next drought).And we certainly couldn’t have prepped our sardines and wine tasting day without him...thanks so much again for coming Hugh!I dropped Hugh off at Faro airport and picked up another old friend Ciaran for the return trip.Our Algarve adventures always involve big shops and pickups, and after negotiating Cassie the Hilux and a trailer through the narrow streets of Faro, Ciaran was treated to Leroy Merlin DIY store (twice), Makro, a large metal factory, and although spared Ikea, was dragged to the irrigation pipe place.The sudden arrival of summer means all the trees we have planted need regular watering – all 300 of them.The irrigation pump failed last year and so we’ve upgraded to a submersible pump for the lake to feed the citrus and the olive trees down in the valley and up on the hill.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.This requires 500m of pipe, scores of fiddly drippers to install and the construction of a small island out of wood and plastic barrels to support and power the pump in the lake.Then there’s Ana and Oda’s dresser re-decoration job to finish, sealing material for the concrete floors to buy and spread, skirting boards to install, more interiors to order, bills to pay, accounting to put off...and that’s just today.It really has been one of those times when a week feels like a month...when there’s not enough time in the day or space in my brain.There’s not even enough space to cram it all into one despatch (but I’ll keep trying).Oda, Ana, Ciaran and I did all enjoy a night away at the stunning Tróia Design Hotel on the sliver of Alentejo that points at the Setúbal Peninsula just south of Lisbon.It was work rather than play, as I’d been asked to do a couple of turns at a conference known as the Sleeper Sessions – a high-end networking event for top hotels and international designers.Matt Turner, editor in chief of Sleeper Media which publishes the influential Sleeper Magazine (among others) invited me to run a couple of their “Sustenance Sessions” after hearing the radio pieces I did for the BBC on off grid living (which you can listen to here and here).It involved hosting a tasting and talk about Portuguese and Alentejo wines, some background on the kind of madness required to build an off-grid eco-luxe lodge with no prior experience, and stories from my previous war-reporting life.It was great fun – thanks to Matt and to moderator Guy Dittrich for the invite and for giving me the chance to meet so many real hotel and design people. Hopefully a few of them might even come and stay.It also inspires me that perhaps the wine tasting/live storytelling part of our business plan might just work… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

There have been occasions when I’ve strolled up to our building site expecting a hive of activity, only to discover the Mary Celeste.Perhaps that’s an apt comparison, given the abandoned ship was found drifting somewhere between the Azores islands and the Portuguese coast in 1872 with no crew – what happened to them remains a mystery to this day.Tumble weeds don’t even grow here, but I’d swear I’ve seen them in the corner of my eye on those days where a sprinkle of drizzle or an ominous weather forecast has kept everyone away despite a daunting list of deadlines.Inoculated by past disappointments I wandered up the hill this week with low expectations, only to stumble into rush hour at Paddington Station.I struggled to find a parking space among the various sized white vans, piles of newly delivered limestone cobbles, and rumbling trucks.There were electricians and carpenters, gutter fitters and pool people, the plumber, the water guy, delivery drivers, and...drumroll please...the door and window installers!Our hopes and dreams, our wishes and requests, our letters to Santa Claus...had all answered by the arrival of the PVC people and their large truck of fabulous frames and gorgeous glass.We’re finally getting somewhere after the many months of transforming a scraggy eucalyptus forest into something approaching an off-grid eco-luxe resort.And as the workers are seemingly focussing on the finishing line we’re hitting the buy button on chairs and tables, lamps and loungers, umbrellas and bedside tables...to get all the finishings – at least – in the post.I wondered the scene with my mouth open. I love it when a plan comes together.But what’s truly amazing is all our wonderful friends who have been dropping everything to answer our call for help.“I’d like to help with some strimming,” John Rourke messaged a few weeks ago.With the fire regulations deadline fast approaching for clearing land 50m from every building that is not something you say no to.Our Scottish friend who lives about 45 minutes away in Cercal arrived with a car-load of strimming machines, all fuelled up and ready for action (he even brought his own water bottles to keep hydrated through the job!).I’ve been putting off the annual weight-loss programme as long as possible and this was just the kick I needed to get things started.I should know by now that strimmers emerge from their winter hibernation with missing parts, wobbly fittings and absent essentials which always require at least a couple of trips to the local Stihl shop.John’s already been strimming his land for weeks and so was totally in the rhythm on the hillside while I was spending ages getting up to speed.He stayed the night to get an early start and had sorted most of the land above the house before I’d really got anywhere in the citrus grove – moving all the dead agave flowers from last year and trying not to get too tangled up in the ancient un-irrigated grape vines and left over electric fence.I’d patched up a dodgy wire-strimming fitting which lasted right up until it didn’t – when the whole thing flew off in every direction…including towards the side window of our neighbour Daniel’s car.While I can’t say for sure that the exploding strimmer was responsible for his shattered glass, it’s probably more likely than a toad with a catapult.While John strimmed ever onwards, the Stihl shop was sadly awaiting a delivery – providing me with just the excuse I needed to focus on something else for the time being.And there has been plenty to focus on.The post-it wall has remained stubbornly static as the daily demands of project managing the workers and keeping power humming and water running has required regular shuttle runs up and down the valley.Pumps and the various workmen’s tools all running at once tended to trip the fuses, so it required careful management and repeated visits to the fuse box.Filling the pool without a grid connection was always going to be ambitious, but we’d been told it had to be filled as soon as the final pebble and cement layer had been applied to protect the concrete from cracking in the sun.A little rough mathematics rounded up to the unlikely figure of 70,000 litres needed to get the infinity pool overflowing, but the cost of bringing in fresh water was prohibitive (to say the least).We’d stored about 180,000 litres in a pillow tank at the bottom of the valley, and water consultant Rui Faria had the solar pump all connected and tested, but it only runs in the sun.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.We filled our new tanks with 30,000 litres ahead of time, but that was just a start – the key was going to be the boreholes which provide good, clean water and the slight saltiness ideal for a salt-water pool.But right on cue – after years of working brilliantly – our main borehole dramatically failed and even the brilliant Christiano couldn’t get it going...despite his efforts on the national holiday – the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution.The only solution was using our neighbour Daniel’s solar system to power-pump water up the hill, but unexpected cloudy skies drained his batteries too...plunging his house into early morning darkness.Overcast skies have slowed the pumps, but have also reduced the threat to the pool from the sunshine and it is now well on the way to being full.It really has been all hands on deck – our daughter Oda has arrived from LA to bring a much needed creative touch to the interiors – and we’re hugely grateful to artist Ed for dreaming up the idea of our new logo and to Tim for his design genius in jointly producing something very special. We hope you like it.We’re tweaking the stars which form the constellation of Cassiopeia and will be recreating the same pattern on our limestone deck of calçada cobbles in front of the main building.Ex-BBC audio whizz Pete Emmerson has been staying with us too – editing and mastering the first few weeks of our wine podcast which we’ll be launching really soon – and lending a hand on the building site and with the landscaping.But above (and beyond) the call of duty...John Rourke returned, swapping his car-load of strimmers for click-floor partner-in-crime Tony...and the two of them set about one of the biggest tasks to be keeping us up at night.I’ve dabbled with click floors for the guesthouse bathrooms, but the cork boards for our mezzanines required another level of skill and dedication.I’d say they nailed it, but they actually hammered it...and levered it, and tweaked it and fiddled it... and created beautiful floors that we are hugely proud of.They’ll be back to finish the job next week, and I might push my luck and ask about skirting boards! Thank you sooo much guys.Everything is starting to take shape, but as April ticks towards May...and more volunteers are preparing to arrive to help...we’re confident we can get this thing done and get this lodge open.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The only problem – and huge concern that fills us with fear as well as frustration – is the licensing part of the project.Our architect has joined the crew of the Mary Celeste and left us drifting in our hour of need...three weeks of ghosting has left us panicked that we won’t be able to open for the summer and raise the income we need to start paying back our loan.It’s a good time and an energising time...but we’re not completely out of the eucalyptus woods yet. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

The first sign of summer is when planting a tree turns from simply picking a spot and digging up a bit of soil...to battering through concrete.It took just two days of mid-20s Celsius for the ground to turn from being soft and simple to dig, mix in with compost and happily plant, to needing a medieval throwing spear to break the surface and leave us longing for a pneumatic drill to finish the job.It’s also a sign it’s now probably too late for us to do much of our planned landscaping.Half the lavender planted in front of our new villa is thriving, while the other half is struggling...the difference being three days and one light shower.Thankfully our great friends Ed, Rachael and Daisy were visiting – they brought along their great pals Medwin and Emily – and we roped them all into a little plant-off to get in the fruit trees, a few olives, figs and medronhoplants...and even twisted Ed’s arm to design us a new logo.We have so many more trees and plants to place, but delays to the building work and so much rain lingering in the clay has limited our planting window.For our first season we will do what we can by laying a lot of gravel and mulch, starting on a cactus garden and mixing in all the cover crops on the vineyard area to improve the soil before we plant next March.After so much rain we almost got sick of it (we didn’t, of course), but the sudden arrival of ample sunshine and high temperatures also brought a rush of workmen bursting back on site like a field of daisies.Once the Easter break was out of the way, our hilltop was filled with cars as on one extraordinary day we enjoyed the company of the builders, carpenters, electricians, painters and our water consultant. All on one day.The pool preparation people even arrived a day early...brilliant, but it created another layer of complication requiring a wild goose chase to track down our plumber whose attendance was courteously requested.The post-it note wall is back and is as packed and full as ever...but the order of achievement priority has been recalibrated from “quarter one” through “quarter four” to “today”, “tomorrow” and “yesterday”.Things are certainly happening...I had to go through photographs and the diary simply to remember all the stuff which has been done since my last despatch...and that’s a very good thing.We have stairs in both apartments and the metal handrail makers will be back on Monday to measure up the safety barriers; the cork floors have arrived; the pool pump is in, and its concrete structure has been prepped for its final pebbly layer which is due next week.The discovery that our infinity pool overflow tank was too shallow required some quick cement-block action, but that ended well.The water infrastructure has taken a couple of major steps forward towards flowing – even if our key borehole has for some strange reason stopped working right now and our house supply is dwindling (well, I did want the tank empty in order to paint it with a drinking water seal anyway!).The solar pump, on neighbour Daniel’s land, is now bringing irrigation canal water hundreds of meters up the valley to mix in with our salty borehole supply (when available); and the house and panel rainwater capture system is almost finished...just in time for the summer drought.We need about 60,000 litres of mixed and treated water by next Thursday...but that requires electricity to run the pumps and the softener...and clean tanks to store it in.I messed up on the tank front by asking for soil to be piled onto the sides without properly reinforcing the tank first needing some extra bulldozer hours to undo and redo that job.And the power grid appears to require the kind of focussed attention not supplied by the occasional drop-ins by the electrician checking on his worker.At least we found the electrical cable that connects the current guesthouse.You may remember months of random digging, detective work and the unsuccessful deployment of Niels’ 1980s metal detector to track down the power cable before it reaches the house...and save us a huge rewiring job.Some carefully selected hand-digging uncovered the illusive little blighter...to great acclaim and relief all round.That means we can now seamlessly integrate everything into the new system.Ana celebrated yet another 29th birthday and her morning birthday sandwich illustrated the gift we both want...in fact it’s the same thing I wanted for my birthday...oh, and it’s what we both asked Father Christmas for as well...DOORS AND WINDOWS.It’s a small thing to ask. No, actually it’s a large thing to ask...and require before anything can be effectively done inside the new buildings...but we did order them last year.The promised deadline keeps slipping...please, please, please can it be this week??While our daughter Oda has introduced a new family rule that birthday sandwiches need to be edible, I gambled on the current intermittent fasting regime of “no food before midday” to get away with mixing cheese and corn tortilla, fishpaste, carrot and cucumber with cake decorations.After two consecutive years of proper surprise trips to Atlantic Islands (Madeira and then the Açores) I totally blindsided my wife this year by not taking her anywhere!She didn’t expect that!It wasn’t that much of a surprise...given that we have so many things on the Post-It note wall, but thankfully dinner was more palatable than my sandwich.We’ve been meaning to go to the fine dining experience place nearest to us – the Michelin mentioned Näperõn in Odeceixe – and at least that was something of an unexpected element of a birthday which also involved a visit to the aptly named Birthday Beach.It was great...carefully thought through and created “moments” with a great wine list.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Of course the absence of doors and windows hasn’t stopped us cracking on with the interiors...we haven’t got time to waste.We finally managed to wrestle the cork oak planks – heft from our ancient fallen tree – from the local carpentry shop.After weeks of waiting it was a pretty disappointing job, but we transported them down to Ben in nearby Aljezur for him to weave some magic and turn these scratched and scraped, slightly warped planks into a stunning 2m long bar and some fabulous bathroom vanities.He selected the best of the bunch – the rest will be a possible wine rack and a couple of tables which we will turn our own hands to.We still have to work out a good solution for the countertop legs, but the stunning wood will be an amazing addition to all the bathrooms and we will mount handmade pottery bowls as sinks.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.Our most recent acquisition trips to the Algarve took us to the workshop of Leonel Telo Cerâmica up the mountains of Monchique.Leonel was so enthused about the project he started making the first sink before we’d even left the shop!I made a little video of stage one of the process: do check it out!The Facebook Marketplace runs also resulted in the collection of two huge electrical cable spools which we’ll convert to dining tables, old iron farming tools we’ll turn into coffee tables and a beautiful old crockery dresser for the main building.Slowly, slowly we’re collecting some beautiful things and Ana is spending hours poring over chairs and poolside furniture, umbrellas, crockery and décor.In the race against time that is our hillside, everything we plant from here on in is going to be a challenge, but with water on its way and power coming for the pumps soon we will be turning our attention to irrigation once again.Hundreds of metres of drip-pipes and a new submersible pump and floating platform for the lake will hopefully help us keep our hedge of two hundred olives alive...and the ones on the hill...and the lavender...and the fruit trees...and......and why am I still writing when we have sooooooo much to do.Até proxima as they say here...see you soon. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

We’ve worried about water for three years now – since we started our crazy off-grid adventure – but had no idea we’d be dealing with too much rather than too little.Nevertheless, we are still happy to see the heavens open, despite months of above average rainfall – thanks to El Niño – and a massive storm system that’s been sitting off the coast of Ireland and hammering the Iberian peninsula all week.Lisbon’s steep and narrow streets briefly turned to rivers, a video clip of a rare water spout near the Vasco de Gama bridge in the capital made headlines around the world, and building work here in The Valley of the Stars has pretty much ground to halt.Of course it’s easier to live with when the temperatures remain in double figures and the sun shines between squalls, topping up our solar system and keeping everything running.As the climate changes, more extremes are expected, which is why we’ve invested in 200,000 litre pillow tanks to collect all the rain and save it for our guests during the long hot summers.Sadly, neither the gutters nor the tanks have been installed in time to make use of all the water now overflowing from our lake into a new river which is flowing down the valley.The system for harvesting rainwater from our house and the solar panels got one step closer this week as we placed and buried the tank and all the associated pipes.The land also keeps sliding in various places – this week part of the hillside around the lake collapsed – and we do wish our doors and windows had been installed before this latest inundation.At least the builders invested some time in an innovative, gale-proof construction of wood and insulation foam to block the doors and windows where the kitchens have now been installed.The delay to this key part of the project has slowed everything down on the building site, but we did get a few things done despite the rain.The unpolished concrete people were back between showers to try another way of improving our floors (we’re still disappointed in the way they look) and the metal workers installed one of the two staircases,Heat Pump Paulo connected everything up for the water and underfloor heating – as much as he could until we get all our utilities online (while also providing us all with plates of his famous fabulous rabbit and rice lunch).We’re being drip-fed a water treatment system, and the absence of an electrician is perhaps expected given the poor relationship between rain and electricity.At the very least we look forward to the years ahead when the rainwater has soaked through the ground and eventually reached the level of our borehole.Of course the combination of rain and sunshine is fuelling some pretty impressive springtime sprouting.We marvel at the green hillsides, the flowering estevas (rockroses), the revived and fast-growing grape vines and the colourful weekly additions to the pointillism painting that is the Alentejo spring.It’s yellow time at the moment as everything bursts into life, and it’s weird to imagine all this vibrancy will be baked away in a month or two when summer sets in.And for every day that more power and water is piled into the vegetation, my strimming workload grows.Areas 50m around every building need to be cleared by the end of April to protect from fire, and three new buildings broadens my Spring fitness regime quite significantly.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.We’re taking advantage of the sodden soil to pull out the tall and woody esteva which needs to be removed every few years as the combination of dry stems and oily leaves burn like little torches.Fortunately, the large area of eucalyptus plantation on the other side of the hill has been chopped down and dug out, providing a vast fire break if the unlikely was to happen this year.Everything is so easy to weed when it’s this wet, and so we need to take advantage of it while we can – cleaning up the gravel and planting the trees we bought on a rainy trip to the Monchique mountain nursery Viveiro Denis.Justo and the builders had managed to get some basic landscaping down before the latest storm and so we are now turning our attention to transforming our building site before we open.It’s not going to be perfectly manicured straight away – the delays have stopped us from planting as much as we’d like before the summer – but the seeds we planted in the future vineyard have sprouted well and we will be ploughing the greenery in once we get a few dry days.Our soil sample results came back with uninspiring levels of most things, but grapes aren’t that fussy...and hopefully our half hectare can grow some wine-able grapes in a few years.We aim to plant next March – and have a couple of weeks left to register our land and mark out where we will be planting what kind of grapes.We were lucky enough to meet winemaker and viticulturalist Miguel Mimoso through our friend at the nearby Vicentino winery, and popped down to visit his project in the Algarve for a tour, some tips and some wine tastings.Arvad is a beautiful winery producing some amazing wines and I’ll be writing about them and their Negra Mole grapes soon on our other blog The Big Portuguese Wine Adventure where we’ll be launching the podcast series next month. Check it out!We’ve also been back to Vicentino to see their amazing new winery and have recorded an extra podcast episode there.Miguel has already visited our land and we’ll see what he says about the most suitable grape types when he sees the soil sample results.Today we’re tucking into an Easter lunch of Niels and Sybille’s finest lamb – born and bred roaming free: lots of amazing days and then one really bad one...the first instalment of half a sheep been slow cooking since yesterday while the rest languishes in the freezer.We’re welcoming our neighbour Daniel (whose landscaping vision of his property is really starting to bear fruit) and our friends Tim & Trish who have moved into their new place (which needs a bit of good weather work) and have been battling a leaky roof and an exploding shower.The lamb will be spectacular, but the party of the week has already been and gone.On Good Friday our builder Joaquim invited us to a gathering in his village. We thought it was a traditional Easter event, but it turned out to be his 78th birthday.Joaquim has been the bedrock of our building project – bounding up and down scaffolding, skilfully bricklaying our curved wind-break wall, sharing his lunch almost every day with Albie the dog and injecting a wonderful mischievous energy to our building site.He and his pals were dressed in their Cante Alentejano best - periodically breaking out into traditional song throughout the lunch.His whole family were there and we were honoured to be his guests. As we left, he told us his work was finished at our site and he wouldn’t be coming back. He’ll be missed...but hopefully he and his choir can come back and help us open the lodge...once the power’s on and the doors and windows are in.All the best Joaquim...and thanks for everything...here’s to 78 more! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

We love having friends over – especially the ones who haven’t been to our place in a while.“Wow...you’ve done so much! It’s amazing...it’s almost finished,” they all say and we breathe out a little, smile and nod to each other acknowledging the reminder of just how far we have actually come in such a short time.Blessed by the reassurance we aren’t complete idiots we can relax into a nice lunch and present a little Alentejo tell-and-taste wine story, imagining a day when we’re finished enough to open and do this for strangers.Then all the worries start flooding back in.But before I plunge into the long list of sleep-sapping challenges, something else lifted my spirits this week...something that reminded me of the way the building started.It’s all about the small things, and it first happened when this whole crazy project hung in the balance, when Ana and I took turns telling the other why it was madness and when the loan was about to time out without a single receipt being filed.Despite having no builder under contract, no construction permit and no deposit paid, a large pile of steel reinforcing rods turned up one day.They weren’t invited, they weren’t expected, they hadn’t been paid for, but yet they were there – maybe ten thousand euros’ worth – on the bit of flat land that used to be a eucalyptus forest.That’s when we realised it was going to happen.This week it wasn’t an arrival which marked a milestone, but it was the departure...of a machine which has fascinated me since it first landed.The giant red cement mixer on wheels scoops up ratios of sand, gravel and cement by the bulldozer bucket.It churned out foundations, pillars and beams...and now it’s gone.Wooden boards, building materials, scaffolding have all slowly been melting away and everything starting to look a bit less like a building site and a bit more like an off-grid eco-luxe countryside lodge.Maybe we are almost finished?The heat pumps have finally migrated from sheltering under plastic on the hillside to taking up their positions ready for installation, and our focus has firmly shifted towards the interiors which Ana has been hammering away at for months now.Malcolm Gladwell argues you need 10,000 hours to attain true expertise in anything and Ana’s not far off when it comes to developing the style of our interiors.The beds are ready for delivery, the leather sofas and beautiful headboards are here, one kitchen is on its way from Germany, two more are coming from nearby, we have fridges, a stove, cork flooring on order, marble tables being made and are investigating lighting.We have to find the perfect wine tasting glasses, the right crockery, bedside tables, wardrobes, chairs, patio furniture...the Excel sheet is long and sprawling.It’s a lot of shopping: sourcing, chasing, finding, thinking, researching, calculating and delving for discounts.An unexpectedly speedy car service date gave us a day in the Algarve to wander and ponder in shops and factory stores and with the new-found confidence to spot a deal and go with it.It was an expensive day but a fun day – we found ourselves smiling quite a lot – and it was punctuated by our regular Algarvian sushi lunch.It’s curiously calming to spend large amounts of borrowed money, knowing that every single thing we buy is one less thing we need to buy.The receipts are piling up and I’m desperately trying to keep up with the accounting: are we over budget (yes), is it by too much (hopefully not).Should we have invested in the two stand up paddle boards for guests to rent out? (Probably not). Are they a good addition to the business and what we are offering? (Probably).Sadly we missed this month’s auction, which is probably best given what we picked up last time around (a fruit machine was not on the Excel sheet).Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This week’s hugely welcome visitors were our pals Richard and Pauline who run a lovely café in the Algarve called Earth and brought visiting Dutch journalist/photographer couple Jaaruen and Eline to see our project.“Congratulations,” Richard said...which stopped me in my tracks: that’s the kind of thing you say when something’s finished.The floors are still a mishmash of colours from yellow to greige and our unpolished concrete people have gone very quiet on us since trying a new treatment which failed to solve the problem.Oh, and the big concrete poop remains a defining feature.There’s the obvious absence of doors and windows accompanied by builder’s shrug and the concerning ease at which “beginning of March” became “beginning of April.”Electricity cables loll against walls and the water treatment station is still a work in progress, but “will we get the licence in time?” is still our most common refrain.It’s not a baseless fear.Our engineer keeps telling us of another tourist lodge that still hasn’t been licensed more than a year since it was finished...and we have been trying to get paperwork for our guesthouse for almost three years now.We’ve been throwing everything at it – the surveyor has already been to precisely map out where all the buildings ended up – and we are on the town hall’s fast track programme...but that really depends on the track: dirt roads are a lot slower than tarmac.Our dirt track has been particularly slow recently because of all the rain, and a gaping cavern had opened which Cassie the Hilux was increasingly struggling to navigate.I may have passed my Portuguese exam last week, but I still didn’t quite follow the Cow King who I bumped into at the building materials shop a couple of weeks ago when he announced something about rocks.It was all good, I just didn’t know exactly what he meant, but I did understand his phone conversation with Ana “your husband doesn’t speak much Portuguese” he said, “but I have a load of rocks which you can have to repair the road.”And so we had a workout, and I think it worked out.We also have the Cow King to thank for our lunch, along with a failing freezer, which led Ana to reach for the bottom drawer and something meaty from the hunting club.It’s always worth having a bit of freezer space for when O Rei das Vacas drops by with blood-dripping blue plastic bags of wild boar (wild boar) or venison.With the clock ticking on the lifespan of my mum & dad’s old John Lewis fridge freezer (which must be at least 25 years old), the javali was released and slow-cooked by Ana to perfection.Slow cooking also sums up my experience with DHL Express, which is expressing no real urgency in delivering my original birth certificate and a new officially stamped one from the UK so we can take the next bureaucratic step towards Portuguese longevity.Ana has Portuguese citizenship and now I have my shiny new A2 language qualification we just need some stamped, translated, stamped again, re-officiated, and double-authenticated paperwork and we get new passports.Toda a gente adora um novo passaporte.Please keep watching this space...but I do have temporary residency until 2027, so we should be OK.I thought the whole learning a language thing might be the hardest – and it has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done...and this is just stage one...but hey...just like this whole crazy adventure it’s all aboot surprising yourself, eh? (IYKYK) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

I don’t remember a week like it. It lasted a month, but was gone in a flash. The emotional rollercoaster was so steep the cars barely stayed on the tracks.A powerful storm brought thunder-flashes and torrential rain, battered the valley with hailstones and scared Simon the dog so much he bolted from just outside our front door and fled into the darkness on the worst of nights.We imagined him drowned in a ditch or gored by a wild boar, we searched the land with flashlights, drove the muddy tracks, and barely slept as our little Los Angeles dog had to learn survival in the wild at 12 years old as the storm raged on.At first light we drove the surrounding countryside shouting his name wondering why he hadn’t come home.We picked through mudslides and dredged pools hoping not to find his body, we put those awful missing dog posters up around town and asked everyone we know to spread the word in their WhatsApp groups knowing more bad weather was on the way.Our dam was leaking – in at least three places – the waterlogged clay wall slipping down the steep slope, and we started to think it might actually break and send millions of litres of water and mud sweeping down the valley.After three months and two attempts to ship an Australian-made dam sealer from The Pond Specialist in the UK and hundreds of euros more spent importing it twice (thanks Brexit) we’d finally scattered the “Damit!” on the lake surface, but honestly didn’t hold out much hope.Our road out of the valley was blocked by a slipped timber truck, then a vast cavern was carved out by the flood so now it’s only just passable...and I had two Portuguese exams to get to and get through.The to-do list was speculative rather than realistic...although everything on it really needs to be done...But here we sit in a moment of calm on our rollercoaster ride at the top of a hill with clear skies, waiting to see what’s coming next: how many dips and climbs we have to barrel through, how many hoops we need to loop until we get to stop for a bit.The month-long week all began with a Plasma Party.Our pillars of stability in this extraordinary week were Alan and Margery Gledson – our great friends for whom nothing is impossible.Anything that needs to be done can be done...but a missing dog is either alive or dead and there’s nothing anyone can do to help you cross that uncertain canyon until you know which of those it is.But before that chaos began and with a storm still approaching we’d got straight into the to-do list.“Container plan” was top of the list and that involved converting our rusted yellow shipping container into a beautiful, functioning new building.The 12m long metal beast will be the water treatment plant, a winter-storage area for furniture, and potentially a place to put a couple of chest freezers...once the proper power network is done.I’d bought two off-the-shelf PVC windows, to fit along with the €20 one bought at the Wheel of Fortune auction, and neighbour Daniel had donated his old basement door.Alan had ground off the rust, we had sandpaper, large pots of paint, the ever-willing Ray Morison in town to help us out...and we had Niels:  Prince of the Plasma Gun.And we had a plan for how to make it work this time.Our first attempt to plasma-cut a couple of slots in the container for the water pipes to pass through had ended in disappointment and the use of a backup angle grinder.The chain of power cable extensions running from a dodgy socket through a series of muddy puddles wasn’t going to cut it...or cut anything with a power-hungry 10,000C plasma gun and its compressor in crime.For Plasma Party part two, Alan and I hauled the generator into the back of Cassie the Hilux and up the hill.Once the first hole was measured, marked and prepped we realised it wasn’t going to be all smooth cutting...old and dirty fuel was probably the cause of the stuttering start.Only when we split power consumption with the dodgy power cable did we start to get somewhere, and while Niels gave me a 101 in generator maintenance the rest of the gang were furiously painting.Niels accurately cut small metal tabs which could be drilled and bent back to secure the wooden frames made from recycled planks from Joep and Vera’s now-finished and fabulous-looking building site. Great job guys!Two days later the door and windows were in, the gaps were sealed and the job was nearly done.Next up will be jamming together a wooden frame on the inside walls to fill insulation and investing in some sandwich panel roofing to handle the heat of the summer sun...oh, and repainting the white walls washed away by the weather.At least Alan & Marge had made it to the beach a couple of times before the storm hit – we were inland on a wine podcast recording trip at the remarkable Adega Mayor winery and stayed overnight in a pousada in an old monastery we’d not been to before in Vila Viçosa.I’ll be writing all about our time with CEO Rita Nabeiro and winemaker Carlos Rodrigues on the wine blog The Big Portuguese Wine Adventure, and featuring the trip in our upcoming podcast series on Alentejo.While we’d been living it up in the interior, it had been a terrible night back in the valley – Garfie had been outside barking at the thunder and lightning (to keep it away) all night...right outside the guesthouse door...and Simon had been shaking under Alan & Margery’s covers.When we got home nobody had slept and there was more weather on the way – but “dig out plants and clear up behind the house” was on the ta-da list with huge thanks to Ray and the Gledsons.Our fire was lit, the weather had arrived and Simon popped out for a quick pee when suddenly a huge clap of thunder struck and spooked him so much he raced off into the dark...in a second he was gone.I returned from my second Portuguese exam of the week to join the search party but after hours of looking we came inside hoping he would be strong enough to make it through the night.Simon’s a city dog – born in Los Angeles – he’s travelled the world with us for more than 12 years but has never spent a night outside on his own.When I met and married Ana I was lucky enough to become Oda’s stepdad and we decided not to have any more kids. Nine months after our first wedding Simon arrived.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.I’d suggested a cat, but the girls found a little dog called Simon in a rescue place in LA called Bark ‘n’ B*****s.(It’s how we are related to Drew Barrymore...she adopted her dog from there the following day, so we can say with full confidence that our dog has sniffed the butt of Drew Barrymore’s dog).The “Dog Dad” hat that Daniel gave me certainly fits even when I don’t wear it.Simon’s been a part of our life every step of the way, from LA to Nairobi, to San Francisco (via Sweden) and here to Portugal where countryside living has grown on him.Garfie’s the guard dog, Simon’s the lap dog getting grumpier and more assertive as he ages gracefully.I’ve been preparing for the day when he will no longer be with us...and I know just how hard that is going to be...but both of us felt this wasn’t his time just yet.We used the hours before the incoming storm to do everything we could to find him...and then did something we had done once before in the face of trauma...we went to the beach.When we had watched fire consume our valley and thought our house and everything in it had gone – and there was nothing more we could do – we went to the beach...and then the phone rang telling us all was OK.Amazingly the same thing happened again. The call came just as we arrived in Odeceixe for lunch with Alan & Marge.Thanks to our neighbours Margarida and Vitor – and our fantastic WhatsApp support group of surrounding friends – we discovered Simon had fled to a neighbour’s house, had fought their dogs and spent the night under their car.And it turns out Vitor has built a radio studio in the valley...in view of our house...to help him relaunch Radio Odemira...now wouldn’t you believe it? A new project on the horizon!Simon was very shaken, cut by brambles and dog bites and had developed a thousand yard stare, but he was alive and he was back home and we could breathe again.Stupid dog. Stupid animals – why do we have animals? Because life’s a little sadder without them.The storm has now passed, but the lake overflow pipes are still being tested to capacity as a river now flows down the hill.But the dam doesn’t appear to be leaking – it seems the Damit! who did what it said on the label (thanks Ben and co at The Pond Specialist) – and the Cow King has offered us rocks to fill the hole in the road.Alan & Margery are back home in Northumberland (sadly, for them, they took the weather with them), out to-do list is shorter, and England beat Ireland unexpectedly in the rugby...so I guess things are looking up.Let’s see where the rollercoaster take us next... This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

It was my first live auction and despite being online it was still very exciting.Exciting enough for me to keep on asking Ana if she was sure she didn’t want to bid on that too-small corner cupboard or a dining room table which she’d already dismissed as being not our style.We’re trying to find unique pieces of furniture and create our own interior décor, and so agreed to bid on a few bedside tables, a Chinese cabinet, a “possible dresser”, three camel seats and some candlesticks...oh, and a fruit machine.We had started the online bidding for these a few days before – along with an old framed map of Portugal, a Japanese painting, some clay pots and a patio furniture set.But a flurry of emails informed us we’d been outbid on pretty much all of them by the time the live auction began.Being an Auction House in the Algarve, it’s a long way from us in the Alentejo, and so we opted for the live streaming option from home rather than being in the room.The next four hours were spent watching the lots come and go while learning phrases like “fair warning” which was usually said before the gavel was finally swung.It was addictive and it was fun and Ana mostly protected me from myself.We began with the very best of intentions, but when the final lot was sold and the fantasy world of the bidding bubble burst, we were the proud new owners of a box of brass candlesticks, two Thai coffee pots, a second-hand PVC window...and an Italian Job movie-themed fruit machine.What a bargain.Candlesticks aside, flashing minis and Michael Caine in full cockney are a must-have for any self-respecting Portuguese wine-themed eco-luxe lodge. Aren’t they?Ana’s excitement over the slot machine quickly faded when she realised it wasn’t a pinball machine...and then there was the small matter of transporting it from the Algarve.Having checked it was OK to move the thing horizontally, I attached the trailer to Cassie the Hilux and Simon the dog and I headed to Faro for a little adventure.On arrival, the auctioneer overruled his colleague and advised we went vertical...with early 2000s electronics and no guarantee it would make it home in good working order.A full hour of faffing later and the fruit machine was riding the Toyota like a 50-cal gunner on a Somali Technical battle car – strapped upright to the cab, head poking over the top – and the hardtop was bouncing around in the back of the trailer...along with the PVC window.Avoiding motorways and low bridges Simon and I slowly wound our way back up to the Alentejo and despite a light shower we all made it home in good working order.As soon as Ana and I had managed to extract the thing from the truck and hauled it inside, Michael Caine started shouting about “it’s a big job lads” and chastising us for doing more than blowing bloody doors off while lights flashed and Rule Britannia blared out of the back.Cor blimey. Take i’ fro’ me lads, ‘e aint arf laird.Thankfully the sellers were thoughtful enough to include a bag of old one pound coins and 50p pieces, and once again we found ourselves spinning the wheel of fortune.Please indulge me for extending the metaphor, but everything we’re doing here for our building project does feel like a bit of a gamble even though we’re still backing ourselves with reasonable odds of success.The to-do list is so long it often paralyses me when I try and work out where to start.I sometimes fall back on digging weeds out of the gravel, or pulling up tall and woody esteva rock rose plants (a fire risk best dealt with by uprooting when the soil is soaked)...simply to see progress and feel like I’m doing something.There’s obviously a secret to getting everything in line – whether it be cherries or water infrastructure – but just like my new relationship with Michael Caine...it’s probably going to be a while before we hit the jackpot.There are just so many tricks to learn: knowing when to go high when the odds say you should go low and guessing when to hold or what to nudge first.The answer to that is the plumber...who still hasn’t replaced all the 90 degree bends in the water pipes emerging from the buildings.The great thing about owning the keys to a fruit machine is you can’t lose...and that’s where the reel life/real life parallel ends.We have a lot to lose – we’ve ploughed all our savings into this crazy off-grid project and it’s reaching a crucial stage.And that’s why today – in my 125th despatch from the Valley of the Stars – more than three years into this off-grid adventure, I’m asking you to help us to do what we need doing right now...if you can.If you don’t have the time to volunteer, but think you know someone who can, please share this postThis blog isn’t just personal therapy, it’s an amazing support group, it’s the source of comforting messages, of advice and assistance.But with just a few months to go before we need to get our place open, now is the time to act: come and stay, roll up your sleeves and help us get it over the line.I’ve been having recurring landslide nightmares – mostly because we have had a real life landslide nightmare where the heavy rain and our post-fire extreme bulldozer gardening to shore up the dam caused a pretty dramatic collapse, but it’s also perhaps a deeper metaphor for our precarious project.According to our contract, the building should be finished this month, but amid additions and delays our pursuit of fixed timelines for the various threads of jobs have been brushed off with a nasty case of builder’s shrug.We don’t know when the PVC people will come and throw the bloody doors in but we’re told it’ll be soon and then we’ll have space for volunteers to stay.I realised just how important it is to get help when I received a phone call from Northumberland which gave me a rare moment of calm – it was Alan Gledson and Marge offering to come out again for ten days and help us out.They are a force of nature. We need forces of nature to inspire us, encourage us, motivate us and work with us.So if you are strong and active, up for a challenge, have a week free and can get over here, we can offer you free lodgings and time to explore Europe’s last wild coast in exchange for donating time and experience to us.We need help with the following:* Aggressive tree planting* Digging and seeding land so it’s green by May* Painting walls* Reconstructing a footpath* Building things with wood and concrete* Transforming a shipping container into storage rooms and water filtration station: insulated, painted, en-roofed* Creating a car park with grow-through concrete bricks and sand* Landscaping gravel and wood chips* Turning a concrete box into a wine cellarThis crazy schedule isn’t for everyone, and of course the alternative to grafting is coming here to relax once we’re open and supporting us by staying in our lodge!If you’d like to come and see us please drop us a line but also fill out this form...we’ll get an idea of what you have experience doing and when you might be available.Thank you so much...I’m sorry to ask, but it would really help us right now.And if you come we’ll provide free access to the fruit machine...once I’ve found the volume control...but as Michael Caine keeps telling me: “Cor blimey...it’s a big job.”Oh, and if you have any pre-2017 pound coins or post-1997 fifty pence pieces do bring them when you visit for the machine...we trade them for wine.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Like most of us, I’m glad January’s over...but not for the usual reasons.There wasn’t anything particularly dry about it...neither in terms of rainfall nor alcohol (but it is my birthday month and so the no booze thing never really works out to be honest).I can’t really blame the cold darkness either...there’s been bright sunshine for the last two weeks, we’ve had a couple of unseasonably warm days over 20C (sorry)...and we even went to the beach for a dip and a clifftop fondue party.But the stress caused by challenges on the building site, boring bureaucracy and a particular pipe intervention have made it one of the worst few weeks of off-grid living so far.And that’s despite the fantastic birthday celebrations, which were extremely cheesy, cakey, sandwich-y and soaked in sunlight, sauvignon blanc and single malt.So what am I complaining about?The heavy rain not only ground everything to a halt around our three new buildings, it also created even more work...and messy work at that.The flooded holes and trenches gave a classic “First World War movie set” vibe and the overwhelming sense it was going to take a very long time to get everything finished.The newly repaired submersible pump (with thanks to German Paul) was working hard to empty the trenches and holes in the clay, so pipes and cables could be laid.But the whole place was a mud bath, with grumpy builders swearing out hundreds of metres of pipes and rolls of heavy electrical cables.Nudges from our engineer about another newly-built tourist lodge nearby whose owners have been “waiting more than a year for a license to open” didn’t help our growing sense of doom and January gloom.José’s intention was to warn us that not prioritising bureaucracy could cost us dearly.But with a relatively simple part of the process already trapped in the town hall, it sent us into a spiral of negative thinking: “if we can’t open, how do we start paying back our loan...”I discovered another landslide on the hill in front of our house courtesy of the heavy rain, and our biological treatment plant remained a pile of upturned tanks languishing in a hardening mass of mud, while we waited our turn for bulldozer time.Various workmen were occasionally dropping into the site and thanks to some good advice from friends, we discovered the plumbing outside our buildings had not been done to code.All the out-coming water pipes had 90 degree bends in them – meaning that if they were ever blocked we would never be able to clean them and the floors would flood until we could dig everything up.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.Normally the maximum angle of a bend in a pipe should be 45 degrees, so that a drain cleaning wire can be pushed through and any blockage cleared.Our contractor Sr Manuel didn’t think there was any need to change them, despite us pointing this out.But our water consultant Rui was due on site to plan the tank refit and so we thought we’d ask his opinion.An opinion which was very much in line with ours, but one expressed surprisingly aggressively...by shouting down the phone, grabbing his angle grinder and cutting through all the pipes so they would have to be replaced.This was our first major diplomatic incident in the Valley of the Stars!Although Rui made the point, there were no doubt going to be consequences and so that led to sleepless nights of searching for the appropriate paragraph in the building code to be prepared for a confrontation.The 15 working day town hall deadline was also ticking down for us to submit an unknown document signed by we weren’t sure who...something else to lie awake worrying about once Ana found the right section of official drainpipe building code and discovered we were right.And when I did eventually get to sleep it was only to enjoy the recurring nightmare of me having forgotten about something in the infrastructure plan (one which may still come true!)All of this came alongside a lack of water flowing from the canal into the new 200,000 litre pillow tank, silence from the unpolished concrete people and our continuing inability to find where the current electrical cable enters the original guesthouse...to integrate it into the new system.So it was a great relief to see our architect Gonçalo on site to talk documents, and hear about his plan to start applying for permission to use the buildings well ahead of them being finished.Individual frustrations piled up on each other, but the daily ups and downs translated into a weekly line graph heading kind of up and to the right.Our friends once again stepped in to help advise us and keep us sane.Vera & Joep with advice on pipe angles, Ola on how to diplomatically approach the builder (“is it worth upsetting him?”) and Niels and Sybille through a 1980s metal detector, a pan of Swiss cheese bubbling on a clifftop, and a tide clock which tells us the best time to visit the beach.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The surprise birthday clifftop cheese fondue picnic accompanied by Portuguese Brut and Niels’ hand-crafted sauvignon blanc made for a fabulous day which blended seamlessly into an entertaining night with new friends Tim & Trish.Just like me, Tim used to run around with a camera getting shot at for a living...but he would spend months embedding with rebel troops or the under-reported sides to a story, freelancing for all the big news networks.An American, he decompressed in New York State through wood & metal working and boat building before meeting and marrying Trish and deciding to move to Alentejo.They’ve bought a place not too far away from us, sensibly On the grid, and are looking forward to moving in very soon after months of house hunting and living out of a suitcase.The detectorist intervention came as Niels and I tried to find the centimetre thick cable linking the solar control room to our guesthouse which is buried up to a metre deep.Some old Northern rugby club friends in a “Banality” WhatsApp group made many suggestions, including turning to Twitching Justino or one of his ilk – the guys who found us water – for more divining inspiration, but I think we’re going to take the classic prop-forward “route one” and search for a cable with a bulldozer.A line traced out by the feint hum of a metal detector and some creative thinking has given us the best-guess place to try, and what could possibly go wrong?I shall report back...and yes, I’ll make sure the power’s off before letting Justo go mad with a large metal bucket.But with a large intake of breath while taking a couple of days away from the madness, things went pretty well in the end.The expected confrontation over sawn off pipes fizzled into brought agreement, the carpenters put in the hours to install the pergolas, the electrician started drilling boxes to everything and the pipes and cables were buried with sand and clay.The war is over and the trenches are covered and levelled – it all looks sooooo much better – and while I’m sure there are other minefields ahead, in one big bulldozer day we managed to remove, clean up, refit and bury the bio-treatment tanks ready for the next rain.The towering 15 cubic meter water tanks were lowered onto sand in a deep pit behind the container/water treatment station to be and the pebble-pool people agreed to a more realistic installation date than two weeks’ time.This was never going to be easy, and while we’re still loving the lifestyle we’re hoping this is the last big bump on the race to the starting line...for the next stage of opening our doors (when they’re delivered) and welcoming guests.All in all we’ve ended the week very firmly up – still having the nightmares and worrying about the timeline, but at least not overwhelmed by it all.But sadly the best laid plans to get Albie, the Little Black Dog, some training at Dog Whisperer Emma’s place in the Algarve were dashed by my efforts to get him into a harness which sent him heading for the hills.Albie gone again, but sooner or later – hopefully – Albie back. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

“Why didn’t I think of that?” is a question I’ve beaten myself up asking many times in this odd new life when the latest thing to go wrong has gone wrong.And it’s one I ponder while looking at a landslide, a flood and a jumble of upturned tanks on the hill below our building site which just before the storm was an almost-finished water treatment system.I make a lot of mistakes by rushing into things, not preparing properly and thinking stuff can be done in an impossible period of time...but I can’t take the blame for everything.In 2002 the then US Secretary of Defence, Ronald Rumsfeld, explained the lack of evidence for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in a speech referring to “known-knowns, known-unknowns and unknown-unknowns.”Like Secretary Rumsfeld, and given my lack of experience living in this self-reliant way, it’s the unknown-unknowns which often get me.“If only I’d thought about that thing I didn’t know might happen, before it did,” makes me feel better when I say it out loud, but it doesn’t mean the whole water treatment tanks aren’t now trashed.It wasn’t always like that: in my job as a BBC foreign correspondent, I learned to make risks rather than take risks and do a pretty good assessment about whether or not they were worth the reward.“Flying into Ebola and active insurgency-land in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?”Yes, it was worth it, but it took me ages to persuade the bosses back in London I wasn’t insane, and to apologise to Ana afterwards for not telling her I was going.I’ve learned a lot about how to do stuff off the grid, but I often get really frustrated when my own stupidity or lack of properly thinking things through means I not only fail to achieve the thing I set out to do, but actually make it worse: more difficult and more expensive to rectify.This happens a lot.I was never terribly good at DIY before, so why should that change with practice? (it really should change with practice, shouldn’t it?)The “unstoppable force vs immovable object” approach I took in my previous job for getting that interview, that access to a place to tell a story and then get it on air doesn’t work with installing a solar water pump kit without instructions.I mounted the solar panels onto the aluminium rack ahead of installing the pump (having received the missing parts), but the whole insanely heavy thing somehow flipped over in the gale force winds in this week’s storm.Force of some wind vs badly secured object.It doesn’t look like the panels were smashed, as they toppled into a pile of sand, but we’ll see if it still works when it all gets connected up.If only...I’d secured the struts, or weighed it down with rocks, or left it face down to start with...given the high winds forecast.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As a reporter for a big organisation it was a lot easier getting hold of people who want to get on the telly and have their perspective heard than it is being the annoyingly pushy foreigner in rural Portugal who should know by now that things take time.The energy and tenacity to push to the point of obsession (or destruction) – whether it be in South Sudan or post-earthquake or hurricane - once led an editor to nickname me “the Duracell Bunny” for my persistence and determination, but that approach clearly isn’t working with one of our key people.He’s harder to speak to than some African presidents.We’ve had a lot of rain recently – our lake has never been so full – but the combination of large amounts of surface water on clay and the presence of newly dug trenches for our pipes and cables is not, it turns out, a good one.I wrote last week about the giant mole holes for the infrastructure which have turned into swimming pools and waterlogged trenches.Our building site currently looks more like a First World War movie than our vision of an eco-luxe lodge.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.But things took a turn for the worse this week in the absence of our builder and what I would have expected to have been a “known-known” to him.We’ve placed the water treatment station on the hillside – a sealed large three tank system, followed by two open tanks for reed bed biological cleaning and then a final tank so that every drop of recycled water is used for irrigation up on the future vineyard.The holes were dug to precise specifications, sand was bought, delivered and then levelled by our good selves before the bulldozer carefully lowered them into place.We were just waiting for the digger to return, load the reed-bed tanks with gravel and backfill everything – job done – but the wet conditions haven’t been ideal.While waiting and to protect the system from rain I cut a couple of channels to divert water around the tanks to stop them from being inundated, overturned and generally trashed...but sadly that is exactly what has now happened.The deluge, combined with the new trenches not being diverted into the lake, created a landslide which has flipped and buried the biggest tank in wet mud and clay, floated another up out of a 3m deep hole and smashed all the pipes linking the system together.It’s a total mess – it’s going to cost more to undo and then redo than it cost to do it in the first place and the work will eat up vital time. It was the worst of a series of setbacks we suffered this week.Angry letters from the town hall about unsubmitted documents, continuing fighting over the unpolished concrete people and the unrequited pursuit of our African president.We should of course “be careful what you wish for” – even if more rain is what this region really needed.I’ve covered enough massive storms to know there’s not much you can do about big weather in big nature...but I wish I’d thought about diverting the trenches...and I wish our builders had as well.When the downhill trench to our solar house was finished earlier in the week and I realised it bisected a stream and a swale that usually bring a lot of water to our lake, it got me thinking.In the absence of our contractor on site we took things into our own hands and pushed reluctant builder Justo to block his new trench and lower some ground to encourage the water towards the lake.If we’d left it, the solar house would have been flooded and all our solar batteries would have been destroyed. That’s a known-known.If only he – and we – had thought about the impact of the other long-drop trench on the other side of the hill...directing thousands of litres of water into our thousands of euros worth of tanks.The rain has stopped, but the rivers and streams continue heading into our lake which is almost overflowing – as is our downstream neighbour Daniel’s.I’ve cleared the overflow pipes, placed some rocks and boulders to slow down the flow and we will wait to see where the deluge goes...we’ve warned friends further down the valley, but the rain may have stopped just in time.No more rain is forecast for a week, once it’s drier we can bring back the machines, dig everything out and start all over again.I’ve learned a lot from friends and from experience, but sometimes I wish I didn’t have to.There are great parts to living this life, but sometimes I wish it wasn’t just us with all the responsibility for guessing what might happen, what might go wrong, before it does.And having to coordinate everything ourselves leaves gaps of plausible deniability where people with greater experience can make excuses for not thinking ahead and acting appropriately. Oh well… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

We have a mole problem – a big mole problem.I went up on site the other day and the monsters had eaten their way through our whole building site.Not just a few little hills here and there, but trenches...metre after metre of them...and some of them really deep.I mean check this out...I suspect the Mole in Chief to be Justo – maestro of the machines and digger of the ditches – but in truth, I’m delighted to see his little valleys criss-crossing their way between our buildings and up and down our hills.Operation Infrastructure is now well underway and the emphasis is firmly on me to come up with a creative way of helping our contractor Sr Manuel understand the design of our complicated water system and place all the right pipes in the same trenches as the electrical cables.I’m not sure what qualifies me to make such bold decisions, but I suppose I have spent far too much time over the last year or so playing with coloured pencils.(I knew that Geography degree would come in handy one day).I do claim to be something of an expert in such things if you listen to the BBC World Service: the two radio pieces I made went out on Business Daily on January 1st and January 2nd.And I even turned my hand to Instagram and The Facebook for a vertical version of our off-grid story (do check it out...if it gets liked enough the Beeb might ask for another one...apparently off-grid posts are popular these days!)Back on the building site Sr Manuel asked again: “so it’s three different types of water into each building?” with the roll of his eyes, as I unravelled the latest iteration: a large A1 sized electrical map layered with acetate sheets stuck together with tape and coloured scrawl.“The blue is the 40mm pipes and the green is the 32...” and as I began, I realised my Portuguese wasn’t up to it...and even if it was, this wasn’t really going to help.Being the water-bore that I am, I will hold myself back by summarising for new readers that we have tried to future-proof our supply by accommodating different qualities of treated water (toilet, showers, drinking water) in case we have shortages ten years down the line.Outside on the building site in the chilly dew of the morning, wasn’t really the time or the place to show off my artwork, and anyway I need Water Rui to approve it all before the pipes started being rolled out, cut and connected.“Let’s try it again over coffee at the meeting tomorrow,” I added. The words cafezinho (little coffee...I love the diminutive form) and amanhã de manhã (tomorrow morning) were greeted with a nod which was unusually clear (for Sr Manuel) by way of indicating his agreement.It’s been a long journey reaching the point where we not only know where our water is going to come from, but where it’s going to be treated and how it’s going to get there.It takes a complex system of tanks, pipes, pumps and treatment scattered across the property and I often wonder if it’s actually going to work.We’ve already used a couple of kilometres of the 6.2km of pipes we bought and hopefully we’ll have enough to get it all flowing.But for now it’s all about the logistics of getting the moles to dig the right holes and get the right pipes and cables into the right places and all covered up before more rain comes along to flood them again.The problem with clay is that after a big downpour the water doesn’t go anywhere fast, and so the much-larger-than-needed hole for one of the tanks (our fault apparently!) was transformed.I commended Sr Manuel on a nossa nova piscina as we finally had a swimming pool deep enough to jump into...and weeks before we expected it!At least the lake benefitted from all the water being pumped out and down the hill – we are getting some good rain this winter, interspaced with nice sunny days.But as I write the rain is falling again and the moles have knocked it on the head for the day…or maybe the week.I can’t possibly wish for less rain…only that it falls on days when we’re not digging massive trenches!It’s the interiors which are taking most of our time right now – trying to decide on the right sofas, furniture and finishings for all the rooms.We’re thinking of something along the lines of this new place which has opened up in Alentejo a little north of us:The houses aren’t sealed yet as our almighty row with the unpolished concrete company continues.They asked us to pay, we asked them to come out and explain how they’re going to sort out our “50 shades of yellow” floor issue. Watch this space.Doors and windows will only arrive when they are finished...whenever that may be...but I suppose it’s better than them arriving un-finished.I’m imagining Santa’s little helpers already bored with dry January and trying to recreate the adrenaline of the rush before Christmas by offering to help put them all together while singing jolly songs.It may be a different scenario at the PVC place in Cercal, but that’s what I will keep imagining for now.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.We had a whistle-stop trip to Lagos in the Algarve to visit the IKEA design studio in a supermarket and finally pin down the apartment kitchens.I’m not saying we’ve been there a lot, but Adriana the very patient and helpful designer recognised us and our project straight away.We tried to design the restaurant kitchen at IKEA as well, but rules suggest we will need everything to be in stainless steel – or Inox as it’s known here – and IKEA only have limited choices.Our pals Richard and Pauline run a fantastic restaurant in Carvoeiro called Earth Shop & Café and have been advising us.One of their best suggestions so far is a German company that delivers stainless steel kitchenware for half the price we can buy it second-hand in Portugal (why is it so expensive here?).So we’re shopping online for extractor hoods, ovens, sinks and inox furniture...trying desperately to keep control of the budget.As the moles will soon (hopefully) be heading down the hill towards us, I’d like to renew our appeal for help to get everything finished this Spring.We’ve already had a few folk fill in the form expressing an interest in lending a hand in exchange for a bed and digestibles.But if you know anyone who might be able to help at some point in February, March or April, we have some specific projects which will need some willing and able hands.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. We need help, so please share it.Top of the list are a shipping container conversion, an entrance wall, a bit of click flooring and a load of landscaping.Please spread the word (and the love). Here’s the link to the Google Form. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

While I’m not really the New Year’s resolution type, I do like using the ticking over of another number to reflect on the 12 months past and ponder the year that’s yet to come.I’ve scattered the last despatch of 2023 with some of the most viewed posts of the year for some tough - and some not so tough - reflection.In the words of this blog from exactly a year ago:“We will plant our trees, landscape our valley, launch our wines podcast, design and finish our interiors, build our water and power infrastructure and finally (hopefully) understand heatpumps.”Not so many of those have made it to the ta-da list.All the very best for 2024! Thanks so much for supporting us and please share this blog with a friend.We planted 46 olive trees in hardened clay (thanks Dom) and nurtured them through the summer with fiddly drip irrigation, then after the rain planted 200 more in a vast hedge in half the time.We struck water, but it was salty water; but then we struck lucky and scored a connection to an irrigation canal and something to dilute our salty water with.There were highs and there were lows: the blog Hitting the Wall prompted a huge response and so many wonderful and kind words…and it led a week later to a reflection entitled Don’t stop this train. Thanks to you all.We have been blessed by so many fabulous friends visiting us this year...thank you all for your support, your enthusiasm for what we’re doing, and for helping us to dream big...come again soon!Stress levels peaked and troughed roughly in line with the appearance or otherwise of our largely unpolished concrete people.The infrastructure is a work in progress, heat pumps remain a mystery, but above all we took big steps towards finishing our construction work largely on time and only slightly over budget.And with the help of a Christmas surge, the podcast is progressing well and we are planning the 2024 roll-out of episodes very soon. You’ll find it here.Here’s a piece I did for Monocle Radio on a show called The Entrepreneurs which features a favourite story...the trend of talha, or amphora wines in Alentejo.In the year ahead our biggest fear is bureaucracy and the damage long delays to licensing could cause.We need money coming in and so our top priority is to stay ahead of the curve, sort the paperwork early and get everything submitted as soon as we can. The big digging continues, starting as it did with The Rise of the Machines in September. Landscaping is also going to be a challenge...once the building ends we will have large areas to plant and pimp up.And as we accelerate towards opening, we have to budget everything extremely carefully as we invest in interiors and exteriors but keep a close eye on not running out of money!Pondering the year ahead, there are a lot of things I didn’t expect to be doing in my life, and I expect that list is only going to grow in 2024. Here are a few of them:1. I never intended to be an expert on off-grid living. I say “expert,” but the proof of the power will be in the heating.Too many heat pumps can most certainly spoil the plot.The nerve-wracking moment will be when all the buildings are finished, the appliances are all plugged in and we find out whether my Excel sheet of estimated electrical demand is matched by the actual supply of solar power.Until that proves (as it most likely will) to be terrifyingly mismatched, I am peddling myself as an expert – at least for the purposes of a two-part radio series on the BBC World Service.Please tune in on New Year’s Day to hear our neighbours Daniel, Medronho Jorge and Ola & Merete explaining why they decided to off-grid in Portugal.(Thanks so much for being willing victims guys!)And on Tuesday 2nd you’ll hear from Water Rui and Solar Iain – folks that regular readers will already know – as we ponder the challenges of scaling up an off-grid system to a higher-end eco-luxe lodge.(Do you like that? “Eco-Luxe” – Ana came up with it and I think it’s brilliant).And given that we’ll all probably be doing something else at 8am GMT on January 1st it’ll all be on the Business Daily podcast once it’s broadcast.And I’ll be spending the first couple of days of 2024 with a clutch of colourful Sharpies and some acetate sheets creating layers of electrical wire and water pipe maps to superimpose on a landscape map to help the builder get the right things connected in the right places.2. I never intended to have three cats and three dogs – it is clearly excessive – but I still don’t feel we’ve reached peak animal.Albert (aka Albie, aka LB, aka LBD, aka Little Black Dog) – the stray with half a tail who rocked up on the building site one day and never looked back – seems to be settling nicely into his place at the bottom of the pack.Suitably curtailed into roll-over submission every time Garfie harrumphs, he’s been accepted into the circle of canine trust even though he still doesn’t dare enter the house.We do need to spend some time in 2024 training him up.The kittens are neutered and fears of exponential feline growth have now abated.Val Kilmer’s five new February arrivals sadly, but quickly were reduced to four and then down to two as we found a good home for Batcat and Jim Morrison at Quinta Camarena where they now happily harass dogs and humans in equal measure at our friends’ rural tourism lodge.Inspired by our Christmas retreat in suitably snowy Sweden at Ana’s parent’s farm surrounded sheep – either busy in the barn, languishing in the freezer or lazing flat on the floor – we are leaning towards some ovine assistance for weed clearance and fire protection.Ana likes the idea of donkeys, and I still dream of Vasco the Llama, but perhaps one new breed at a time is best...and maybe we should begin some paltry poultry.Our neighbour Daniel has been master of the menagerie while we have been recharging our batteries (mostly in the dark), and I get the feeling he’s looking forward to us getting home...and that we may need to find an alternative zoo keeper for the next level of animal ownership.3. I never thought I’d own a shipping container. I’ve rented a few as we relocated around the world in our previous lives, but owning one was never really a consideration.Turning the yellow metal mass into an elegant water filtration station/store room/garden centre is another item on the growing to-do list of things we need help with.It currently includes:* Paint and insulate container* Build roof over container* Install doors, windows and electricity in container* (wonder why we bought a container...because it was a lot cheaper than building a small house)* Building an “entrance wall” to the property out of cement and stone* Planting trees & hedges & plants* Landscaping by spreading ground cover* Laying cork click floors* Building a pétanque courtAnd that’s without considering the usual Spring Strimming weight-loss programme, installing the water tanks and gutters and keeping the construction show on the road.So while you ponder how much you ate and drank over the holidays and make resolutions to be more active and do things outside...please consider coming to the Valley of the Stars and helping us with some of the heavy lifting.We have had a few volunteers stay over the last couple of years, but as we accelerate towards getting the place open enough to accept guests, February, March and April are a crucial time for us and we could really do with some help.Ideally we need strong and willing hands, and those with experience of building, landscaping, painting, planting...all that sort of thing...so please, please, please get in touch if you’d like a workout in the Winter sun...or know anyone who might.With any luck we should have more rooms available...and those very specific jobs in mind.Here’s a link to a Google Form which we’ve updated, so please spread the word and you not only shed a few pounds, but help us get our eco-luxe (see, nice huh?) project over the line.And of course as soon as we’ve learned how to build we need to learn how to run a hotel...many more school days lie ahead.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.4. I never wanted a large pile of concrete poop…and I still don’t. I do, however, hope our unpolished concrete company come back and sort out the mess they made...and that also includes some of the floors...before I out them on the blog and risk defamation. (They have, objectively, made an arse out of it). Finally. I suppose I should finish by making some predictions of things I/we should do but probably won’t have done this year: open the eco-luxe lodge (and learn how to run), learn how to plan and plant a vineyard, think about podcast series two, get better at Portuguese (free classes continue) and start some doing some live storytelling…around wine.ALL THE VERY BEST FOR THE NEW YEAR!!...and we hope to see many of you in 2024!Al & Ana This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Hasn’t that last week before Christmas been such a rush to get things done?Writing cards, last minute shopping, bulldozing holes, lowering septic tanks and digging pipe ditches.It’s just one thing after another, eh?That familiar shovelling of freshly fallen sand to make sure the tanks are level, spaying a few kittens, and writing letters to Santa asking him to bring us doors and windows for the new buildings as soon as he possibly can after the festive rush...please...that kind of thing.But the typical Christmas morning scene of a dad struggling to construct that amazing but flat-packed gift before the kids get bored with it, came early for me this year with a solar water pump kit.It was an exciting present to unwrap: there was a wooden box to prize open – with a cardboard box inside – and lots of solar panels and metal struts to play with...and loads of strange looking pieces.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.Imagine Ikea meeting Meccano with the extra excitement of live electricity...but with no instructions. What could possibly go wrong?Despite the common grumble “there’s obviously a piece missing” there were actually a couple of pieces missing.That’s one thing to kick off my Christmas list and into the long grass until the remaining aluminium struts make it here from Spain some time in 2024.It’s a stressful time for everyone, but I think we hit peak stress on the shortest day of the year...or perhaps I should call it the longest night.Last week’s Bad Day rolled into a week and seemingly unresolvable problems started piling up.Bureaucracy, a bloody-minded builder and the continuing saga of the unpolished concrete people (and their poop) generated the majority of the hassle, but there were plenty of other things besides.We had grand plans to take the black plastic covers off the Big Bar on the hill and serve mulled wine to the neighbours while talking them through our building project, but we had to bail out of that one as our Christmas to-do list overtook everything else.Getting the kittens done was a high priority because there are a lot of storks around here (if you know what I’m saying) and we had the jitters about two new litters courtesy of Senhor S. Claus and his delivery.We took them down to the Algarve where that kind of thing is a lot cheaper, but then achieved very little during our race around the shops except for a nice lunch and for Ana to lose spectacularly at Wham-ageddon (I mean it was a particularly tough year to get through the whole festive season without hearing Last Christmas at least once).Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.We did manage to pick up a few gifts for our favourite workers and the best present ever for our neighbour Daniel.Daniel loves wine in a box – and there are some great box wines in Portugal – but none of us had ever seen anything like this before.It was a TWENTY LITRE box of Amália red (named after Amália Rodrigues, the famous Portuguese fado singer), and as Daniel’s eyes widened, we insisted this wasn’t some sort of Christmas challenge.Sr Manuel the contractor received a bottle of Comendador (meaning commander...we felt it was appropriate).Last year we gave our builder Justo a bottle of good red wine and he thanked us, saying he didn’t really like red wine and preferred to drink medronho, the powerful locally-made firewater.This year we got him some whisky for a change. He thanked us, saying he didn’t really like whisky, but loved medronho.Next year I suppose we’ll get him some medronho, but then he probably only really likes his own medronho.Ana explained it was my dad’s favourite tipple and we suggested he try it with water com or sem gas, but it’ll probably go in the cupboard with last year’s red wine.With everything very much getting on top of us and time fast running out, we were delighted to accept a lunch invitation from friends Niels and Sybille to deliver some of Mauro and Rita’s amazing wine we’d agreed to carrier-pigeon for them from Lisbon.It was a “quick lunch” but what an amazing lunch. Wild boar cured ham followed by pulled wild boar sandwiches with homemade sauces, home-brewed beer and hand-crafted wine were just the antidotes we needed to survive the shortest day and prepare us for the longest night.We’ve slipped into the annual pattern of heading early to bed with the darkness closing in, and early to rise with some spectacular sunrises.(Although I must say we are lucky in southern Europe to have more sunshine than those up here in the north).Exercise has taken a bit of a back seat, which also contributes to the stress of course...but we did manage a walk to see this year’s display of daisies.We had far more luck getting Simon the Hollywood dog to pose among them than we did with Garfunkel, who just didn’t understand that we wanted to feature him on our Christmas greetings card.Herding the cats was never going to work, so we decided it wouldn’t be fair on the others for Simon to take all the glory, so this is what we decided on...Yes, that’s blue sky; yes, it’s been 17 or 18C (and perhaps a little more) all week; and yes, this is the nearest we’ll get to a white Christmas in the Valley of the Stars.But in Sweden to see Ana’s family and for more...erm...cosier times...amid the darkness, the cold and the crisp, shiny white snow…for now at least.It’ll be a nice change to enjoy a northern European winter and we’ll be back soon enough to relieve Daniel of his animal sitting duties and to see in the New Year with some sunshine.The shortest day/longest night was probably the lowest point of our year, but it’s only going to get lighter from here on in...and that’s a lovely thought to ponder over some pickled herring, as the building site falls silent and the digging machines all go to sleep.I do hope Father Christmas brings you what you asked for – whether it’s doors & windows or a build your own solar pump with instructions manuals in clearer Spanish.We’ve certainly got large enough chimneys for the big fella to climb down next year, but for now:May your days be merry and bright,And may all your water tanks be right…Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.AND FINALLY...with a nod towards Shane McGowan (RIP), here’s the Portuguese version of the Pogues song Fiesta...courtesy of Despe e siga from 1994. For those non-Portuguese-speaking listeners, Casal Garcia is a well-known brand of affordable vinho verde wine... This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Sitting on the sofa chatting through the best place we could build a car park, we knew it was going to be a crazy day.But after slurping down a mug of coffee and heading up the hill a little after 8.15am we had no idea of the level chaos that was already enveloping our building site.We arrived to find a shipping container semi-suspended from the bucket of a huge bulldozer, one end pile-driven into the ground, the other scraping the edge of the mountain of dried cement known locally as the concrete poop.I immediately went into “I told you so” mode.Having spent the last week trying to get someone from the digger company to come out first to have a look and plan what to do I immediately went for our engineer José: “I knew this would happen – it’s like a slow motion car crash,” I wailed.He shrugged, heads were scratched and a plan was hatched.“They’ll find a solution,” he said calmly. “Things are done differently in Portugal from what you’re used to.”I’m not really used to anything, having never built any houses, moved any large metal boxes or guided any diggers, I just thought planning was the right thing to do...but José is usually right and watches our back. I was frantic, stressed and manic. Ana was the voice of calm.Just as we were fretting about the container – and the increasing cost of unplanned machine hours – a cement mixer arrived and had to squeeze past the bulldozer.It was the final day of the Nightmare Polished Concrete Floor Job Before Christmas...and at least the mixer had arrived and had the confidence to drive through the mud.The polished concrete guys have been anything but polished, and immediately started shouting about how they had to work the night before in the dark because there was no electricity.There is power, they just didn’t ask where the socket was...but at least that provided an explanation for how wrongly they’d coloured the floors: they had done it in the dark.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.They started work on November 7th, got stuck in the mud reversing the cement mixer too close to the house to save them wheeling it, and then had an industrial dispute with management which culminated in dumping about 30 tonnes of cement on our land (the aforementioned concrete poop).Then the company ghosted us for a fortnight, dropped by for one day only to do a couple of floors before disappearing again amid excuses about a national concrete shortage.They were never seen again until this week when we pointed out the Fifty Shades of Yellow that now covered our supposedly uniform “gr-eige” floors – each relating to a different team using a different percentage of colour on a different occasion.But then we had to travel to Lisbon for a bank meeting and they were left unaccompanied on the building site.We’d missed the sight of the large concrete pump arriving and doing all the outside decks in one day (why couldn’t they have done that weeks ago?), and apart from the different colours it seemed to have generally gone OK.As we watched them shovelling concrete on top of the metal reinforcing grids (rather than placing the grids inside the hardening mass) and we fretted about whether they’d remembered to add the underfloor heating liquid, the doors and windows guy arrived.He was wanting final confirmation of every PVC unit and I was battling to understand his Portuguese.On the other side of the building site the bulldozer was now moving concrete slabs, lifting the workers’ cabin and having another go at placing the 40 foot shipping container on the four concrete feet built for the purpose.We’d stopped it just before the tracked monster had taken a short cut across the “future vineyard” which we had seeded and turned over at great cost and effort a few weeks ago and had been delighted to see the green shoots now emerging.Then the leader of the Un-polished Pratts started shouting at José for something else as his phone kept ringing.Amid the madness Ana was preoccupied on her phone desperately trying to give directions to a delivery truck driver bringing us a solar pump kit from Spain.I didn’t know where to turn. Everything was out of control, everything was happening at once and then Ana said I had to drop everything and drive to the main road to meet the delivery van and guide him in.I got into the car, shut the door and enjoyed a precious moment of calm.Google maps take delivery drivers up impossible hills – which is why we have a series of signposts guiding visitors to our door – but meeting at the road is the best way to guarantee they don’t give up and tell the office “they weren’t in.”The only way the 200kg pallet of solar panels, metal frames and a powerful water pump will make it down the valley is on the back of our trailer slowly towed behind the 4x4, so I helped the guy deliver it directly onto the trailer.All went smoothly, and while I had been preoccupied the container had been placed and the bulldozer had started task two: levelling ground and digging holes for the water treatment tanks and reed beds.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.As I headed back up towards the chaos on the building site and looked across the valley I saw the excavator excavating in the wrong place...and raced up the hill to try and stop them.Much as we’d like to make a point about how all our water waste is recycled we really don’t want the reed bed septic tank to be the first thing people look at when they walk onto their balcony and take in the view.It was too high up on the hill, which was strange because we’d walked it and talked it with Sr Manuel and Rui the water guy – and even pegged out the place with wooden stakes.By the time we arrived to redirect the digger we already had a 3m x 20m chunk taken out of the hillside.As both the focus of attention and the digger moved down the hill, we pondered the possibilities of an accidentally created new hillside deck and seating area.We watched nervously as Sr Manuel referred to a printed-out scan of dimensions and Joaquim the 76 year old builder was jumping in and out of the holes with a tape measure and a spirit level making sure the depths were correct as the giant bucket swung soil between pine trees.Suddenly the bulldozer engine cut, work stopped and the cheerful guy at the wheel shouted almoçar and everything went quiet for lunch.Somehow we had made it through the morning.After inhaling a couple of fried eggs we picked up our recently-returned neighbour Daniel –to show him where his water is now supposed to come from and to try and work out why it wasn’t coming from there anymore and had stopped filling our new pillow tank.Turning a few taps on and off, way down the valley, somehow did the trick.With after lunch work stopped by a faulty hydraulic pipe on the digger and concrete polishing proceeding apace, we felt comfortable enough to abandon the site and head to the town hall to submit some documents and then travel out to the PVC guy’s workshop just to go over all the things he’d said earlier in the day which we hadn’t really understood amid the chaos.When we got back the bulldozer was still stranded with one final job remaining, Carlos the landscaper had brought his small digger ready for a pipe burying job the next day. And I had a beer.Ana and I made for the sofa, put on a film and tried to reconnect with Garfunkel – the big dog – who still hadn’t forgiven us for going to Lisbon for a few days and taking Simon.The little LA dog loves the city and had a wonderful time sniffing every tree and lamppost.“You would have hated it Garfie,” we tried to explain and I think he understood.“It’s just too busy and crazy and hectic in the city...and here it’s...calm and...quiet and, erm, relaxed...”Now, where should we put that car park? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

With a thousand and one things to do, a deadline always helps sort the wheat from the chaff – or the wheat from the oats as it would turn out.An incoming Atlantic storm to break the sunshine of St Martin’s Summer provided the necessary motivation to get us out onto the land and tick things off before it all turned to a thick claggy clay mud.We knew rain would come and there were certain things that needed to be done before it did, but it was only when our weather app started giving us some meaty millimetre rainfall predictions that we snapped into action.Two weeks of warm and sunny weather had dried out our building site beautifully – the perfect time for our shipping container and would-be water filtration house to be delivered and the cement mixers to return so the polished concrete floor guys could finish the job they had dramatically stopped by way of a large concrete poop.But of course they waited until the weather was upon us before making an albeit fleeting appearance: “roll up, roll up: get yer concrete while it lasts – one day only.”It was nice of them to drop by, but the problem with doing six indoor floors and six outside decks in small batches is the inconsistency in the amount of colour they spread and therefore the finished hue.And doing shower areas and bathrooms separately – with weeks in between – does inevitably result in multicoloured floors...which really weren’t as advertised in the brochure.We’ll work around it, but it’s very frustrating.Ana came up with a new version of the three letter acronym “AWA” which some readers may recognise and relate to. It’s: “Alentejo Wins Again.”Whatever you do, however you prepare, however you balance pushing not to hard or too softly, Alentejo is going to win...it’s just a matter of understanding that and going with the flow...which is sometimes easier said than done.We’re lucky that our building work is not being delayed by their absence, which is apparently due to a shortage of cement in southern Portugal...for reasons so far unexplained.Our contractor Sr Manuel and his fabulous builders Justo and Joaquim are just cracking on and getting stuff done while the window guy and the carpenter work tirelessly (presumably) on preparing all our fittings for fitting.This week they’ve been doing a load of digging – cutting the first of three cross-property trenches to move water, waste and electricity between the houses and to where it needs to be.We’ll be collecting all our rainwater runoff to store in a 200,000 litre pillow tank, and have ordered the biological waste water treatment system, and so the guys have been using levelling lasers to dig a trench at the correct angle to bring everything down the hill.They added some French drains to soak up some of the surface water which will sink through the gravel around the houses, but sitting as we are on a hilltop of clay, we will need even more creative ways of helping the water run off during high rainfall winters.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.With landscaping a top priority we had to take advantage of this year’s last opportunity to get things into the ground before we (hopefully) open.We’ll have one more chance to pretty things up in February/March, but the perfect time to plant cover crops is after one big rain has soaked into the ground nicely and another one is on the way.With storm clouds forecast we headed for the hills – of Monchique mountain in the Algarve – to buy some more olive trees to plant.“How many would you like?” asked the nice chap at our favourite nursery Viveiro Dinis.“How many can we get in the trailer?” Ana replied, expecting that we’d need a couple of trips to transport the 200 olive saplings we’d decided to plant as a hedge to surround our land.It turns out he could have packed 500 in there, and so we bounced the trailer back to the Valley with the whole batch of 200 small trees and a load of work ahead of us.It’s more difficult than you might think to find a load of old s**t on social media – especially nearby manure or estrume as it’s known here – but after many hours of searching, Ana stumbled upon a large local stash of 18 month old horse dung ready to help our olive hedge establish itself.Another trailer trip later and we had everything we needed to start digging holes and planting the trees about a metre or so apart.If we thought that was backbreaking work it had nothing on the cover-crop seeding of the area referred to as “the future vineyard.”We’ve had a couple of fantastic viticulturist consultants come and visit and spoke to Dorina Lindemann who runs Plansel, selling and preparing grapevine plants and making wine.We visited her for the soon-to-be-released wine podcast and I wrote an article about the process of grafting grape varietals onto root stock...and why you do it.We’re hoping to plant in March 2025 as there’s just too much else going on right now to have the headspace for the research we need to do, but we can plant a mix of cereals and legumes to provide some organic material and fix some nitrogen in the soil.With some help we ordered seed from the local agricultural supplies shop and had to mix the wheat with the oats...and everything else. This is what we ended up with:Trigo and aveia forrageiro (fodder wheat and oats), ervilhaca granel (bulk vetch), tremocilha raiada (striped lupin), trevo subterrâneo dalkeith (clover), sementa relva prado florido (flowering grass seed) and tremoço reginal (local lupins).As a student studying Irish historical geography I obsessed over one particularly down-beat film called The Field starring Richard Harris.His character Bull McCabe has a deep attachment to the patch of land in the title: “which his family has cultivated and improved, from barren to now very productive, over a number of generations.”I remembered his obsession with removing all the rocks and carrying seaweed over the mountain to make it the most wonderfully lush green field you could imagine.I was channelling my inner Bull McCabe as I dug rocks out of the soft clay and hurled them into piles – imagining how wonderful our field could be one day.Our topsoil is mostly good, but we turned over quite a bit of clay in some sections while burying the old eucalyptus roots and I’m concerned little will grow there.Ana praised my dedication and ambition to hoe and dig out rocks from a third of a hectare of land, but firmly questioned the timeline, my blind stubbornness and the mismatch between intention and reality...the rain was approaching and the seeds needed to be sewn that day.I suppose the rocks (let alone the seaweed) will have to wait...it was another day of tough and backbreaking spadework.We also needed to bury the first of our water tanks in the bottom of the valley. Carlos the landscaper had kindly dug the 2.6m deep hole, but had work elsewhere so we had to lower it by hand, get it level and then backfill many cubic metres of soil.With the help of long straps, the car and the friendly Moldovans building our neighbour Daniel’s new patio, we managed to get the tank into the hole, but there was much more to be done to stop it from floating out in the rain.Hours of even more backbreaking work later, we had filled as much as we could before the rain arrived...now the sun is shining again at some point I’ll venture down through the mud to see whether we were successful.And the shipping container? It arrived, but the guy couldn’t lift it onto our new concrete supports because of the wet ground...so it’s just been parked next to the concrete poop for now...until it’s dry enough to get a crane in and place it properly. Ah well, AWA. This is a public episode. 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Our path of life is a little treacherous – steep and with lots of places to slip and fall – but the further we go down it, the smaller the drop becomes and the less chance we have of plunging to our deaths.The recent rain has slid in some complications – as I wrote about last week – but the route is still navigable and we’re confident that reaching the destination is worth the difficult journey.And thanks to St Martin, this week we took this metaphor literally, packed a picnic and scrambled a tricky track down the cliffs to the beach to enjoy some warm weather and a dip in the ocean before colder weather comes along.Verão de São Martinho – St Martin’s Summer – arrives in mid-November and is fast becoming one of our favourite times of year.It’s when the talha amphorae are opened and the first new wines of the year begin to trickle out, when chestnuts are ready to be roasted, and when temperatures in the mid-20s give us the chance to gloat (just a little) about where we live and why we’re doing all this.I’ve written before about St Martin’s progression from plain old Hungarian Martin, to patron saint of the poor, of tailors, winemakers and curiously both soldiers and conscientious objectors. Oh, and of France.There’s a Portuguese saying “esta é a minha praia” – meaning that’s my beach, but also “that’s my thing” – and this is definitely our beach.We call it “The Birthday Beach,” and it’s one of the most beautiful spots along this wonderfully wild coast – if not always the easiest to access.Ana dusted off her summer sandwich making skills, Daniel threw in some hot tamales and after a sip of beer and a glass of wine we dived into the waves and all agreed the water really wasn’t cold...although we didn’t linger too long.For the dogs it was the end of an excellent week as Simon celebrated his 12th birthday and Garfunkel enjoyed their joint celebration through meats, treats, some dried chicken and a lot of fussing.And it was also a great week for us that began in Vila de Frades with a feast of wine tastings, fabulous food, music and friends...and ended with water...coming out of a tap...at the bottom of the valley.We love inland Alentejo and it was only the coastal climate and of course the beaches that kept us from moving to the winelands when we first drew a line around Alentejo to choose our new home.We’d been planning the two-hour trip to the November 11th opening of the talhas wine weekend since November 12th last year and this time managed to persuade our friends Niels and Sybille to join us.Talha wine has its own official classification in Portugal and to qualify it has to stay in its fermenting clay pots until St Martin’s Day.That’s when the celebrations begin – the taps are hammered in, the songs are sung, the chestnuts (and the pigs) are roasted and the wines are sampled.And boy were they sampled.Thanks to the amazing Mauro Azóia and Rita – and the generosity of Hamilton Reis, the guys from XXVI Talhas and the ROCIM Amphora Day we had the most wonderful weekend.There’s an amazing energy among Portugal’s winemakers and we were lucky to dip into it for a weekend and meet many of the industry’s powerhouses like Hugo Mendes, Gonçalo Patraquim, Mariana Siqueira and many more from Portugal the US, UK and beyond.Niels showcased his Syrah to the delight of visiting American wine journalists and somehow we both managed to get interviewed for Portuguese telly.But our adventure to Cuba, Vila de Frades, Vidigueira and Vila Alva began by visiting a weaving mill to choose the oversized headboards for the new lodge bedrooms.We’ve been to Fabricaal a few times to watch the traditional looms in action, ponder what to order, and also to record for the podcast, but this was the “now we know what we want” pressure trip.Ana’s eye for colour and style took the lead and I think we have chosen well.We book-ended the weekend with an amazing late lunch at Quinta de Quetzal and then dipped into Justino Damas Winery where we stumbled across some traditional Cante Alentejano singing last year.The guys seemed to be winding down after a hectic weekend, but when Ana played them the video she’d filmed last year, they sparked straight up into song again...next thing passers-by were joining in and it was a proper song-off.I even joined in...albeit a little timidly...But it’s not been all fine wines and song this week...we also used the good weather to get in amongst it and push a couple of neglected parts of our project.Not surprisingly there was no sign of the polished concrete floor guys who’d abandoned ship over a labour dispute, but we are reliably informed they will be back in another week to finish the job and clean up the concrete poop/art installation.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Whilst awaiting their return we focussed on water.With 6km of plastic pipes delivered from the factory Christiano Santos and his brother Eduardo, turned up to lay a couple of kilometres from the irrigation canal to the bottom of the valley where gravity just about provides it.They wanted to run pipes along the river, but I thought the bank would be a better option, so got up nice and early to strim down some brambles and make a path for them to run routes for both us and our neighbour Daniel.It all happened a bit quicker than we expected...and a bit too quickly for us to give timely heads up to the neighbours who were gracious about our lack of communication.There’s something wonderfully reassuring about having a pipe at the bottom of the valley with a tap to turn on water...one small step for Christiano, but one huge leap for our kind.Our “dilution over treatment” approach to turning mineral-salted water into drinking water involves two 200,000 litre pillow tanks – one for the canal water and the other for rainwater which we’ll collect.That involves levelling two 180m2 areas and laying 10cm of sand on top before the pillow tanks can be installed...it also involves putting in other tanks for collecting and pumping the water up the hill.Enter Charles Days (aka Carlos Dias) with his digger and levelling laser...and apart from being excellently distracted working wonders on Daniel’s land, everything is just about ready.An expensive week of paying for tanks and pipes pushed me to go through the finances again to make sure all is well.Surprisingly things are still broadly on track and on budget...barring the occasional surprise from the builder to give us something to argue about this week.St Martin’s Summer has dried the building site up nicely – let’s hope the concrete guys can come back before the forecast changes.But the path is still slippy and treacherous in places...and no doubt there are plenty of potholes a little further down the road, but we’re still heading broadly in the right direction.Life in Portugal is definitely our beach. Especially when we’re on our beach. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

Things can change very quickly here in the Valley of the Stars.The first draft of this week’s despatch began: “This week our dream has really started looking like a fabulous reality…”By that same afternoon it needed a complete rewrite, and this line needed to be cut entirely:“I don’t want this to sound like an Academy Award acceptance speech for a film that isn’t done, as we’re far from finished yet, but we are just a little more confident that one day we might be.”It was around the time I was writing those words that the cement mixer got bogged down in the mud, the polished concrete floor guys went on strike and tonnes of cement started hardening in the truck.Things had been ticking over nicely and although it was a little later than we expected, the stars had been aligning for the final floors to be laid.We want a particular polished-concrete look in a sandy, gr-iege colour for all our floors, inside and out, and so had contracted a polished concrete floor specialist to do the job.Sr Manuel, our main builder, had been playing nicely with them to prepare the surfaces and everything as required – the Moldovan Front Row plasterers did the first layers of concrete flooring inside and Heatpump Paulo had also laid the underfloor heating pipes on time.Our great friends Becky & Rachel had been staying – full of encouragement and enthusiasm for the project and the podcast, which Pete Emmerson had also been working on many hours a day.There’d been some rain – we’ve had quite a lot and it’s very welcome (the lake is already very full and it’s only November!)Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.We even had a weekend up in Lisbon for our brother-in-law Pasi’s 50th birthday – an amazing whirlwind of fantastic people from all over the world and some incredible food and wine among family and friends.It was a Big Week ahead, but we were ready – and also gained from a slight delay with the concrete truck which would come a day later than planned to let the land dry out a bit.When the polished concrete guys arrived on day one they brought a surge of energy and urgency, wheeling barrows of cement from the mixer – sometimes even breaking into song – and then staining and polishing the floors beautifully.It was after day one when I started writing what I originally called “A Big Week in the Valley,” but then came day two...“Muito complicado,” the cement mixer driver kept mumbling to himself, as he did circles around his stranded truck.Arriving late to the scene I wondered why the guys weren’t able to get the cement out of the truck and onto the floors – and then extract a much lighter mixer from the mud.It became clear the pourers and polishers weren’t doing the pouring bit: they were refusing to wheel cement the extra few meters from the stuck truck. They downed wheelbarrows as it was more than their jobsworth to do it.Their boss wasn’t here and through some patchy Portuguese eavesdropping of phone conversations, I began to realise this was an industrial dispute.The idea of the company losing a lot of money in spoiled concrete was apparently part of their leverage – they didn’t want to find a solution.As the driver said, Muito complicado.Then things suddenly got even more complicated when the clock ran out.The concrete was no longer useable in the floors...it was too old...and Mr Complicado started to panic...what was he going to do with his delivery?Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.He didn’t want to be the driver returning to base with a useless concrete block for a van, and pleading with the strikers, he persuaded the guys to start passing up buckets of water from puddles to try and stop it from setting.Our builder Sr Manuel and his guys shrugged – he had no jurisdiction over other contractors and just found it astonishing the polished floors team had felt the need to reverse forty plus tonnes of truck into a puddle just so moving wheelbarrows was going to be easier.By the time I’d arrived they had tried various things to get it out, but the dispute with the boss had lost a load of time.With Mr Complicado sweating it, Justo the tractor genius who can take a top off a beer with a huge metal digging bucket (we suspect) gave it a go...but it wouldn’t budge.Our ever-diligent engineer José added industrial tribunal negotiator to his wide skillset of general problem-solver, diplomat, intermediary and superstar, and was doing everything he could remotely from another building site many miles away.He also pulled in a favour from the Cow King – our neighbourhood farmer and his mate from the hunting club.Sadly the King of the Cows got mixed up with where José was talking about and went to the wrong site to begin with.That’s when I realised the mixer guy needed a lot of water to save his skin...and his truck.Dragging pipes through the pools of water I managed to reach the van, but then a crushed electrical cable somewhere amid the miles of mud tripped the electricity and the water pump stopped.I felt like I was in some odd Benny Hill throwback running up and down the hill between pump houses and power stations flicking switches on and off, breakers up and down and then communicating it all to the mudbath men.By the time António Oliveira – O Rei das Vacas – arrived, the water was running, the concrete was watery, Mr Complicado was more relaxed and I had a very sore back.“He won’t be able to do it,” Justo said, nodding at the tractor and the depth the mixer’s tyres had sunk into the clay – and Justo is a man used to getting things out of places.The first attempt ended in failure, but that’s because of all the random bricks and planks thrown into the mud to try and give the insanely heavy truck some traction.Once removed Sr Oliveira went again, and this time the truck was up and out and everyone was smiling.Particularly the cow king, who despite having to go out of his way to help us, was delighted to have got one over a bunch of blokes from the city who came to the country thinking reversing a truck into a waterhole was going to end any other way.Mr Complicado was delighted – he drove off to the factory with a wave and a smile of thanks that gave me no indication of what he was going to do the moment I went back down to our house for an hour-long Zoom call.“They did what?” I asked as poor Ana, who had risen from her sick bed with a really nasty cold, to deal with the chaos while my meeting was on.“They dumped all the concrete on our land,” she said.I went back up...there is was...a huge mass of quickly hardening concrete poop spread over maybe 50m2 like washed out lava in little towers: a hot mud spring frozen in time.Mr Complicado had turned around, driven back onto the site and emptied his whole truck on the ground.I asked Justo whether I should try spreading it into bits to make it set in small rocks rather than one solid outcrop...with no nearby shovel, and a worsening back (courtesy of two disks apparently slightly more prolapsed than before this madness began).He just laughed “it’ll be hard as rock in an hour,” and he was right. I didn’t even try.Here was us thinking the biggest issue in the whole polished concrete pouring operation was going to be making sure LBD (the Little Black Dog) didn’t spend the evenings tapdancing on it while it set.So now we have a wonderfully large and unmoveable slab of concrete poop languishing by the place our main gate is supposed to go.José reassures us it’s not our responsibility, but it’s hard to see how we can force someone else to take it away.Perhaps we can get someone with a pneumatic drill to cut it up into small bits which we could use as aggregate for our road...to save it from becoming a mud bath.That sounds a lot more costly than ordering some pre-crushed rocks to be delivered.The following day the building site was like a ghost town...until the painters turned up...and then Heatpump Paulo arrived: “I was expecting everyone to be very busy,” he said, with the wise words: “we all just want the same thing, right? To get the work done.”Not necessarily it seems. Everyone else was either giving it a miss after a bit of overnight rain, or planning their employment tribunal statements.The day after that nobody turned up at all. Let’s hope something happens on Monday... This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

I’ve always wanted a dog called Eileen.The delight it would bring every time I shouted out in public “Come on Eileen...Come on Eileen...” would never get old.Sadly The LBD (Little Black Dog) is a boy, but at least we had Portugal’s first named Atlantic storm to fall back on this week.It might have been Storm Babet battering Britain, but it was Aline which was too-loo-rye-aying her way towards Portugal this week...same storm system, different first letter.Or for those preferring an alternative pronunciation, perhaps Aline was making a beeline for Iberia.Either way we had rain coming for the first time in a while.And somewhat later than we should have done, we went into batten-down-the-hatches mode and started preparing optimistically for a steady stream of winter storms.First off was the wood pile.The last remnants of the eucalyptus forest which inhabited the area where we’re now building has been waiting for collection for a while, and having been baked for another summer was ready to be harvested and neatly arranged behind the house.I’ve been blaming a dodgy back for putting it off, but with Aline coming, that excuse – like the woodpile – couldn’t wash.And it was a good reminder to Ana and I of the great thing about having a natural gym on our doorstep - despite the aches and pains afterwards.Then there was the other woodpile almost covered by brambles: a dense harder wood which will burn better, but needed chopping first.Enter Erik’s Axe – the splitter axe kindly bought and carried from Sweden by Ana’s brother after a call to arms inspired by reading Norwegian Wood (no, not the Murakame version but by a Scandinavian author…and which has been a bestseller…in Scandinavia at least).And chopping wood…that is a workout.We got those at least under cover, if not all neatly stacked, but had no time for the pine.But that’s been drying for a year and a half and is parked on a wooden pallet, so will have to wait under a tarpaulin until the rain clears and I have recovered from the last round of axing.We lapped around the house looking for things that could get wet in a storm, made sure the tools were tidied away and the doors firmly shut and readied ourselves for its arrival.Everything was pretty well prepared by the time the wind speed started increasing – with one exception.We have some equipment up on the site, too big and bulky to be moved in and out of the new houses as required by the builders, and so it has been languishing on the hill in full exposure to the elements...which had not so far been particularly troublesome.With a storm coming we invested in some thick black plastic sheeting to keep the rain off the machines and their cardboard boxes (to sit alongside the already well-covered bar) and set about wrapping them up tightly.But as the storm approached the inadequacy of our preparations became obvious.The winds were strong – very strong – apparently gusting at more than 100km/h and some heavy rocks and scaffolding frames did as well as Argentina did against the All Blacks in the first rugby world cup semi-final.They resisted well and put up a good fight, but were comprehensively overwhelmed in the end.Just before the first wave of torrential rain began, I popped up to check out the defences and they were already breached.I did what I could, navigating a huge black plastic sail in the quickly strengthening horizontal rain, but with little success retreated to the house to enjoy the spectacle of some proper water flowing down our swales and into the lake.The first storm is the time to find those little leaks which have widened through the summer heat and let the winter water in...and we found a few.It’s a chance to see where pools of water are forming, and where strategic digging can direct even more into the lake.It’s also a reminder of how solar panels need the sun to work as well as usual – something we sometimes forget with 300 days of sunshine a year.Neighbour Daniel will admit he’s been a little lavish with his ‘lectrics and after two early morning power cuts caused by a new heat pump and a night time dishwash on the first day, (and a coffee maker and microwave used at the same time on the second) he is adapting to off-grid living in the time of rain.At least he could cancel the water delivery, as his new gutter system was gathering all his worldy flushing needs...for a couple of weeks at least!The rainfall wasn’t bad...but it wasn’t as much as predicted.By the time the rain came, the Moldovan Front Row I wrote about last week were long gone: they had packed up and shipped off to help someone else get well and truly plastered.But just a couple of days later, a Romanian tile master arrived and showed us what speed-tiling looks like.Hot on the heels of our three week marathon of bathroom redesign we could appreciate the skills of a man who been doing it for 15 years.His pace was as phenomenal as the plastering crew. Working alone he tiled to the tune of Europop radio and in the blink of an eye had glue mixed, tiles cut, placed and bathrooms quickly covered.Just to keep up with him we had to race to the shop to collect a truckload of tiles ourselves rather than waiting for delivery, causing even Cassie the Hilux to dip under the weight as I very slowly navigated the dirt road back.Seeing bathrooms fully tiled is another aesthetically satisfying step towards completion – despite the lack of windows – but that’s also moved on as the PVC guys turned up to take the final measurements and discuss the designs.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Windows which open in various ways are always a winner, but with wind – and the reminder this week of how strong it can be on top of the hill – helped us to decide on sliding panes to avoid windows taking a battering.The key is lots of large glass panes with not so many frames in the way of the view, which will be the main attraction at Vale das Estrelas when we open.The sun is now shining, the power banks and the hot water is replenishing and there’s more rainfall on the horizon.Hopefully the as yet unnamed new storm approaching as I write will actually bring the mighty number of millimetres my app is predicting.Come on Aline...2...rye-eh. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com

It was dusk and we were wandering around the silent building site pondering where to place outside taps when a fancy truck pulled up.The Little Black Dog (LBD) was transitioning from timid to over-excited (more on him later), and we were surprised: we don’t get people ‘round ‘ere after the sun’s set.Then a smallish, tough-looking guy speaking Portuguese leaped down from the shiny grey Ford Tracker flanked by heavies and started walking towards us...with purpose, looking around...with interest.So this was it: the local mafia had arrived, investigating what we were building and how they were going to take their cut.I couldn’t see any iron bars, but I also couldn’t see their hands.“Reboque” I was sure he said – Portuguese for trailer – but what did he mean? Were we going to be towed by a car? Was it a threat?Ana stepped in calmly as he repeated the word: reboco – Portuguese for plaster.A small difference in pronunciation, but a massive difference in meaning: we smiled nervously, then grinned broadly and then shook their hands warmly.This was the Moldovan Front Row as they came to be known and they were sussing the joint...ahead of their arrival with machinery and metric tonnes of cement the following week.This was the legendary travelling plastering team we’d heard about – the fastest plasterers in the west...of Alentejo certainly.For weeks we had been awaiting news of their arrival. The builders had been concreting and levelling surfaces, the electrician, the plumber and heatpump Paulo had been busy installing, piping and prepping in anticipation of this day.They had swept into Vera & Joep’s place, mixed and pumped plaster onto the walls with something resembling a fireman’s hose.They had trowelled and smoothed, sponged and finished their new buildings beautifully and then as quickly as they had arrived they had gone...and the painting work had begun.Now it was our turn.Being big lads with broad enough shoulders to swing a bucket load of plaster on one giant trowel they reminded me of a rugby front row.As the Rugby World Cup in France begins the knock-out stage, we were very glad Moldova hadn’t qualified this year – as these fellas might well have been in France rather than here.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The front row was where Alan Gledson and I played some years ago, and while neither of us can wield a whole bucket of tile glue on one trowel any longer, we still think we can and so have spent the best part of three weeks attempting to achieve the unachievable.We set out last month when Alan and Margery arrived to “help us with a bit of tiling” and we are now the proud owners of two fully refitted guesthouse bathrooms.Margery went home a week earlier but Alan refused to even book a flight back until we were well on our way to finishing.The first challenge was chiselling out the concrete surrounding the baths – it seems the Germans who built the place erred on the side of caution and cast the cast iron bath in concrete.When the jackhammering stopped, Alan kept vibrating...for a couple of days...any good rugby referee would have sent him off for a head injury assessment as it was clearly a concussion.Then we started taking off the horrible white things previously known as tiles with the aforementioned hammer.With tile chips flying there was blood on the floor and the walls, and then we decided to cut into the brick and install new in-wall showers similar to those in our new buildings.That’s when we taught ourselves plumbing from YouTube (using PEX or Polyethylene cross-linked pipe), borrowed a bender from the plumber and a crimper from Joep – to link the pipes and connect the showers and sinks. Let’s hope the joints hold.Thankfully we were able to take notes from the building site to learn how to do it properly before the Moldovan Front Row arrived and covered everything up with plaster so beautifully.We covered things up not quite so beautifully, installed the new shower base trays and began “a bit of tiling.”It was tough work – even more so because of the unusually high summer-style temperatures.Alan did most of the skilled stuff, while I did the measuring and cutting, mixing and cleaning, but day by day the level of finished tile increased.Then there was the grouting, and Ana switched from working on our main project (and cooking like a demon) to join the push to get the bathrooms finished before our next guests arrive.Alan worked on the shower screens while I worked out vinyl click flooring – cutting, shaping and placing.Guido the wonderful German boiler master appeared on cue to reinstall the radiators and get the whole drained water boiler and solar system pressurised and back up and running.The final act was fitting the toilets, sealing anywhere water might get in...and adding all the finishing touches.Alan Gledson, you are a legend...a force of nature...a bloody-minded, determined, unmovable machine...and thank you for helping us and for creating two beautiful new bathrooms and for “going Egyptian” to fetch our new bar.And thanks so much to our generous neighbour Daniel for kindly putting the Gledsons up while they didn’t have bathrooms! We couldn’t have done it without you. In a fraction of the time it took us to do a bit of tiling, the Moldovan Front Row had pretty much plastered all three buildings inside and out.They’ll do the last bits this weekend (yes, they work weekends).It looks stunning, the finishing is beautiful and although it was all the hard work by Senhor Manuel’s guys which got us here, the plastering is the icing on the cake which makes everything look more real and more finished.With a three-phase power generator, truck-loads of cement mix and a lot of hard work they covered all the floors and walls with their fire hose and then smoothed it all to perfection, prepping for the tiling team who will be coming next.We’re still a long way from being done – the next juggling act is to bring the underfloor heating and polished concrete guys together as soon as possible, make sure the doors and windows are correctly ordered...and the small matters of the electricity and water infrastructure.But it’s all heading in the right direction.It’s hard to know what the LBD has made of all this.The Little Black Dog is a young puppy with a docked tail who just turned up one day hungry and scared and seems to have made the top of the hill his home...not entirely because he gets fed and watered by us and the builders.Anyway, he helped me resolve a feeling that I was going slightly mad...Given that not long ago I thought DIY was something you were cited for in the US for drinking and driving, I’m doing OK, but my biggest problem is spending half the time looking for tools I’ve just left in various places.Having passed 50 I regularly struggle with readings glasses retention, but pencils, tape measures and trowels seemed to migrate between rooms on their own.But what made me question my own sanity was the disappearance of the yellow cleaning brush for the concrete buckets.“Nope,” said Alan. “I haven’t seen it...I don’t even know what it looks like.”So I bought another one.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. This post is public so feel free to share it.We left a blanket out for LBD, and the next day it was gone. Weird. And then a mop went missing.Just I was pondering the possibility of poltergeists, LBD bounded over and I realised he wasn’t just a plastic insulation and doormat chewer but was also a hoarder.I found his stash next to the builders’ hut that he has made home. Mop, blanket, yellow brush and various clothing items and shoes pinched from the Moldovan Front Row.He’s a lovely dog with a wonderful nature and we’re looking for someone to give him a home...so please let me know if you can fit an LBD into your life. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com