The Portuguese love a brutalist building, whether that’s to pray in the capital’s Church of Sagrado Coracao, to administer the law at the Palace of Justice or to admire art at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. When property developers Sofia Charters and her husband Miguel chose to build a home in the Alentejo region, where they had both holidayed as children, they wanted something that would connect them to the land, the traditions and rolling cork-oak forests of the Serra de Grandola.
They commissioned Aires Mateus to create the structure, made from 100,000 handmade local bricks. And when, in 2017, they decided to open up their 85-hectare forested hillside property to others, they again turned to the renowned Portuguese architectural practice to build an equally simple but more brutalist construction.
The result is Pateos (the name plays on the Portuguese word for patios), which consists of four architecturally striking homes set around courtyards that both protect visitors from the sometimes changeable weather and allow unimpeded views of nature. Each of the one, two and three-bedroom houses — which can be booked singly or as one giant commune sleeping 14 — is cast in concrete, and finished in glass, light wood and polished putty-coloured plaster. Some have big schist-lined courtyards, planted with wild herbs and grasses that mirror the natural sandy scrubland, others feature showers that open into mini-courtyards planted with creepers. All have extraordinary 35 sq m glass walls and secondary fine gauze doors that slide back into the concrete at the flick of a button, so the landscapes can always be seen and the sea air enjoyed, bug free.
The furnishings are Scandinavian in style, with Carl Hansen & Son chairs beside simple black Lumina lamps and low linen-covered chairs on reed mats. Bathrooms have circular skylights above the showers, so you can see the stars before drying off with locally embroidered towels, and beds are made up in stonewashed Portuguese linens. It’s all soothing, airy and relaxed, in a beautifully pared-back way.
Because most guests, the owners believe, will be individuals who prefer the privacy of villas to the public spaces of hotels, the kitchens are fitted with all the basics so they can prepare produce themselves or call in a local chef to do it for them. On our visit the Charters’ cook made simple, delicious soups from homegrown vegetables and fire-baked breads and platters of local cheeses, meats and salads. But by the summer pros trained by the Michelin-starred Spanish chef Sergi Sanz Blanco (from Ametsa in London) will be on hand for those wanting something more sophisticated.
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Below the houses the gardens roll down to a striking triangular pool lined with loungers from which to watch the sun set over the Atlantic, a 20-minute drive away. Soon the owners will start work on an on-site restaurant and wine cellar for those not wanting to leave the property. For those who do, charming Filipe Lopo (a former Como hotel manager) can arrange restaurant bookings and activities from horse riding on the beach and cycling expeditions on electric bicycles to pottery and cooking lessons.
With one of the longest stretches of sand in Portugal, a rapidly growing population of wealthy, bohemian residents and soon a new hotel, Vermelho, owned by Christian Louboutin, Melides is fast becoming the new Riviera hotspot — with Pateos its prettiest private hangout.
From £396 (for two) to £1,585 (for six) a night, pateos.pt
