This is a country house with a difference – it’s right near the beach for a start, in the Algarve. Fazenda Nova is also not decorated in what one would imagine as traditional country house style. Nova by name, nova by nature.
The ten-suite property near Tavira is a very modern, at times exotic, take on the rural retreat. The beds are all Balinese, and the linen Egyptian. The furniture looks like its from all corners of the earth, mostly ethnic but held together with some larger pieces from closer to home. There’s polished concrete in the bathrooms, which sounds an impossibility at first but we can see what they are getting at, it has a metallic quality that complements the modern fixtures, all by unpronounceable manufacturers.
There’s space to relax outside many of the rooms and an infinity pool if you don’t fancy the slat and sand of the beach, and for the more energetic there’s a chance to join in the estate orchard harvest during the picking season. Personally we’ll be taking our fruit fermented, in a glass.
Photo © Ed Reeve
