EXPLORING AN ABANDONED FARM - DESERTED 40 + YEARS AGO! BUYING & RESTORING A HOUSE PORTUGAL HOMESTEAD

Hi there! I am Joseph.
I have been an immigrant, or expat, living in central Portugal along with my beautiful girlfriend Mariana for six years now.

Together Mariana, my father Clinton and myself, would like to show you a bit of the daily goings on around our Portuguese farm / homestead / smallholding and all of the work we are doing whilst renovating, starting building projects, working with our livestock, DIY and trying to grow our little families own food!

In this episode we welcome you to join us in early Autumn as we visit and give you a virtual tour of a fairy tale rural water mill farm that has been left to nature over the last fifty years or so. The mill houses upon closure were locked and forgotten to time, until now when my two dear friends Miguel and Tish buy a farm in central Portugal and show us a full tour of their new homestead.

Me and Miguel begin by introducing ourselves at the entrance to the main mill house, completely encased by bramble bushes, you can see the mountainside in the background which is part of the 15 hectare farm estate which Miguel and Tish recently purchased.

First things first we fill up the Stihl brush cutter with a fuel and oil mixture and we set to whacking those blackberry bushes and raking the cuttings out of the side of the building and its veranda to give ourselves some access to the ancient mysterious ruined mill house so we can attempt to finally see what was left inside.

Once we could gain access inside Miguel points out one of the old grind stones of the mill, a reminder of how the farm he just bought used to be a thriving industry of the village, now it serves as a beautiful decorative stone laid up against the fairy-tale stone building.

When we uncover the first doorway we find to our amazement that through all the brambles the bright red door still looked in relatively good condition and fortunately the old rusty key given to us by the previous owner worked like a charm (with a little persuasion of course). Fortunately for us this meant we could gain access without having to break down the door. Once inside we find lots of super interesting artefacts and articles left to gather dust as part of a natural time capsule.

It was so amazing to explore this abandoned farm, now it will be amazing to see the renovation, building work that Miguel will start over the next few weeks and finally see some life breathed back into this wonderful place, it truly is a nature lovers paradise and it is lovely to see such a lovely young couple buy and restore this Portuguese farm house back to its former glory!

After viewing the first mill house, pig sty and donkey stables, we take a lunchtime stroll down to the farms water fall which is on the river that the mill house used to gain its hydro power from, turning the four old iron water wheels which in turn would spin the grind stones which would grind the flour which the villagers would make bread from! The stream on the property comes from a natural spring up the mountain side which is totally safe to drink from, we fill our water bottles up and quench our thirst with a refreshing cool sip.

After lunch we walk back through the walnut forest, past the waterfall and up to the second mill house, Miguel spends a few hours with the brushcutter again, tearing the brambles apart and opening up the next abandoned building, giving us access to go inside the ruin and continue our exploring. Once inside we find a treasure trove of historical items, such as an old adega (wine cellar complete with fermenters and barrels), old wooden chests which we peek inside, a bedroom with paintings and pencils still sat ready to be used as well as a bed with all the woollen sheets made ready for someone to sleep. Also we find the jackpot in one room, a complete mechanism to the grindstone and water wheels, all succumbed back to nature and completely lost in time. We also find a few bats flying around which was fascinating to see!

At the end of the day Miguel, Tish and I wipe our hot brows, sit and watch the sunset and make our way to the local café, where we stop for a few cold drinks at sunset.

Once home I make a beautiful meal of sustainably farmed sea bream with an oriental sweet chilli dressing. After that Lilly and I make our way up to the olive grove where I speak about the weeks news on the farm and everything that has happened before saying goodbye.

See our journey to self sufficiency / permaculture / organic farming as expats living in Portugal, trying to produce as much of our own food planting vegetables, growing fruit trees as well as looking after all our animals, such as our chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, quail, rabbits and sheep - Shortly pigs too!

Hobby farming in Fundão
- Growing vegetables, raising meat and foraging on our cherry farm in Portugal’s Beira baixa.

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