The perfect remote location - a Portuguese village

Off I go again, in my car with my working equipment on the passenger seat. My photo camera, drone, contracts, flyers, business cards, phone and a house hunting mind.
Another day of property acquisition in the area of Castelo Branco! As I enter village after village on a sunny afternoon during a weekday, I come to realize the villages are almost deserted.

Not even 10 years ago, you would still see Portuguese people strolling through the streets, working on their land, inviting each other to their ´adega´ to drink homemade wine. Now, the ruins and abandoned houses prevail in the still life of the villages.

The young people move out to the city for work. It also doesn´t help that most foreign property buyers prefer to buy a farm on a remote location to ensure their privacy. But believe me when I tell you that a house with land in a village also has enough privacy with no or little neighbours. Portuguese villages in Central Portugal are not the same as a village in the busier Northern European countries. I was born and raised in a village in the Netherlands with 9000 inhabitants, now I live in a so called ´village´ in Portugal with 18 inhabitants.

The villages in Central Portugal are remote and surrounded by a lot of nature. The Portuguese neighbours you will have, are the kindest, most helpful people you will ever meet and will welcome you like a family member with open arms .

Are you looking to buy in Portugal? Open your mind for village properties. Go and have a look at a few. We are not made to live alone and isolated. We all experienced how to live in a lock down and what social distancing is and I haven´t heard a single person saying how lovely that was. Sometimes you need help or a simple thing as a friendly wave from a neighbour passing by. And in the top 3 reasons for buying in Portugal are the friendly Portuguese.

´Better a neighbour nearby than a friend far away´

Photo: Portuguese neighbors helping us to get our truck out of the mud.