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Waterfront / Riverfront Villa, Direct River Access; boating, fishing, kayaking++

12 People|6 Bedrooms|

Property Description

Location, location, location!

1) Tranquillity but literally right next to a large fashionable town and opposite a river beach; you get walking distance access to cafes, restaurants, shopping, banks, a spa & more, yet only enjoy bird song and country / river / mountain views at our property.

2) Direct river access for boating / kayaking / fishing / paddling / swimming, plus a great pool (pool is summer season only – £150 / week discount if you do not want to use it). There is also an all year indoor heated public pool within easy walking distance.

3) Spain and Portugal; 3 minutes drive and you are in Spain. Enjoy Portuguese and Spanish cuisine, wines, shopping, etc. Best seafood, traditional Portuguese food and tapas!

4) Privacy, luxury and more; secure grounds (not overlooked), advanced security system (night time mode and allows certain open windows), luxury furnishings, quality bedding, insect screens.

On the River Minho border with Spain; this is one of the few properties on the Iberian Peninsular with direct river access for boating, kayaking and fishing (trout and salmon). Fully furnished to a very high standard with all amenities, large (12,000 sqm) walled secure grounds, full sized swimming pool with children’s section, fruit orchard, vineyard, family garden, there is even a stream going through the grounds. Adjacent field / horse paddock available. Bring your own horse or boat if you want, or boat / kayak rentals to your river entrance gate easily arranged.

6 Bedrooms (master en suite), 4 bathrooms in total, large family lounge (with TV), large screen TV lounge, UK Sky HD TV (most villas in Spain and Portugal use low quality Internet TV boxes; we provide full HD for your favorite BBC, etc. shows), dining room, large kitchen (with TV), additional large breakfast room, extra guest / children’s lounge, study, office, laundry (drying) room, separate laundry room, full sized swimming pool, large vineyard, gated vehicle and pedestrian security with video entry, large BBQ serving family garden and outdoor dining area. Gate house, dog pounds, triple garage and workshop area, summer house, granite pergola, established grounds with all the fruit (cherries, plums, apples, citrus, peaches etc) & flowers you can think of, granite cubos / cobblestone driveway goes all the way from the entry gates past and around the villa / garages, then down to the river access gates, large parabola, intelligent alarm system, Spanish and Portuguese mobile phone coverage, Internet with Wi-Fi, telephone line. The kitchens are all fully equipped.

No pets or smoking inside the villa please, but dogs and smokers are welcome outside.

There are fruit & nuts for you to pick year round! Easter, July, August and December are festival times in town (bands, music, events, fairs, etc.)!

There is a cot, play pen, baby rocker and baby feeding high chair at the villa, plus many toys and children’s books (in English and Portuguese). If you want to work / stay connected while here and bring your lap top, no problem; we can provide a fax / printer. We have a general use PC anyone can use (no camera though).

The section of river our property is on is the last navigable section going upstream (it is possible to take a boat all the way down the river to the Atlantic). Just east of us is a white water section of the river. If you are a boating enthusiast, this gives you the best of both worlds. You could take a boat down (and back up) the river one day, and then go kayaking the next. If you like kayaking, you could start all the way to / at Melgaco, and then kayak all the way down the river to our property, along some of the most beautiful and unspoiled river scenery on the Iberian Peninsular, if not Western Europe. Along the course of the river from Melgaco to our villa, you will experience tranquil, faster moving and white water sections; some local adventure companies also offer white water rafting.

The river water is still exceptionally clean at our property, with superb chad, trout and even some salmon fishing (low cost seasonal permit required, easily obtained). It is also great for a dip / swim (with caution), as many Spanish families do on the other side where there is a popular though seldom overcrowded river beach (praia fluvial). Unlike much further down the river towards the estuary end which has a typical muddy smell and of course is subject to the output of the towns along its course, the river water quality at our property is exceptionally high. And, unlike the local beaches on the Atlantic Coast, though well worth a visit to buy fresh fish direct from the fisherman, some superb fresh fish restaurants, and Atlantic rollers (popular with surfers) / white sandy beaches, the river beach / access sections around us do not get so busy, even during the height of summer.

We provide a housekeeper every two days to come in (bedding and towels); can do your laundry for extra payment. All mattresses are regularly steam cleaned. We use comfortable bed protectors which are washed and replaced before each new guest visit. Our duvets and pillows are also washed in between guests. Our bed linen is quality poly-cotton. Our towels are 100% cotton.

For the security conscious, we are in one of the lowest crime rate areas of Europe and at the end of the village no through road (our neighbours make excellent guards) In addition, we have 2 meter walled and security fenced gorunds and our property can only be accessed via the village road, unless you walk or have a tractor. In addition, we have one of the most advanced security systems there is with a button that takes you through to an emergency centre if you need an ambulance, fire truck or policeman! We fell comfortable sleeping with the wondows open and the screens down, though a neighbours cat might decide to come and say hello. However, you can close the secure shutters and still leave two strategic inaccessible (from the outside) windows opened for those superb nighttime river breezes. The main doors (front and lower floor kitchen) have easy access key entry locks so you can breeze in and out without worrying about univited guests.

There are also many popular river beaches nearby (these normally have high season cafes and restaurants). If it gets very hot, drive up into the mountains with a picnic hamper (there are summer season only restaurants in the mountains too). The local bottled mineral water Fastio from the Serra do Gerês is comparable with Scottish mountain spring water (very, very good). The national Peneda-Gerês park, where this water is from, is within easy driving distance.

Our grounds are full of flora, plus a lot of fruit. First out come the plums, then cherries (oh my goodness, our cherries are good), then nectarines and peaches, then apricots, then apples and pears. Oh, and we have blueberries, and guava, and eating grapes (you can reach grapes from the side of the pool even), and figs, and lichi, and persimmon, and two regional fruits called nispero (loquat) and the so called “strawberry tree” (arbutus unedo), pomegranate, and hazel nuts, and sweet chestnuts, and pistachios, and passion fruit, and did we mention the cherries! During the winter months, December and January, our citrus tress are laden with oranges, nectarines, lemons, limes, and satsumas. If you see ripe fruit, go ahead, pick and eat it.

In the family garden is an old, huge, legally protected cork oak tree which gives superb shade during the summer months (you will see where cork comes from when you look at the bark). In the grounds we have oak, chestnut, pine, wallnut and even pican nut trees (sorry, these are youngsters, no pican fruit yet) and even a macadamia nut tree (will never produce nuts as it tries to flower and fruit over winter). There are also raspberries and strawberries around normally.

The property is built on the top of a steep bank, and is therefore well above the flood plain. The granite cobblestone driveway goes all the way down to the double river gates. Also down there, there is a natural spring and small stream (previous owners used to have this feed a small tank to sit in, but it was too cold for us, so we extended it and turned it into an irrigation tank, which is now full of carp – next to a summer house where you can sit and listed to birdsong).

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