Alcantarilha Castle Gardens 

Perched on a small hill just 3 kilometres inland from the beach resort of Armacao de Pera is the very pretty little town of Alcantarilha. Of Moorish origin the town was first named Al-Qantara, meaning bridge, it was later changed to Alcantarilha, an abbreviation for 'Little Bridge'. Stones for the bridge came from the battlements that were built in the 16th century as a protection against pirate attacks. Until fairly recently their remnants could be seen, but now they have been reduced to rubble.

 In the1500`s the walls were built around the town to keep out invading pirates, those walls can still be seen on the left hand side of Rua do Lagar below.

 Their condition is grim after lack of attention over the years but nothing so serious that some light patching up and painting, helped with a couple of up/downlights couldn't solve. Our Company has secured land which incorporates the last full standing bull nosed wall turret and it is our intention to preserve and repair this wall

The company has also secured adjoining lands and local landowners seem all too delighted to assist with their land in adding to the project. The land in front of the project is a flat farming plain, ideal for a good joust !! and here below is the valley directly below and in front of the site. This is the view the ‘villagers’ will have each day.

The local river runs slowly down to the sea at Amacao do Pera for 11 months of the year before it floods the land in late  January early February. 

The overall project concerned which houses the old wall is of particular interest to our company and it is our intention to rebuild the damaged and missing castle walls to create a holiday cum retirement village within the heart of Alcantarilha village. The walls need facing and the tops converted to look like a castle wall. 

 The Camara has recently invested in re modelling the old washing area by the bridge. Although not used today it sports a wonderful tiled pictorial of how things were done in days of yore.

                                                                                   old village houses

...and here is an excellent shot of most of the site stepped below the old castle wall. The land is triangular and each point would be an entry point to the site complete with Portcullis made here in Alcantarilha in our local joiners shop. Each Point would also be a nice little two bedroomed apartment with sun terrace and pool. The Portcullis would in effect be the ‘garage doors’ to the site making the whole site secure at night. (against pirates no doubt).

A new wall complete with castle turrets would surround the entire site thereby creating an illusion of a new castle with three entrances. The first in Rua do Poco, the second mainly a car entrance in Rua das Ambrosias and the third in Rua do Lagar.

 The site could house around 30 dwellings, a coffee shop and bed/breakfast hotel, (possibly in private homes).

At both top and bottom of the site there is a water well and a pump has been provided by previous owners at the lower level. The designs will include to withdraw and pump this water to the highest point then set the designers to work to allow the water to filter down the site in a series of attractive gentle slopes.

 All working parts of the water feature could be run from solar power as the site faces predominantly south most of the day. Besides the original castle wall, the water gardens would be the tourist attraction along with the re-juvenated surrounding new castle walls. A little tea/coffee bed and breakfast house beneath the walls would supply refreshment for the weary tourists on the outside seats with shade provided with freshly planted palms, fig and carob. A cooler breeze in summer would be provided by means of ‘misting’ apparatus, air from the well and in the evenings the site would be softly solar illuminated.

 I have engaged the services of Mr Howard Lance a professional landscape gardener specialising in Moorish Gardens, he designed and built a beautiful hotel garden on a Moorish theme in Sotagrande Southern Spain and is renowned for his skills.

Steps would lead down from Rua do Lagar into the ‘village’ and tourists could walk around the narrow streets, each street designed in a different coloured concrete pattern impressed 'calcada' to lead to the three different turret exits.

A Garden Pool at the highest point would be an attraction for the children of the village with overflowing water to circulate the site eventually returning to the lower well. Along with utilising the well for its water it is also planned to extract the cool air which remains at a constant 6 degrees throughout summer. Flowers and hanging baskets would be prolific and would be watered automatically from the system. 

Cars would be parked under the ‘Castle Grounds’ with private staircases leading to the ground floor of each home arriving into the parking area thro` the Carpark Portcullis Entrance in Rua das Ambrosias. 

Property on the site could be over three stories owing the steepness of the site culminating in rooftop gardens- as ground space will be public and limited. All homes would face across the valley slightly to the left giving excellent clear views of the countryside.

Each home would have a choice of two/three/four bedrooms or a single one bedroomed apartment on ground level for home and income rental.

Owing to the fact the site is so near the new Amendoeira Golf Course, property could be fractionally sold in 3 month lots to the golfing world.