It was our first art retreat in the Valley of the Stars, and we had a full house of painters – mostly from the UK – learning to specialise in Portuguese landscapes, seascapes and weekend escapes.
They enjoyed the food and the wine as much as the painting classes, as they tucked into Ana’s repertoire of local specialities, sampled some of Alentejo’s finest vinhos and worked their way through our daughter Oda’s California cocktail menu.
For our soft-opening first year, we set out to learn by doing: getting stuck in and understanding how to best run an eco-luxe lodge.
We knew it was going to be hard work, running a hectic summer of bookings ourselves with the help of only Oda and our first employee Krishna.
But it was important to work out how to run the place and where we’ll need staff next year, so we don’t kill ourselves too early on in our new adventure.
The last five years has been one long and steep learning curve of new skills as we’ve transitioned from a diplomat and a journalist to builders, project managers, accountants, surfers of bureaucracy and now hoteliers and hosts.
We knew a four-day full-on retreat would be tough with all 17 guests needing breakfast, lunch, dinner … and drinks every day.
But it was a great success – on the first day, the group set up on the calçada deck outside our Clubhouse and painted the view we fell in love with when we first found this spot in 2018.
Many hadn’t tried bochechas (pig cheeks) or arroz de pato (duck rice) before.
They loved the flame grilled dourada, their beach picnic and Ana’s Asian twist on Portuguese bifanas.
Oda cut her teeth as a bar tender in the fancy rooftop bars of Los Angeles and so we persuaded her to come back (after volunteering all summer) to help us with some cooking, planning and cocktail-making.
“If we have it, I can make it,” her whiteboard boasted above a list of suggested drinks to which someone added “Porn Star Martinis”.
That made her think … and so began a quest to source passion fruit liqueur in Odemira.
Ed Sumner started his painting club in London a few years ago – running events in pubs where he’d teach basic techniques by showing would-be artists how to paint their own master.
Copying a Constable, making a Monet or having a go at a Van Gogh was a great way in for many folk … especially with the not-so-serious twist of accompanying it all with cheese and wine.
But it was during the pandemic when Ed’s Yorkshire lilt helped hundreds of people keep connected to the outside world, by joining his online painting classes.
Each week he and his sidekick daughter Daisy would paint some famous folios – sometimes in fancy dress or to themed soundtracks, occasionally accompanied by a disco ball, flashing lights and a smoke machine, but always with a smile.
Friendships formed over WhatsApp and Zoom, and it helped a lot of people through the loneliness of lockdown.
A core of club members now have meet-ups in the UK and one of their regular haunts is a hotel passionate about its passion fruit Porn Star Martinis.
So, it was no mystery that the maracujá martini with vanilla vodka and a shot of champagne on the side appeared on Oda’s list.
Passion fruit booze was easier to find than expected, but vanilla vodka is much harder to buy in Alentejo.
After designing an alternative vanilla-infused syrup, Oda was happy with the result and soon the group were supping like porn stars … once their paintings were drying for the night.
Some of those gathering in Alentejo had only met fellow club members online, so it was their first chance to meet in person.
There was also a last-minute appearance from the Resident’s own Pat the Expat who joined the party with his artist wife.
Along with a columnist, the group included an actor, an author and an astronomer; a moth and butterfly expert who educated us all; and a nurse (whose skills were only required once or twice).
It was a fabulous mix of fun and talented folk who loved this wild west coast of Portugal. They sketched the surf from the comfort of Bar da Praia in Almograve, inspired by the sun, the sand … and the strawberry daiquiris.
They learned a bit of history through one of our wine story-tastings and met the couple behind Delância wine – with a fabulous label and story to match.
Inès Deroche and Tom Simpson are a French/British couple who met at business school in Manchester.
Using the grapes from her family’s vineyard near Beja, they have been working up something new and different.
Their white “Botanical bubbles” sparkling botanical aperitif is a low-alcohol sparkling wine infused with elderflower and green tea, while the rosé is infused with pomegranate and rosemary.
It’s a sparkling Alentejo wine – three words they are not allowed to use because of the infusion.
Their label is a work of art in itself, and their catchline “the art of eloquent delinquency” made us think they’d be a good fit for Ed’s gang.
The group was inspired to play with the colours and themes of the label and were so enthusiastic about the lynx they featured – and the story of the lynx breeding and reintroduction programme in Portugal – that they saw at least two.
One was pictured as a shape in the small landslide near our lake, and the other was spotted on an early morning walk.
There was much excitement about its size and the sound it made, but the image they captured did look a lot like our cat ‘Iceman’.
It was a lot bigger, they explained, but without a picture of its ears it was hard to be sure, and so I sent the images to the lynx people who I’d done a radio story on a few months ago.
By the time I heard back from them, the retreat was over and the gang had headed home with wonderful memories of wild beaches, huge skies, large landscapes … and a rare lynx spotting.
I didn’t have the heart to tell them the verdict was “probably a domestic cat”.
But they’ve already asked to come back in the spring to see another one, to enjoy the silence and once again paint the wonderful nature of this very special part of Portugal.
ALASTAIR LEITHEAD is a former BBC foreign correspondent now living off the grid in rural Alentejo. He and his wife Ana run www.ValleyoftheStars.co.uk / www.valedasestrelas.pt, and are on Instagram @vale_das_estrelas Readers can enjoy a discount of 15% during November with the booking code BLOG25.
