Casa Um

Casa Um sits in deep countryside in the eastern Algarve, the quiet Sotavento, just outside the handsome town of Tavira in the small village of Estiramantens. The land is classic Algarve serra: a southwest-facing slope of orange and almond trees, carob, olive and mastic, loud with cicadas in summer and carrying the smell of ripe citrus, with the coast visible in the distance. The Ria Formosa and Tavira's long island beaches are a short drive, the octopus tavernas of Santa Luzia and the market town of Olhão are close, and the clifftop hamlet of Cacela Velha sits along the coast. It is secluded without being remote.

The house was a nineteenth-century shepherds' farm, with more than three hundred sheep once grazing the hills around it, and in 2020 the Lisbon studio atelier RUA reworked it into a modern home that holds on to the traditional architecture of the Algarve, the well-defined white volumes, the chimney, the flat açoteia roof terrace, while opening it to the light and the view. The original farmhouse became the kitchen and living room, with large windows onto an inner patio that was once the barn, set around the old bread oven. The former stables are now the dining room, with a glass-walled wine cellar and views to the pool. Stairs lead down to a row of cubistic bedrooms, each ensuite and each with its own private patio and hammock. On top of them sits a heated pool, looking out over the groves to the sea. The interiors are by Studio Stories, and the house was photographed by Francisco Nogueira.