The horsey elite are heading to Costa de Prata in Portugal for paparazzi-free privacy and luxury, says Mary Gold.
Costa de Prata’s horse-friendly trails, top, and built-to-order villas, above, are popular with the UK horse set, such as the family of Zara Phillips, left.
Mention Portugal and most people think of the Algarve. But the area is expensive, overcrowded and overwhelmed by the Pringle-clad golf brigade. It’s also, some might say, overrated.
And while the market for foreign properties is now two-speed — slow and standing still — a little pocket of Portugal is bucking the trend. The Costa de Prata, about an hour north of Lisbon, has pristine sandy beaches, historic walled town and vast expanses of forest.
The people are welcoming and the restaurants excellent, untainted by plastic menus showing photographs of burgers and chips.
Knight Frank, incidentally, has cited the Silver Coast as one of 10 residential markets to keep an eye on in its Annual Wealth Report. Journalists seldom write about this criminally under-visited part pf Portugal because they want to keep it to themselves — and who can blame them?
Costa de Prata has a thriving equestrian scene, thanks to horse-friendly woodland trails and the Golegã horse fair, which draws bloodstock breeders from all over Europe. Small wonder, then, that a new country club and equestrian centre is attracting the horsey elite from the UK.
Mark Phillips, the former husband of the Princess Royal, has bagged a €1.8 million villa at a new country club, the Quintas de Óbidos. Add in the warmer winter months and the lowest livery costs in Europe and you can see why it ticks a lot of boxes for him, his daughter Zara and the rest of their set.
“These people know they won’t be bothered by the paparazzi here,” says Miguel Pereira de Abreu, the owner of Quintas de Óbidos. “They can get up early when it’s cool, and ride through the forests in peace and quiet. The air is pure, because of the eucalyptus trees, and they won’t be troubled by the tabloids.”
With 79 villas in 140 acres, Quintas de Óbidos is impressive. The villas are built to order so there are fewer than ten completed so far. They cost from €1.5 million to €1.9 million, all have five bedrooms and are built in a traditional Mediterranean style, but on a grand scale. Even the smallest plot is the size of a football pitch and each house has a large swimming pool, tiled in palegrey, to blend better with the landscape. Solar heating comes as standard, and the water is supplied by boreholes, so buyers can also tick the eco-friendly box.
Source: The Times, Friday 11 November 2011
