We’ve heard many encouraging words in the various iterations of these despatches, from Off-Grid and Ignorant, Off-Grid and Open and now Off-Grid and Entertaining (people)...in Portugal.

And having welcomed quite a few guests already this summer, we love seeing their words left on the website reviews sections even more.

Obviously the five out of fives and the ten out of tens aren’t going to last forever, but right now we’re loving it...and loving the people enjoying our infinity pool, those doing a wine story tasting, having breakfast, or joining one of our big-table family-style meals.

“Congratulations” said Pedro as I introduced our latest guest and his partner to the valley, explaining how we fell in love with the view at first sight and how it was all a eucalyptus forest just a few years ago.

I’d just explained their arrival had brought us a full house for the first time – all rooms occupied and one hopeful guest sadly having to be turned away.

It was another marvellous milestone on this journey towards running our own little eco-luxe lodge in Alentejo.

Our first full house involved an interesting mix of Dutch, Portuguese, French and British folk who somehow stumbled upon us and arrived curious about what we’ve done, or just in need of some well-earned summer rest.

The following day was a second – not quite so impressive milestone – our first overbooking.

We’re getting to grips with the software which keeps all the calendars on all the various booking sites up to date, but we made a mistake filling in the cleaning schedules spreadsheet and it left us thinking we had a room when we didn’t.

Easy to do...much harder to resolve.

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Thankfully our friends at nearby Monte de Silveira had an open room and we were able to solve the problem before the guests even realised there was a problem.

In July that’s tough but possible...in August everything will be packed, so we can’t make that mistake again! A good lesson early on.

Speaking of which, the calendar is now a sea of colour...we’ve been overwhelmed by just how many people have booked...and how many keep calling every day asking if we can fit them in.

We’ve had a wonderful range of guests: German newlyweds on their honeymoon, a Polish couple who loved their wine and their wine tasting, two Spanish guys working in the area and loving the pool in the evenings.

The banking consultant who helped us buy our flat in Lisbon more than 10 years ago arrived to celebrate her birthday and we managed to get a dinner together.

Rachael, Daisy and Ed the painter stayed a week – Ed will be back in October for his painting retreat (just one space left!).

We hosted our first Valley Sessions event featuring businessman and candidate for the Portuguese presidential election, Tim Vieira to talk politics and answer some tough questions over wine.

Mauro the winemaker walked the soon-to-be vineyard with me suggesting when to do what to the land, how many bush-vines to plant and which grape varieties to mix in.

There have been so many wonderful people...and all have left very kind comments.

Two young women arrived in a taxi happy to spend all day in the pool and relaxing in the shade – we usually tell people coming by car gives you a much better chance to explore, but these guys were incredibly happy just hanging out here!

September is also starting to get busy and that’s a fantastic time of year on this coast, with the ocean at its warmest and the summer rush of tourists having past.

That’s why we’d like you to come and see us!

If you go onto our website and booking engine here and then enter the promotional code BLOG25 you’ll get a 15% discount from our soft-opening rates for the whole of September (but don’t tell anyone).

It’s a huge relief after all the worries about whether people would find us, whether they’d like the place and whether they’d tell their friends about their time “In the country, on the coast and off the grid”...as we sometimes put it.

Well, they have. We’re actually doing it...we’ve built it and they are coming...

It’s been a little over five years since we arrived in Portugal in the middle of COVID and the diplomat/journalist couple who’d bounced around the world for decades decided to give up their old lives and try running a business.

In retrospect, the first few years were easy: we just had to spend money – now we have to make it.

Regular readers will know how funny those retrospective words sound, given the challenges we’ve faced with funding, battling bureaucracy for permissions, project managing the construction and working out all the off-grid infrastructure.

We almost gave up a couple of times as inflation soared, paperwork stalled so long we almost lost our funding and we battled to keep control of our budget.

Naivety has certainly been our friend.

For three years worries over water kept us awake at night, but now there’s lovely, soft minerally water running from the taps and the off-grid systems are holding up well to the high demand.

There’s still plenty of DIY work to do tweaking the occasional leaking pipe and putting in some extra infrastructure, but the focus has switched to something we’re more practiced at: providing people with a warm welcome.

It did lead me to the realisation I didn’t have any nice clothes left, having trashed them all working on the land.

Thankfully Ana discovered a hidden box of the smart shirts I used to wear while reporting for the BBC – crisply collared shirts worn with the sleeves rolled up in whatever war zone I’d been thrown into.

Now it’s a fabulous roller-coaster ride of guests arriving and departing as a new and steeper learning curve of invoicing, payment systems and booking engines is providing the stress we’ve been missing since we got our license.

At least the money is now coming in as well as going out.

We take turns leading a little tour explaining what off-the-grid means...urging people to try and beat the 5-minutes’ worth of sand in the hour glass when they shower.

Anyone showing a brief flash of additional interest soon regrets it, as I get into the weeds on pipes, pumps, LPWAN monitoring systems, pH regulators and salt sensors.

(On that note, I have a short radio documentary going out this week on the rise of LPWAN and the Internet of Things) on the BBC’s Business Daily programme – not sure exactly which day yet, but it’ll appear here when they’ve filled the schedule).

I officially bore myself now when I enthusiastically dive down the water-filled rabbit hole and confuse people with TLAs (three letter acronyms).

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Amid busy and creative breakfast-making – and the fun bit of getting to know our guests who’ve somehow discovered us from all over the world – there’s a new sea of bureaucracy that any small business owner will recognise.

Invoices, three different rates of VAT (IVA here) and balancing the books has taught us how we’re just one part in a complicated system of helping other people making money...out of us.

Everyone seems to get their cut, but I guess that’s just how the world works.

Luckily the local parish council levelled our dirt road just in time for the summer rush – still providing guests with a suitable amount of adventure, but without as much risk to their vehicles.

Thankfully the guests who I accidentally (and massively) undercharged the other day came back to say they owed us money after realising my mistake.

Business basics.

They say ignorance is bliss...and we enjoyed being Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal for ages...but now we have to step up and know what we’re doing.

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There are big laundry and recycling runs – to drop off the empties from our wine tasting events – visits to the local butcher and the lovely lady at the little cheese shop to show off to guests all the wonderful things we’ve discovered since we arrived.

And there’s something strangely satisfying about one-day turn-around of rooms as one set of guests leave just as another group arrives.

Our marketing education resumes whenever we come up for air, and amid the demands of high tourist season, we make plans and put out posts for painting retreats and walking holidays in the autumn and spring.

It’s a new and fun stage in our transformation from international travellers to hosts and professional entertainers.

We took a bet on our beautiful view and so far everyone seems to agree with us...that this part of coastal Alentejo is something very special with its wild beaches, hidden coves and great restaurants.

We’ve still got a long way to go, but I think we’re heading in the right direction.

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