Ponte de Lima, Portugal

Terra Rosa Country House & Vineyards

Price per night from$153.10

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR141.51), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Hip hops house

Setting

Vinho verde vineyards

Rustic is not a dirty word at Terra Rosa Country House & Vineyards, a gloriously isolated boutique agriturismo with seven rooms and suites that radiate vintage country chic. You may even be compelled to rise early (from Egyptian cotton sheets) here, for strolls past the whitewashed chapel, through vineyards and gardens brimming with cypress and olive trees, to the river that snakes around the estate. Maybe pause to swing in the hammock and listen to the morning birdsong, then plunge into the heated outdoor pool. Then it'll be time for breakfast, where farmyard fare includes fresh eggs, just-baked breads and homemade jams.

Smith Extra

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A bottle of wine on arrival

Facilities

Photos Terra Rosa Country House & Vineyards facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Seven, including three suites.

Check–Out

12 noon. Earliest check-in, 4pm. Times are flexible depending on room availability but guests can make use of the communal areas while they wait. Staff are on site from 7.30am–8pm. Please contact the property if you expect to arrive outside these times.

Prices

Double rooms from £128.53 (€150), including tax at 6 per cent.

More details

Rates include an extensive farm-style continental breakfast served in the dining room, including eggs, homemade cakes and jams, cheeses, hams, fruits, muesli and granola.

Also

Owner Francisco Rosa and his daughter Eliana have reimagined and restored their rural quinta over several years, including the grand manor house and the former hops-drying barn – complete with original iron chimney – where guests can now stay. The estate’s vineyards produce up to 1,000 barrels of vinho verde each year.

At the hotel

Heated outdoor pool (towels provided), mini golf green, bikes to borrow, free WiFi, living and dining areas. In rooms: tea- and coffee-making kit with Twinings tea and Nespresso coffee, stocked minibar, free bottled water, smart TV, bathrooms with Egyptian cotton towels, organic Rerum Natura toiletries and bathrobes and slippers.

Our favourite rooms

Rooms here are inspired by the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, a philosophy that finds beauty in transience and imperfection. So there’s nothing accidental about the timeworn woods and handwoven rugs, and the cool geometric sculptures – a different one in every room – that adorn the walls. Meanwhile, luxury touches including Egyptian cotton towels and bedding and organic Rerum Natura toiletries raise these rustic retreats to the next level. Choose the Chimney or Granary suites for a little extra living space and furnished balconies that overlook the pool and gardens.

Poolside

The saltwater outdoor pool is open 9am–8pm between May and October. It’s heated, and you can order Portuguese wines and snacks from its bar throughout the day. Enjoy on the terrace where wicker sofas and lichen-clad stone tanks provide the picture-perfect backdrop for sangria and a siesta.

Packing tips

A visit to the nearby Peneda-Gerês National Park should be considered all but essential when visiting this part of Portugal. Pack some sturdy hiking boots and a good pair of binoculars for spotting native honey buzzards and short-toed eagles soaring over the treetops in search of lunch.

Children

Suites can accommodate up to two children on the sofa bed, and cots are extra beds are also available in some of the larger standard rooms. Little Smiths are welcome in the pool if accompanied, and there are wooden games to play with in the grounds.

Sustainability efforts

The quinta produces its own vinho verde from over 100 acres of vineyards, as well as having an organic vegetable garden which, alongside local suppliers, keeps the estate’s chefs in the freshest seasonal produce year-round. Water from the river powers the mills and irrigates the land, while solar panels generate much of the farm’s electricity, and energy-saving LED bulbs, timers and sensors help to conserve it. As part of Terra Rosa’s no-plastic policy, sustainable Rerum Natura toiletries come in refillable containers.

Food and Drink

Photos Terra Rosa Country House & Vineyards food and drink

Dress Code

Countryside chic for gentle strolls and photo opps in the vineyards: think animal motifs, floral prints and floppy, wide-brimmed hats.

Hotel restaurant

The Terra Rosa restaurant conjures up a range of dishes (avocado and poached eggs, smoked salmon and feta, mozzerella salads and prawn linguine) using produce from local farms and its own organic vegetable garden. It's open for lunch and serves light meals in the dining room and al fresco on the terrace right up until 6.30pm, in case you fany an early dinner. 

Hotel bar

The wine bar is open for sangria, beer, local wines and light snacks until 8pm.

Last orders

The restaurant opens daily from 12.30pm until 6.30pm.

Location

Photos Terra Rosa Country House & Vineyards location
Address
Terra Rosa Country House & Vineyards
R. de São Pedro de Calvelo nº195
Ponte de Lima
4990-580
Portugal

Terra Rosa Country House & Vineyards is a charmingly restored 18th-century quinta in Portugal’s sun-drenched Minho region, a short drive from the ancient towns of Braga and Ponte de Lima.

Planes

Porto Airport is around 45 miles away and under an hour by car. Transfers can be arranged on request.

Automobiles

You’ve got more chance of hailing a tractor than a cab in this sleepy agrarian region, so you’ll definitely want your own set of wheels if you plan to dine out in mediaeval Viana do Castelo or pick up souvenir charcuterie and wines at Ponte de Lima’s markets. You’ll find plenty of car rental agencies at Porto Airport.

Worth getting out of bed for

Slow-paced and sleepy northern Portugal may be, but for the keen golfer, the amateur historian, the happy hiker and the budding wine expert it’s something of a treasure trove.

Golfers itching for something a little more challenging than the Terra Rosa estate’s small putting green will find the mountainous 18-hole Ponte de Lima course, set amid historic mansions, fruit orchards and corn fields, a mere 10 minutes’ drive away, just outside its namesake village. 

Ponte de Lima carries the bold claim of being Portugal’s oldest village. Founded nearly 1,000 years ago, it’s a photographer’s dream of baroque and neoclassical churches and manor houses, all centred around the mediaeval gothic stone bridge that gives the town its name. Highlights here include the church of St Anthony of Terre Velha, an ornate 18th-century confection profiled against the mountains, with gleaming whitewashed walls and a facade festooned with azulejo tiles. Pick up local cheese, charcuterie and wine at the morning municipal market and visit during the town’s International Garden Festival, which showcases the villagers’ love affair with all things floral every year between May and October. The nearby cities of Viana do Castelo on the coast and Braga further inland offer similar diversions on a somewhat grander scale.

The Minho region is also home to Portugal’s only designated national park. Peneda-Gerês is a densely forested mountain wilderness that spans some 270 square miles, dotted with tiny, ancient villages and home to mythical mountain beasts such as wolves, ibex and eagles. Get lost (well, not literally) on the mountain trails, hike the ancient Roman road, kayak the Cávado River rapids and explore the crenellated fortifications at the mediaeval Castle of Lindoso close to the Spanish border.

Back at the estate, activities abound. You can borrow bikes to explore the surrounding countryside (at a gentle pace, natch) and picnic beneath cypress trees on the manicured lawns. You can bathe in the original stone tanks and cool off in the Neiva River. More soul-soothing experiences are expected to go live in the coming months, including vineyard massages, horseback tours of the quinta, grape harvesting and open-air cinema.

Local restaurants

The restaurant at Terra Rosa Country House & Vineyards closes at 6.30pm but fear not, for alternative options abound.

Ponte de Lima is the place for traditional taverna-style fare in stone-clad buildings. A large azulejo panel depicting Roman soldiers on horseback leads the charge to Restaurante A Tulha, where beamed ceilings, chandeliers and grilled meats are the order of the day. 

You’ll find steakhouses, sushi joints and other international fare aplenty in Braga, where Omakase is pick of the bunch for colourful sashimi platters, crunchy salads and ramens.

Louro raises the bar in Viana do Castelo with its contemporary take on Portuguese classics, served in an elegant dining room beneath wicker lanterns. Gorge on octopus terrine with red onion caviar and pork cheeks with tiger prawns and potato mousseline.

Local bars

Similarly, the smattering of bars in Ponte de Lima may have you widening your search for booze if you're here for more than a few days. Chusso is the pick of the bunch, thanks to its old stone walls, colourful artworks and regular live music.

Braga has a more eclectic selection, such as Setra Urban & Cocktail Bar with its purposely shabby interior decor, colourful cocktails and rooftop terrace overlooking the terracotta-tiled rooftops and mediaeval churches.

Meanwhile, ale aficionados should hop over to Ribeiro’s Brewers in Viana do Castelo, where Portugal’s ubiquitous Super Bock pilsner is almost conspicuous by its absence, usurped by superior selections from the bar’s own brewery as well as from other Portuguese and international producers.

Reviews

Photos Terra Rosa Country House & Vineyards reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this remote wine estate in rural north Portugal and unpacked (and uncorked) their souvenir bottle of vinho verde, a full account of their off-grid break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Terra Rosa Country House & Vineyards near the ancient village of Ponte de Lima

Time seems to stand still at Terra Rosa Country House & Vineyards, starting the very minute you stroll up the long, cypress-lined drive. The estate’s main buildings, all lovingly restored by father-daughter duo Francisco and Eliana Rosa, hark back to simpler times: there’s a traditional 18th-century Minho manor, a second house with its own chapel, and a former warehouse. Then there’s the guest accommodation. A revamped hops-drying house complete with original schist facade and iron chimney, inside is pure vintage chic, all chunky antique wood furnishings, hand-carved ornaments and retro radios, many of which you can take home with you. No, not stuffed surreptitiously into a suitcase; almost all of the furniture you see can be purchased from the Terra Rosa store. Or you could just sink into a cushioned wicker sofa on the terrace and swig ice-cold vinho verde as the sun sets over the vineyards.

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Price per night from $153.10