PORTUGUESE PICK‘N’ MIX
How a traditional British sweet shop transformed a village in the Algarve – and the lives of the Welsh family running it
BY ZOE DARE HALL
Lisa and Tony Boland had never been to Portugal when, six years ago, they decided to leave their home in Ireland, with their children Tabitha and Richard in tow, for a new life on the Algarve.
“We’ve always lived in isolated places – Pembrokeshire, the Shetland Isles and then the west Cork coast, where Tony was renovating Jeremy Irons’ Kilcoe Castle,” says Lisa, 52. “When we landed in Monchique, on the western Algarve, we instantly loved it and stayed.”
It may be just 20 minutes inland from Portimão, where the Algarve’s new Formula 1 racing track has recently opened, but Monchique – an hour’s drive from Faro airport – provides a distinct contrast to the commercialised Algarve that most visitors to the coast know. It’s a peaceful, traditional town of cobbled streets surrounded by dramatic, untouched countryside, which Lisa describes as “a tapestry of fruit and vegetable terraces hidden among cork, chestnut and eucalyptus forests”.
Nearby is Caldas de Monchique, a tiny spa town whose pungently restorative Roman baths (www.monchiquetermas.com, tel: +351 2 8291 0910) are still a big draw among tourists and locals. Dotted throughout the hills are numerous abandoned farmhouses among the granite terraces, with olive and orange groves, vineyards and occasionally a lake. Prices start from around €100,000 for a ruin with a dozen acres of land through property finders such as English chartered surveyor Caroline Thomas (carlthom@lycos.com, tel: + 351 9 1638 8119), who sources properties by chatting to local shepherds. She can also arrange for renovation work to be carried out: a restored three-bedroom house with land will cost around €300,000.
“Most people think of the Algarve only as Vilamoura or Vale do Lobo, but there is so much more to the Algarve than just ‘The Strip’, as people here call the coast. If you want to really meet people you come inland,” says Lisa, who rents a typically long, one-storey house with two bedrooms in the woods behind Monchique, while Tabitha, now 25, and Richard, 21, rent flats in the town, where an average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is €300 a month.
“If you go to nearby Foia, the highest point on the Algarve, you get the most incredible views of the coastline, the valleys and lakes in between, and eagles gliding,” Lisa adds. “Monchique is a haven of tranquillity and generosity of spirit which is reminiscent of old Portugal, with its February carnival, its sausage festival in March and the shops selling local crafts such as baskets and soap. Sometimes it’s like living in a time warp protected from the outside world.”
Even Tabitha prefers their rural retreat to life on the coast: “I go to the beach in summer, but I tend to leave restaurants and nightlife till winter. The coast can get so busy in high season that I always feel relief getting back to Monchique.”
Finding a home they loved was the easy part – harder was working out how to make a living. “The sweet shop was Ricky’s idea – he wanted to buy a box of chocolates as a present and couldn’t find a sweet shop anywhere. So, with a little research, Loja do Chocolate [The Chocolate Shop, 16 Rua do Porto Fundo, Monchique; tel: +351 2 8291 1808] was born,” says Lisa of the family’s business, which sits on one of town’s typically steep hills.
The locals regarded the Welsh family with amused curiosity at first, having never seen anything quite like this colourful haven for the sweet-toothed. “But children soon started bringing their parents and grannies here,” says Lisa, as she stands among shelves of pick ‘n’ mix, toffee and homemade chocolates, truffles and nut brittle. “About 70% of our business is Portuguese and the rest is from expats and day-trippers who come up here to walk or go bird-watching.
“The shop is our life and our social circle. We meet such a wonderful variety of people from so many different countries and walks of life in here,” she adds, who works in the shop – which is open every day of the year apart from Christmas Day – with Tabitha and Tony. Richard works in restaurants and bars and helps his father with maintenance work on local properties.
Lisa, who previously worked in a bakery, says starting their own business wasn’t as difficult as they imagined, with other local business people offering help with translating paperwork and advice on local laws.
“Our attitude was just to give it a go. People thought we were mad, but we’ve been running the shop for nearly five years now,” she says. “On days off, I like to go to the west coast to walk our two rescued greyhounds, Tommy and Soul, or meet up with Ricky and Tabitha in one of the local cafés, where we always bump into friends to catch up on the news.
“In Monchique, it’s the pace and quality of life that’s important. We wake up early in the morning listening to the woodpeckers and breathing fresh mountain air. Everyone has time for each other and we never feel any stress,” she says. “We’ve had the guts to get up and go, and while we’ll never be millionaires running a sweet shop, we feel like we’ve won the lottery just by living here.”
TOP 5
THINGS TO DO IN THE ALGARVE
1 Start your engines. Catch some action at the Autódromo Internacional, the new Formula 1 race track in Sítio do Escampadinho, near Portimão (roughly 50 minutes west of Faro). With McLaren signed up for winter testing here, you might just catch a glance of Lewis and the boys. There’s also a sports complex, go-karting circuit and a tourist resort (www.autodromodoalgarve.com, tel: +351 2 8240 5600).
2 Go wine-tasting with Cliff. Mr Richard may have slipped up by saying he wouldn’t buy his own blend, Vida Nova, in a blind tasting on Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word, but you can make up your own mind on a tour of the singer’s winery, Adega do Cantor at Quinta do Miradouro in Guia, near Albufeira (www.winesvidanova.com, tel: +351 9 6877 6971).
3 Walk on the wild side. There’s more to the Algarve than golf resorts and Portugal Walks (www.portugalwalks.com, tel: +44 (0)87 1711 3315, +351 9 6575 3033) will take you on guided treks to see it. The two- to three-hour walks run year round and cost €5, some of which goes to sponsoring children in developing countries. Routes include the Monchique hills and the west coast.
4 Do some horse whispering.
Soak up the Algarve on horseback at the Holistic Riding Centre (www.holistic-riding.com, tel: +351 2 8268 8038) in Vinha Velha, near Lagos (about an hour west of Faro). More than just riding, learn natural breathing, posture and balance and how to communicate with your horse through body language.
5 Get off the beaten track. Don’t fancy horses? Take to the hills on a quad bike instead. Quad Ventura (www.quad-ventura.com, tel: +351 9 6249 7037) is an Albufeira-based company run by English couple Claire and Rory, who’ll take you places that would be tricky by car or exhausting on foot. Prices from €50 for one person or €75 for two sharing a quad.
