Some have said that this part of the Alentejo coast reminds the Douro, finger pointed at the hills and with the legs accusing the rise. “We were lucky, there aren’t many places in the Alentejo that high, with this view,” says Glenn, blue eyes, t-shirts and short shorts – light years away from the suits he wore while working in advertising. The woman, Berny Serrão, brings another geographic coordinate to the conversation. Mozambican and passionate about interior design, she made “a little Africa” in what she decided to call Paraíso Escondido (Hidden Paradise). “We even have a lion dog,” she jokes, referring to Zulu, the portentous Rhodesian lion who appears as soon as he hears a whistle.
The sign that is in the mother house refers to it, again jokingly. “All guests must be approved by the dog,” it reads – a sign of the familiar and relaxed atmosphere that is breathed throughout the property. Mix of rural tourism with guesthouse, in Paraíso Escondido there are also two bungalows erected with stakes in the middle of the trees. Two wooden houses with colonial air – there is no shortage of four-poster bed and a metal fan on the ceiling – and a pair of white chairs on the porch to enjoy the tranquility, hear the wind in the trees and see the stars of the famous Alentejo sky.
The expansion ended at the end of 2017 and brought other news. The initial five rooms opened in 2014 have now become ten, which includes new suites, with different concepts. Two face the lake and are designed for longer stays, the other two reflect the route of the owners before they decide to drop everything and move to Alentejo in 2008. One is called Jasmine and has echoes from when they lived in Singapore, which includes the oriental pillows and the huge bathtub by the bed. The other was named Marula, in reference to a “fruit that elephants like to eat” and is, as the name implies, the African suite. “At the bottom it’s an independent little house,” says Berny as he strolls through the bright room, decorated with ethnic cushions, a huge basket on the wall and a photograph of a zebra in the savannah.
Along with the number of beds, the house that welcomes guests has also grown and now has a dining room with capacity for 20 people and a bar called Maguduza – another African reference, in this case to the name by which Berny’s father was known in Mozambique. It is behind the counter that Glenn prepares the aperitif of the house – a kind of Tonic Port flavored with juniper – and it is on the wooden tables, decorated with fresh eucalyptus sprouts, that breakfasts with various products from the region are served, from organic scrambled eggs to jams of ‘Alma da nossa gente’, a brand from Odemira, only 20 kilometres away.
The “farm to table” concept is maintained for dinners, served upon prior reservation. “We try to make everything as sustainable as possible and respect nature,” says Berny, who chose eco-friendly fireplaces for the suites and developed a water use system to water the property’s small vegetable garden by the pool. One of the reasons for wanting to come to the Alentejo was this: to be in contact with nature, to create a project of yours from scratch and, by the way, to escape the gray climate of London, where the couple also lived for seven years. “The Alentejo reminds me of the landscapes of Africa and also has beaches nearby, such as Mozambique,” says the owner. The closest to Hidden Paradise is zambujeira do Mar, but Berny has a list of favorites that he shares with guests who want to explore the region – “the” list, as he calls it, and where are also indicated the best restaurants of the Alentejo coast.
As for the name, it was the first feeling Berny had when he visited the eight-hectare property, at the time made only of eucalyptus and with the lake in the center. “It really looked like a Hidden Paradise,” she says, almost in a whisper. Little did she know that there were two localities next door called Barranco do Inferno and Purgatory, only that he had found his oasis.