Embracing the Good Life in the Algarve: On The Fence

Good Life Algarve

Years ago, Mark and I bought a cottage back in the Algarvian hills behind Faro near the town of Sao Bras de Alportel. It was bought for holidays, to live in between work contracts in other places, and to in time, retire to. The cottage isn't very smart and we have updated almost nothing inside the building in 15 years. At the outset, I thought there was no point in spending money upgrading until we were able to spend more time here in retirement. Of course, I now have some regrets given the increase in renovation prices in recent years. That technology has not moved at quite the pace I had expected in a decade and a half, at least in its application to renovation, energy use and water capture is also surprising. Improvements have been made, but radical solutions are few and far between.  

 Fixing up the inside of the house and its outer fabric is one thing, we are currently talking with local builders to improve our render, insulation and double glaze the windows. The gardens have been much more relevant to us as the climate here is so conducive to spending time outside, and the assistance of local gardeners Luis and Marta invaluable. I admit to struggling with the summer heat and escaping it when I can, either by returning inside or by spending time in more temperate places. For the other ten months of the year, it's an outdoor life, apart from the rainy moments. The photo of our pool garden above was taken just a few months ago in Spring 2025 with new plantings of roses, clematis, grasses, hibiscus and gardenias Even though we have had a very hot summer the growth has been astounding, the grasses were recently cut back having grown to almost 2 metres. Everything was watered regulary throughout the heatwave as it was all so new, to good effect, take a look at it now.

one summer later

 Currently, I'm quite engaged with the idea of fences embracing solar panels. We recently removed some tall cyprus hedging that was a high fire risk close to the house and replaced it with the low wall and green fence panels. If I had thought of it earlier, I might have tried using solar fence panels already. Still the Horta is in need of re-fencing so there is hope yet. In the UK Jacksons solar fence panels offer a really sturdy and aesthetically pleasing option. From Austria and Germany we have Next2Sun https://next2sun.com with their dual sided photovoltaic fence panels. Now, we may need to find a good Algarve supplier and installer. Maybe Sun4Homes will be worth a try?

The Horta - Kitchen Garden

This autumn we are going to plant up as many of the old vegetable beds as we can get around to, for cropping before Christmas and through until next June. By July, the water requirement to maintain crops often becomes very high so we don't expect crops through July and August, the odd tomato and chilli excepted. As we improve water catchment and reuse, hopefully the quality of what we do harvest will improve as well. Last year, the winter rains ensured our pathways became virtually impassable with waist high weeds, yet now, just grit and dust. I would like to reinstate our chickens for eggs and also to feed the growing beds, but the timing isn't quite right, so in lieu of on site chicken manure, we started by getting a 30 kilo bag of dried chicken manure pellets for E10 at the weekend, at Messinagro near Olhao a bargain!

The last few years proved challenging for us in some ways, mixing the needs of elderly parents with our own, and the passing of generations, but that time is now over. I had wondered if the gardens might be too much for us going forward, but right now, It's our time to stop sitting on the fence, time to seize our days and enjoy our good Algarve life when we can, making the garden and house work for us - a boa vida.

The links within the post have been added for your ease of reference. No payment is received by the article author when they are clicked.

Copyright remains with Caroline Anderson.