About Us

Casa Aguia: Main view and terrace.

Tourism

Prior to developing Vale da Cegonha we had over 20 years experience in the holiday industry as hoteliers in Cornwall. Our hotel was 2 star rated and we were both awarded ‘Welcome Host’ and ‘Welcome All’  certificates by the tourist board. We were very proud of these accolades, as it confirmed the standard of our accommodation and the quality of service given to all our guests.

We have taken great care, therefore, to ensure that equally high standards are achieved here by providing spacious comfortable villa accommodation with quality furnishings and, as resident proprietors, we are able to offer you our personal attention throughout your visit. Whether you have a problem to be solved swiftly, need advice on the best restaurants or just fancy a friendly chat at the end of the day, we are here when you need us, there in the background when you don’t.

It also enables us to offer you the choice of catering for yourselves, booking a meal in the dining room or eating out.

Project Preparation, Monitoring and Liaison

We came to Portugal in March 2006 to begin developing Vale da Cegonha. After many months of research we were confident that we had all the right answers to our questions and that work could start on our project almost at once.

That confidence soon turned to dismay as we found that getting the right answers is easy, but ensuring that the right questions are put to the correct people is much more difficult. Even some legal documents proved unreliable and with regard to the buildings themselves, we discovered that what we had been assured we could build contravened Portuguese building regulations. Yet we had a builder quite happy to proceed without any regard for the future difficulties we would face getting a licence to use them. Rogue Traders, it seems, are alive and well everywhere.

At this point we took matters into our own hands, found out what would comply with building regulations before submitting our own re-drawn plans for which we gained full approval almost immediately.

We then drew up a list of respected licensed builders who were invited to quote before we made our choice. As we were living on site, we were able to discuss progress with our builder most days. Any problems being sorted out at once.

This whole process has been very time consuming, but would have been much more difficult if we had had to rely on occasional visits and long distance phone calls. It has, however, given us a wealth of knowledge and experience such that we are now able to offer our services to you. Whether that is at the planning stages, or monitoring the work and liasing with you in your absence - see our Homeseekers page for more details.

So, whether you are planning to visit as a holidaymaker, a prospective neighbour or a mixture of both, we look forward to welcoming you to Vale da Cegonha.

Penny and Greg