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Off-grid and Ignorant in PortugalDespatches from a former BBC foreign correspondent now running an off-grid eco-luxe lodge on the Alentejo coast Author: Alastair Leithead
From Our Own Correspondent-style despatches from a former BBC reporter who's now battling to live off the grid in the Alentejo countryside. Selected audio recordings of his weekly blog which began in 2020. alastairleithead.substack.com Language: en Genres: Personal Journals, Places & Travel, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Returning Refreshed
Monday, 16 March, 2026
Portugal’s unusually wet winter put a dampener on everything except perhaps reservoir levels and groundwater reserves.So it was great to swap the “conveyor belt of storms” for a real-life airport conveyor belt as we closed our doors for a couple of weeks and headed south for some southern summer and two glorious weeks in Cape Town.We’ve now returned from the sunshine, a deep dive into South Africa’s wine industry, and the celebration of our daughter Oda’s 30th birthday, feeling like we’d had the first proper break since our crazy Alentejo adventure began.The long list of named storms that hit Portugal was a distant memory in the South African summer, and we thankfully brought the sun back with us.Even my lost bag made its way home less than 24 hours after missing its transfer in Milan with wine and biltong all present and correct.There’s something deeply relaxing and inspiring about the city perched at the end of Africa. We love Cape Town.It was my first posting as a foreign correspondent in 2001 and it’s held a special place in my heart ever since.I was immediately blown away by its beauty, it’s wild oceans and mountains and its stunning winelands where I first got a proper taste for vinho at a remarkably good exchange rate.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.A few years later it was my escape from the chaos of covering the war in Afghanistan; Ana and I made a few trips to the “Mother City” when we lived in Nairobi; and Oda also fell for its beauty, it’s fabulous affordable food and its small city life.It was her boyfriend Derek’s first trip to South Africa and he threw himself into an adventure which included jamming on a township electric guitar fashioned from an oil can, leading a packed field in a karaoke bar and climbing up Table Mountain with me (boy, I’m out of shape).Despite being on a budget we ate and drank extremely well, went to wonderful wineries and rediscovered the city, the beaches and the dramatic coastline.Oda’s birthday lunch was at an amazing place called Salsify at the historic Roundhouse building above Camps Bay and with a view of the “12 Apostles” – the mountains which line up one after another south of Table Mountain.The wine pairing menu was a wonderful blend of tastes flavours with small-production and old vine wines...I’m salivating just thinking about it.It was great to hear more Portuguese grapes are growing in South Africa and even amphora wines are being introduced, but the comparison of the two countries and the direction their wine industries are taking is another story in itself I promise to share.We stayed a couple of nights in Franschhoek, dined at Reuben’s, and I was able to catch up with the indefatigable former BBC cameraman Richard Atkinson whose house building project with the best view of the valley inspired us eight years ago.We missed university pal Nick Spotswood by a couple of hours as he headed to the UK, but his folks Bill and Judith gave us a warm welcome at the family wine farm in Stellenbosch. The view of the mountains from their stoop only gets better, their wine is delicious and the welcome as warm as ever.Luke and Lauren Hirst treated us to a proper braai and we opened some of our wines they’ve been looking after for eight years. The whites had sadly passed their best, but the reds more than made up for our sense of loss.We had a close encounter with a couple of the African Penguins formerly known as Jackasses (after their call), we hung out with some seals at the Waterfront, wandered Saturday and Sunday markets and enjoyed South Africa’s version of the Time Out Market which Lisbon is famous for.It was a great reminder of the similarities between my three favourite places: Cape Town, Portugal’s Alentejo litoral and the Central Coast of California.All have an almost identical latitude, similar climate and vegetation, beautiful light, stunning mountains, wild oceans and great wine. That’s the boxes, and they’re all ticked.While we were living it large our animals were under the excellent care of two fabulous couples.Our friends Rob and Emily who live in Lisbon took the first two week shift to watch over our house, our cats and our dogs...including the now 100 year old Simon who dabbled with incontinence and old-guy confusion before his new liver and thyroid medication properly kicked in.Alan and Margery Gledson kindly took the final stretch and helped us with some Spring cleaning and some building work before and after we returned to the valley.Thanks so much to you guys for giving us the chance for a welcome break which revitalised us as we prepare for our next full season.This week marks the one year anniversary of our tourism licence and our opening up for business, and we’re already delighted at the number of people – and retreat organisers –supporting us for 2026.While we were away a few more people signed up for our first Wine Retreat in May with the Hutchins Wine Academy.There are still a few spaces left, but it’s proved so popular we’ve already set the date for our second “Taste like a Somm” residential course: October 1st to 5th...so if you were one of those people who couldn’t make May please get in touch.In preparation for one of the retreat highlights – the “What grows Together Goes Together” pairing dinner – Joanna Hutchins (DipWSET) will be in the valley at Easter to pair up with Ana to create an Easter Sunday spectacular.We’ve built a whole weekend around it, including three nights B&B, a Good Friday fish braai and an Alentejo wine story-tasting.If you’d like to take the chance to join the party, just drop me a line or go to our website, pick your room for either Thursday-Sunday or Friday-Monday, and choose the “Escape for Easter” plan. It starts from €456pp (based on two sharing).Joanna’s still bouncing between Alentejo and Nuuk in Greenland but has recently launched a great Substack page on wine and we hope to hear more about her Portuguese wine adventures.We eased ourself back into work by hanging out with the Gledsons and it gave us a great reminder of all the interesting people you stumble across in our weird little part of Portugal.We met Nils and Erling together at the Crabstaurant (A Chaminé in Brejão) and got talking...Nils Lou is a former pilot who has a small quinta on the edge of our nearest village of São Teotónio and spends his time between here, native Denmark, and the front line of the Ukrainian war.He has more than 70 years of stories all delivered in a quiet and calm 1950s-style English accent picked up during a stint with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the UK.He flew all sorts of jet and propellor aircraft, including the first civilian United Nations flight into Kuwait during the first Gulf War, has tales of daring-do in all sorts of odd and extraordinary places, and it turns out he and his visiting pal Erling have a new hobby.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Entertaining in Portugal! This post is public so feel free to share it.They drive donated trucks from Denmark to Ukraine to help with the war effort – delivering them where they’re most in need and then finding their own way back. Keep your heads down fellas.I’m going to post another update in a week or so about another character we’ve come across in our neighborhood – I’ve mentioned the international wood architect Prof Alex de Rijke before and I’d love to share a BBC radio programme and magazine article on Portugal’s Wooden House revolution which I produced with his help...but space is too short today.Everything looks brighter after a break and in the glorious sunshine and warmth of Spring.The colourful pointillism painting our landscape becomes at this time every year is slowly starting to take shape, with the first yellows, the white seas of daisies and the tiny blues already bursting out.The energy from the sun and the water in the soil is boosting everything – the olive trees, the succulents...and of course all the weeds. The Spring strimming workout is going to be epic this year.And the real welcome home (apart from the animals) has been all the interest in our place for the summer and the autumn – planning is well underway for our first wedding in June and more yoga and tai chi retreats are blocking dates later in the year.There’s no better time to come and visit – Easter will be fun and it’s such a special time of year here in the valley.And as a thank you for following our journey please book with the code SPRING26 for a 15% reader’s discount for the rest of March and April (not including the Easter weekend).Right...got to go...wish me luck...my final B1 Portuguese exam is tonight and I really need to cram it this afternoon! Até proxima as they say around here, or see you next time. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com
