Near Pedrógão Grande - Large Farmhouse, Sweet Plot

69,000 € - 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 739 m² built/300 m² floor/5,620 m² plot. Tavern/grocery on the ground floor. Water source. Land has been worked and maintained, some fruit trees. Lots of storage. Annex for animals. Very close to Pedrógão Grande. 4 minute drive to Rio Unhais.

From idealista. Advertised by Esfera Real.

"Ideal property for those looking for a large house with a nice large yard. In the village of Pesos Cimeiros, near the bay of Cabril.

The house has on the first floor living room, kitchen, 2 bathrooms and 5 bedrooms. It also has a large balcony with sunroom. Nice views. On the lower floor has an old grocery store with tavern, several arrumos and cellar. Inner courtyard with lots of privacy. Annex with several storage rooms and outdoor kitchen with fireplace and wood oven.

Needs reconstruction / maintenance works.

The land is flat, have excellent sun exposure, with fruit trees, well and annex for animals.

Quiet village, near the river Zêzere, albfeira do Cabril. Close to local association with bar. Approx 3 minutes drive from the village of Pedrógão Grande."

• Detached house

• 2 floors

• 739 m² built, 300 m² floor area

• T5

• 2 bathrooms

• Land plot of 5,620 m²

• Second hand/needs renovating

• Energy efficiency rating: F (ECI not indicated)"

Location, Location, Location

This property is in the same relative neighbourhood as the first place in Central Portugal I looked at: Taking a Peek at Property in Central Portugal: Thought Provoking

This location is much better than that one, though. The map below shows where both of them are. The Google marker is the other property, and the red arrow indicates this one:

Zooming in a bit:

This is the immediate area:

I have not identified the specific location yet, much to my annoyance, but it's likely on the left of the above image, somewhere in the vicinity of the white "X." I've narrowed it down to a couple of possibilities, but neither of them fit all of the bill. As you can see, the river is basically right there and there are quite a few families around. This image was taken where that white X is:

What's really a bonus is just how close to Pedrógão Grande it is. Being walking distance to a number of amenities and services is invaluable. Here are two views of the town:

Wide-angle on Street View sure can be funky.

A little light Googling and map perusing reveals that Pedrógão Grande offers a sports centre with gym and gymnasium, football stadium, restaurants, cafes, groceries, banks, dentist, medical clinic, marina, etc. Even an outdoor go-kart track.

So, geographic location is very good. Close to a town, close to a river, a not inconsiderable local population. The proximity to water is very helpful from both a recreation and climatic perspective. Swimming and fishing, great, but all that water also has a slight ameliorating effect during the summer, taking the edge off high temperatures. The next Street View image was taken in the vicinity some time in August, 2019, as are all of the Street View images of the area. That's the peak of the summer, and while it is clearly dry, it's perhaps a little less dry than it might be:

I just discovered that there is a new version of Google Earth out. Here is a perspective view of the area:

Clicking on the above should trigger Google Earth and this view. Pretty cool.

As should be obvious by now, I really like this location.

Weather/Climate

I covered the Weather Spark data for Pedrógão Grande in a recent post, so I'll just link to their report. The short version - hot, dry, clear summers and cold, wet, cloudy winters. As mentioned, proximity to the lake can only help during those hot summer days. This graphic is a useful summary:

Related to the climate is the risk of wildfires. The area is forested, and some Google Mapping and Street Viewing show that these are mostly tree plantations, looks like a combination of pine and eucalyptus. There isn't much of the ordered terrace-style planting method, but I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing. These more disordered forests might have more undergrowth? Maybe. Learning more about this topic is high on my list of priorities. Once again, at least there is a very large volume of water nearby.

The Property

I really do wish I had a satellite image of this place, but so far it is not to be. Can you feel my pain? Eesh. I spent a long time looking but no dice.

Regardless. At almost one and a half acres, it could be bigger, but what is there looks good. The photos of the land reveal flat, gently sloping pasture. That it is not overgrown and is covered with short grass indicates that it has been plowed recently. The scattered grassy lumps show that the plowing was quite coarse. Around a dozen or so smallish fruit trees. A well/borehole, with what looks like another one behind it, probably a cistern. Plenty of room for more fruit trees and as big a vegetable/berry patch as you want. I would love to see photos of the annexes. Having good storage is so important when taking on a property like this one. "Outdoor kitchen" usually means the ubiquitous bread oven with a work counter and maybe some shelves. There is some amount of view, though hard to tell how much at its best. Again, a photo taken from the best vantage point would be useful.

(Aside: When we move to Portugal, one way I will try to make some cash is as a freelance real estate photographer. It blends all my interests into one job. Pity it took 52 years to figure that out.)

There are a number of neighbouring houses fairly nearby, and the description of the ground floor room as a "grocery" suggests a cluster of properties that this place is a part of. That reduces privacy but increases community involvement, a good thing in my opinion. The nice thing about having a bit of land to work with is that you can establish a private chill zone. Throw down a deck, an above-ground pool, rig some shade, transplant some screening bushes and trees - you're golden.

I like it very much, and I suspect I would like it even more with more information.

The House

To be frank, the house is a little intimidating in terms of the amount of work required to bring it up to a comfortable speed. It's a big place, but its bigness is an advantage during renovations. You can clean and prep immediate living spaces to acceptable levels and then work on other parts of the house. That way you aren't sleeping in construction, at least. The shabby interior will also act as a deterrent to anyone who is not interested in that kind of work. From what I see, there is a lot of potential.

Conclusion

Thumbs up!