Two minutes walk from the house there is a local traditional cafe and shop. The shop sells basic items, and ideal for daily fresh bread. A bottle of beer in the cafe is 75 cents, a coffee is 50 cents.

Vila Praia de Ancora (5 mins drive) has excellent shopping facilties, including a large supermarket, restaurants, cafes, banks and pharmacy. Major banks located in Vila Praia de Ancora - ATMs available.

Less than 10 minutes drive to beautiful clean and very quiet beaches. There are a couple of Surf schools at the local beach. There is a surf board and boogy board at the house for guests to use, free of charge.

Visit the beautiful Santa Luzia Church on the hill overlooking Viana Do Castelo, which has view of the Atlantic coast - described as the one of the best views in the world by National Geographic.

Fabulous markets at Vila Nova de Cerveira (Saturday), Viana Do Castelo (Friday), Caminha (Wednesday) and many others. Excellent current season clothes that are made in portugal, but sold at a fraction of the UK prices (prices start at 3 euro for mini Boden) There are also clothes from Boden, The White Company, Fat Face, White Stuff...

Wonderful countryside for walking (Sunflower Northern Portugal book has numerous walks within easy driving distance).

Visit the Peneda-Geres National Park, an area of outstanding natural beauty, where you may spot the endangered royal eagle or catch a glimpse of an otter.

Follow the Vinho Verde wine trail along the banks of the Minho Valley which passes between undulating hills covered with the vines which produce the lightly sparkling and very tasty wine of the region.