Companhia das Culturas

Castro Marim sits at the far eastern edge of the Algarve, a few kilometres from the Spanish border, where the Atlantic starts behaving more like the Mediterranean and the sea is noticeably warmer than it is further west.

A writer and farmer and his wife turned the family property here into Companhia das Culturas, and it remains a working farm. Olives, quince, oranges and figs are still grown, and what comes off the land is what appears at breakfast: fresh fruit, jams made on site, herbs that also go into the oil infusions used in the spa.

There are nine rooms and four apartments, thirteen places to stay in all. The design is so understated that it takes a while to notice it has been designed at all. Whitewashed wood, pared-back spaces, a rustic calm. There is none of the apparatus of a luxury hotel, and the rooms are better for it. None of them has a television, which is a decision rather than an oversight.

The old olive mill has become the social centre of the place, a lounge and library with a self-service bar. Alma Brava, the restaurant, cooks at the meeting point of Mediterranean, Atlantic and continental influences, which is a fair description of where you are standing. The Cork Box, a room lined in the material, handles yoga and the occasional meeting.

There is a pool, and beaches within a short drive that are calmer and warmer than the Atlantic further along the coast.

Two practical notes. The property requires a minimum two-night stay. And it sits 300 metres from Castro Marim station and 50 kilometres from Faro airport, so it is one of the few rural properties in the region reachable without a car.