Colina Mansel takes its name from the hillside above Santa Bárbara de Nexe, in the hills behind Faro, and our family home in Wales. The villa is in the hills where the Algarve’s coastal plain starts folding up into the Serra do Caldeirão. The Morris family has owned the villa since 1994, drawn by the view of olive groves and orange trees running down towards the Ria Formosa, the Atlantic coast, and the barrier islands beyond.
The house is still a small, traditional family villa: three bedrooms, a pool, and a terrace built for long lunches or a glass of rose in the shade. It’s a quiet corner of the Algarve: ten minutes from the restaurants of Santa Bárbara de Nexe, twenty from Faro’s old town, close enough to the coast for a beach day and far enough inland to hear only cicadas at night.
This site is where we can share what’s happening with the villa, along with a growing guide to where to eat and what to do in the Algarve.
