The village really does offer you the chance to live in ‘authentic Portugal’, well away from the Algarve Brit pack and the ‘English all-day Breakfast’ cafes! (Although there is a local English group who hold Fish and Chip Suppers, if that’s your thing).

If you want to live in a beautiful location and avoid towns, cities and hoodies, then this is the place. Living amongst friendly, kind Portuguese people is a fantastic existence and once you adjust to their time-keeping – 10 am tomorrow sometimes ends up as 3.30 next Wednesday – and get used to the local folk singing, you’ll feel right at home.

If you’re a culture vulture then the art and entertainment of Lisbon can easily be reached for the day, by car or by the amazing and so so cheap train service from Pombal, just 20 minutes away. Overnight stays will only cost you about 40/60€ for two. There’s even an IKEA!

Food – Bread, wine and cheese are great. Wine is unbelievably cheap and very drinkable. However, try to avoid being dragged into one of the local’s Cava (basements) to sample the local brew – the way they swig it straight back in one indicates just how awful it is.

Language – Portuguese sounds Slavic! The resident Ukrainians, Russians etc really are at an advantage but it’s certainly possible for everyone to learn, especially if you try Brazilian Portuguese first and work on the accent later. Most under 40s speak some English and most 20-year-olds and 90% of professionals are fluent so there’s no pressure to learn right away. Even when you try to string a sentence together and ask for your bread rolls, the delivery driver normally beats you to it with a perfectly pronounced “Good morning. How many today?”