We bought a house!

With the help of our realtor, Graça, who had showed us the garden/ruin property as well, we found this little slice of heaven in the village of Quatro Ribeiras.

We were immediately enamored with the property. A cute 2-bedroom cottage, furnished, next to a stream, with driveway, parking, and a 1/5 acre garden full of fruit trees! So far accounted for: banana trees (dozen?), custard apple (annonas) trees x 2, orange trees x 2, mature chestnut trees x 3, and a handful of small araçal trees (which produce a small guava-like fruit).

Our Mill House – A Nossa Casa do Moinho

Remarkably, it took only ten days from offer to closing. On March 9 we became the proud new owners of what the locals call ‘the mill’ (the lower level was a flour mill and still has the grain hopper and millstones). We plan to use the mill room for laundry/storage/workspace.

‘The Mill’ & Quatro Ribeiras

Quatro Ribeiras is a village of about 400 people on the north side of Ilha Terceira known for its four streams (the meaning of its name), its lava field / swimming area, and for having one of the oldest churches on the island (1455 AD). The surrounding countryside is lush pastureland divided by volcanic rock walls which corral the happiest cows you’ve ever seen…

North coast: Sea and scenery

The swimming area is only a 5 minute walk from our place! We are really looking forward to swimming here, hearing the waves as they crash into the lava field like thunder.