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Go riding (horse or donkey) with your young hosts. Find 3 farm cottages on this charming organic estate, one contemporary, all with pools

You're close to Porto, but it's blissfully quiet. This 80-hectare organic farm, in the family for 600 years, sits in a wide and beautiful valley surrounded by ancient trees. The cottages are hidden well away from each other, and from the 15th-century house where the family lives; arrange to dine in the medieval kitchen. Casa de Soutelo, the largest, is 17th-century, solid and traditional – a typical Minho dwelling built of honey-coloured stone, and facing south. It has big comfortable bedrooms with separate bathrooms, an ample kitchen, a cosy sitting room with an open fire and a long wooden veranda looking down over woods and fields (a perfect spot for lunch). Casa da Bouça, once the farm manager's house, is more contemporary and charming; Casa do Pastor is smaller and simpler. All houses have pools but Bouça's is the most spectacular, built on a giant granite boulder. Your hosts are young people in love with nature, eager that you enjoy life on their farm. Sample Portuguese wines with José, an enologist; go adventuring on horseback (or donkeyback) with Francisco.