Vilarabe

Vilarabe is an estate rather than a villa — four hectares of private land at Vale Currais in the central Algarve, with a tennis court, a gym, ocean views and a house at the centre of it. Six bedrooms, twelve guests.

An in-house chef is available, which given the scale of the grounds is the sensible way to eat: there is a wine cooler, a piano, an indoor fireplace and a terrace that runs the length of the house. The pool is heated and private, and the land around it means no neighbours in any direction.

Four hectares in the central Algarve is close to unheard of. It buys total privacy within twenty minutes of the coast's best beaches — Marinha, Benagil, Carvoeiro — and makes the house viable for a wedding, a milestone birthday or a family that simply does not want to see anyone for a week.