Our Story

Hello,

This is Joana and it's my pleasure to share with you the story about this special place, which is also telling you a little about my family, so here it goes...

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In 1950s Engineer Arsénio Nunes da Fonseca while exploring the São Félix Hill area, discovered five windmills that had been destroyed by time, impressed by the views of the place he decided to bring the windmills back to life as his own holiday retreat. (Fun fact, one of these windmills was transformed into a flour mill, a reminder of the area's rich history).

Fast forward to 1970s he decided to build a proper holiday house to offer his grandchildren (Olímpia, Beatriz and Arsénio, children of António and Madalena Sampaio) while respecting the scenary around.
In 1975 the Moinho House was inaugurated and became a retreat place for the Sampaio family for decades to come. Weekends, summer holidays, Christmas, Easter, wedding celebrations and festivities were all spent in this beautiful place that we dearly address as Moinho.

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Madalena Sampaio, my grannie, is by far the most well known personality of São Félix Hill, for nearly 40 years she had a small ice cream business, which financially helped to the maintnance of the space. 
Being in her 80's now, we have decided it was time for her to retire from her small business and we took over the financial expenses of the house, and this is the reason why today we invite you come visit us and enjoy the beauty of this place!