




House T3 in Algueirão-Mem Martins, Sintra
Sintra, LisboaHouse T3 in Algueirão-Mem Martins with multimedia







I AM THE HOUSE AT THE END OF THE ROAD. It’s not a metaphor. I really am. To reach me, you have to turn into a small private access road shared by just three properties. Here, the houses don’t even have street numbers. They have names. Mine is Casa da Ribeira — The Riverside House. And it isn’t a name chosen simply because it sounds good in a property listing. In winter, when the water is flowing, you can still hear the stream. Perhaps that is why, despite being so close to everything, the first sound you hear in the morning can still be birdsong. I am in Baratã, Sintra, surrounded by greenery, in a residential area of houses where you can still find the kind of peace and quiet that is becoming increasingly difficult to come by this close to Lisbon. And I have another interesting quality: from here, it is very easy to reach the main road connections. So, while I may feel wonderfully secluded when you are sitting in my garden, I am certainly not cut off from the world. I sit on a 840 m² plot, with more than 620 m² of outdoor space. And quite a lot has happened in this garden. There is a swimming pool where the children learned that “just five more minutes” never really means five minutes. There is room to run, space for four-legged friends, outdoor lunches and long afternoons spent with family and friends. There is also a barbecue area, an outdoor bathroom and even a shower by the pool — because a home where summer is truly lived should be ready for it. And then there is a very special tree. Around here, they call it the dummy tree. It still holds the dummies once left there by the children and cousins who grew up in this house. It wasn’t created for the photographs, nor invented as part of a sales story. It had been part of this family’s life long before anyone imagined that one day I would have new owners. Perhaps that is why the houses around here have names. Houses are living things. And I have already been home to some beautiful stories. Now, come inside. I have quite a lot to show you. Officially, I am a two-storey house. But families don’t live according to property records. On paper, I am registered as a T6, but over the years my rooms have been adapted to the way this family actually wanted to live. On the ground floor, the social areas take centre stage. I have a spacious living room with a fireplace, plenty of natural light and several direct connections to the garden. Beside it is a second living area, currently used as
