Naturest - Newsletter January 2010

Naturist news from the Alentejo, Portugal, January 2010.

Happy New Year!

Gelukkig Nieuwe Jaar - Feliz Ano Novo - Joyeux Nouvel An - Fröhe Neujahr - Feliz Año Nuevo - Felice Anno Nuovo

Preparing for our fifth season.
We can hardly believe it ourselves, but 2010 will be the fifth year that Naturest has been open. We have certainly made many new friends in the past four years.

Apart from taking a rest to recharge our batteries during the winter months when the guest house is closed, we have a lot of work to do around the house and grounds. This year is no exception and the crazy weather in December has added to our workload. Gale force winds and even a tornado lashed across the region in the days before Christmas causing some damage and even uprooting trees, which did at least give us some more fuel for our wood burning stove. The strong winds were accompanied by a considerable amount ot rain, which has replenished the water supplies after a relatively dry autumn. The stream on the edge of our grounds is quite a raging torrent now, although the water level had dropped by at least 30cm by the time we took these photographs on a beautifully warm and sunny Boxing Day. We did not escape the even greater rainfall which affected all of Portugal between Christmas and the New Year. Our well has overflowed. A stream on another boundary, which has been dry since we bought the property has been in full flow, creating a ford in our access lane. The "dry" stream, having filled up with leaves and vegetation over the years, could not cope and overflowed to create yet another water course right across our land to the other stream, which is now considerably wider and deeper than on Boxing day. Who knows, it may still be flowing long into next summer so that more guests can enjoy it. Usually by May/June it has become just a dry riverbed until the winter rain falls again.

Fast flowing stream

Apart from the weather throwing everything at us, we also experienced another Richter 6 earthquake in the early hours of 17th December. Thankfully it only broke our sleep, no real damage was caused apart from a couple of stones dislodged from old walls around the grounds.

Book your vacation at Naturest now!