Our ratings

These are ratings that we ourselves have given to each house. The aim is to give you a quick indication of what the house is like with respect to the three criteria we have chosen which we think may be important to you in finding your ideal holiday home. That is the house’s location (‘off-the-beaten-track’), the privacy it affords you, and the general quality of the house. If any or all of these criteria are particularly important to you, please ask us directly to advise you about which of our houses will best suit you.
The ratings range from 1 orange = lowest rating, to 5 oranges = highest rating.

Off-the-beaten-track
This rating gives you an idea about the characteristics of the location of the house as compared to holiday accommodation in a touristic complex or in a busy touristic/urban centre. The highest rating of 5 oranges indicates that the house is on its own, outside of touristic or urban areas, and surrounded by countryside. For example, Villa Anjo has a 5 orange rating as it is at the end of a dirt track in the foothills with no close neighbours. However, QuinTamar also has a 5 orange rating as it is surrounded by countryside with no close neighbours, but it is actually within walking distance of St.Lucia and Barril beach. The Fisherman's Cottage has a 4 orange rating, as it is in a tiny, undeveloped hamlet in the Ria Formosa.

Privacy
This rating gives you an idea about how private the house is with respect to being in the sight and sound of other people, both inside and outside of the house. For example, Almond Villa has a 5 orange rating as it is not overlooked by any other houses and has no close neighbours, so you will not see or hear other people at the house, except perhaps at a distance. Grandma's Cottage at The Vineyard has a privacy rating of 3 oranges, because while other people cannot see you in the house or by the pool, there are fellow guests just the other side of the hedge and fence who you may hear and who you may meet in the parking area.

Quality
This rating gives you an idea about the overall quality of the house with respect to its decoration, fixtures and fittings, and the level of equipment. All of our properties meet a basic standard of quality; otherwise we would not rent them. However, within our properties, standards range from basic = 1 orange, to luxurious = 5 oranges. For example, The Blue Villa – our longest running and one of our most popular houses – is simply furnished though well equipped in the kitchen and has a rating of 2 oranges. Villa Burro has had little expense spared on the provision of its equipment, decoration and fixtures, and so has a rating of 5 oranges; it is luxury accommodation.

In future, we hope to introduce onto the site the ability for clients to give their own ratings. However, if in the meantime you have holidayed with us and think that any of our ratings are wrong (too high, too low), please contact us to let us know and we will review them.