A home coming.

For more than forty years, home was wherever work and life took me. I lived in 3 countries, learned new languages and new ways of doing things, and I'm grateful for every one of them. But Portugal never really left me. In 2025 I finally came back and bought a small piece of land in Aldeia do Bispo, a village in the hills of Beira Baixa, close to the Spanish border.

The land

The farm is just over half a hectare beside the village house. It isn't big, but it's full of life: around 47 olive trees, cherries, apples, pears, oranges, a peach, a pomegranate, a quince and a blueberry bush. Wild blackberries and prickly pears grow along the edges, and a few old vines are waiting for some care. Every tree here was planted by someone before me, and I see my job as looking after them well.

The Family Pear Jam

Some things travel with you wherever you go. For me, it's the taste of my grandparents' pear jam. Their recipe is the heart of Casa dos Alvares. I make it the way they taught the family, with a few modern touches of my own: use of slow cookers, replacing refined sugar with sugarcane juice, adding my blend of spices. 

What I make

Everything starts with what grows here. The olives are pressed at a local lagar into our own oil. The fruit becomes jams and preserves, made in small batches in my kitchen. Alongside them come pickles and hot sauces. When a batch is gone, it's gone until the next harvest. The first jars will be ready for sale in 2028, sign up below to hear when

Come and say olá

Casa dos Alvares is just me for now, and every jar is made, filled and labelled by hand. You'll find me at local markets, and you can follow the farm through the seasons in the Journal. Thank you for being part of my homecoming.