Villa 219 XVII Century Manor w/ Pool and Tennis

Ponte de Lima - Villa

An amazing holiday spent with out whole family as part of our both birthday treat. What a wondeful venue in a country we both love, in my case because I was born in Lisboa and lived in that region for 17 years, so constantly have ""saudades"". The facilities here have been autostanding and we have made full use of the swimming pool, tennis court , billiard table and the table tennis. Many thanks to Sergio and Diana for the excellent customer care and support in making this a truly memorable holiday. MAny thanks to Carlos for making me realise I'm not too old for horse riding.

An amazing holiday spent with family who haven't been together for eight years, enjoyed all the character of the house in peaceful and quiet surroundings. Horseriding enabled us to see the mountains oud villages more intimately. Many thanks to Distinctive Portugal.

A thoroughly enjoyable holidays with family and friends. Most of the time spent in the pool and playing tennis. Lovely town which we did it really visit as we were having too much fun in the villa - which is beautiful. Will hopefully be back.

We had a fantastic time here with our family, it just wasn't long enough the baker mentioned by the Johnson family is wonderful as is their coffee!! The horse riding was amazing and Carlos really knows his stuff. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves, the pool was the best form of entertainment, we found the kitchen more than adequate to cater for 7 adults and 5 children! We are sorry to be leaving the rest of the family today, but we have all had a wonderful time.

Beautiful location spacious peacely villa. Fantantic weather. Children loved the pool and the tennis camp. Enjoyed Ponte de Lima , Ponte da Barca and Geres (Bit of a drive to get there though)

Thank you so much, Diana! It's nice to hear from you. The villa you describe looks like it will be lovely and, although Portugal is not in our plans for 2012, we had a lovely time there last summer and will surely visit again in the future. When we were there in June at villa 219, I had mentioned that I was writing a book on villa travel, and as of last week it is now available. I thought you would want to know this for two reasons one is that Distinctive Portugal is mentioned in the book as a website we'd used and were pleased with the results from, and I'm sure it's nice to hear about ""good press."" The other reason I thought you might be interested is that the book is not so much a travelogue of our own experiences as it is a ""how to"" guide for prospective villa renters. For a decade now, my friends (generally a much larger group than the one you met last June) have placed their trust in me to find and organize our villa (or chateau or castle) vacations. It's been a pleasure and a privilege from the start, but there actually is quite a bit of organizing, decision-making and finance-planning involved, and each year I find I learn something new about how to successfully navigate the process. Acquaintances and colleagues I've told about our villa adventures often react as though it's a nice but too-overwhelming idea, so I thought you might want to mention the book on your site as a resource for turning what may seem like a large undertaking into a simple one. The book is called Friends, A Villa & A Travel Bug (the byline being ""How to Arrange a Fabulous Villa Vacation for Yourself and a Few Dozen of Your Closest Friends"") and it can be purchase on amazon.com, BarnesAndNobel.com or most any other book sale site. Here's the link to the amazon.com page: http://www.amazon.com/Friends-Villa-Travel-Bug-fabulous/dp/1466214856/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317400070&sr=1-6 Thank you again for your help in making our time at Villa 219 lovely, and I look forward to contacting you to arrange our villa the next time we plan a visit to Portugal.? Thanks Janice Davis

The villa was wonderful and blessfuly free of internet connections. Tennis and swimming and no rain for a week. ""Extreme relaxing"" in this undiscovered country!

Super three weeks of sun and just two days of cloud and rain. Toured area and enjoyed Braga, Viana do Castelo, Guimarães, Pinhão, Amarante. Pre historic sites - Foz Coa and Citania de Briteiros a hightlight. Lovely peoples, lovely food. Thank you Sergio and Diana at Distinctive Portugal for your help.

Our second wonderful holiday at villa 219. We love the friendly relaxed people and fantastic food in the Minho. We recommend Carvalheira and our favourite, restaurante Sonho do Capitão.

Great holiday. Food fantastic. Local people very friendly. Enjoyed the wonderfully private villa where we played tennis every day. After 6 years holidaying in Tuscany, Minho has been a great discovery.

A estadia correu muito bem. Valorizo a simpatia e eficácia demonstrada pela estrutura sempre que foi necessário. A vivenda estava muito organizada e asseada com uma envolvente muito agradável. Obrigado pela colaboração e Até Já.

Great place to celabrate our group's 40'th birthday - we were delighted with the residence and the ground. We did most cooking to enjoy a quiet and serenety of the villa. I think we set a record of 47 bottles of vinho verde shared at the house. Great horseback riding in the area.

Het verblijf in Ponte de Lima is ons uitstekend bevallen. Het huis is schitterend gelegen en leent zich prima voor een verblijf met een groep, veel ruimte buiten en binnen en nagenoeg alle kamers hebben sanitaire voorzieningen. Ponte de Lima is een leuk plaatsje. De locatie van het huis is zodanig dat tal van uitstapjes zijn te maken, zoals naar Viana do Castelo, Braga, Porto en niet te vergeten Santiago de Compostela. Wat uw service/site betreft, niets dan lof. Het weer kon beter, maar dat heeft geen afbreuk gedaan aan ons verblijf. Nog één opmerking, de routebeschrijving eindigt met een groen hek. In werkelijkheid gaat het om een grote groene deur. We hebben toch even moeten zoeken. Veel groene hekken in de buurt.

Diana: To say that this villa was perfect is not enough. My husband, children, and all our friends and family had an absolutely beautiful time. The grounds were beautiful, the villa gorgeous, and we have told everyone we know to book this. Thank you for making everything so smooth for us. We will absolutely return! All the best, Emily

Apart from the rain (three out of seven days) we had a good stay in this beautiful house. We will recommend this place to anybody who likes to to spend his holiday in the north of Portugal.

A family of 14from the U.S. had a marvelous week here. The weather was perfect, and facilities served all our needs. Good visits with each areas, linqered over good food and drink, played tennis and swam, and made plans for our next family adventures. We love Portugal and its friendly people. We love the beauty of the area, and its history.

Beste, Hartelijk dank voor je prima adviezen voor onze Portugese vakantie. Het was een speciale vakantie dit jaar. We wilden ons 50-jarig huwelijksfeest met onze kinderen en kleinkinderen vieren door een week samen op vakantie te gaan. Dus zochten we een huis voor 18 personen waarvan de jongste 8 weken en de oudste 75 jaar is. Met jouw advies kwamen we in villa 219 bij Ponte de Lima in Noord-Portugal terecht. Het huis overtrof onze stoutste verwachtingen. De grote groene poort, de oprijlaan met de blauwe hortensia’s, het prachtig gerestaureerde, oude landhuis met de zeer smaakvol ingerichte kamers. En, favoriet bij vooral de kinderen ( 11-19 jaar), het zwembad, de tennisbaan en de biljartkamer. Villa 219 is zeer geschikt voor een grote groep. Elke slaapkamer heeft een eigen badkamer, de eettafel is zo groot dat we er met z’n allen aan konden eten, de tuin heeft heerlijke stoelen en volop gelegenheid om je even terug te trekken en er is een barbecue en de mogelijkheid een private cook in te huren die heerlijk kookt. Villa 219 is ook een prima uitvalsbasis voor het ondernemen van verschillende activiteiten. Wij bezochten Porto en Ponte de Lima, wandelden in het natuurpark, lagen aan het strand en voeren met een kano op de Lima. Een vriendelijke groet, Familie de Groot

What a fantastic place to spend time with family we have not been together with for a long while enjoyed the long evening news out on the patio with the wafts of gardenia. Recommend the wine tasting trip, some fantastic wines from the region. Pool was great! Thanks to Sergio from Distinctive Portugal for his support and recommendations. Great holiday.