Tranquillity is easy to find in Portugal’s Alentejo countryside, but nowhere feels quite as special as this little rural escape, where the landscape is vast and beautiful, the food fresh and hearty and the staff passionate and genuine.

More than just a luxury hotel, São Lourenço is also a working winery, olive grove and farm in Portugal’s wild, sun-bleached Alentejo region. After the two-hour journey from Lisbon, you drive down the oak-lined drive and realise you’ve stumbled upon something special.

This isn’t a built-up hotel with a bustling reception and busy lifts ferrying guests to and from rooms. Every effort has been made to maintain the farmhouse charm that has existed here since 1820 – from the images of family dating back over a hundred years in the low-key reception, to the original winemaking equipment that’s still used in the cellars today. As a result, staying here feels like a very luxurious step back in time, and certainly a million miles away from the bustling city hotels in Lisbon.

Photos by Ash James / Barrocal