Hotkeys Portugal

We’re Jane and Phil, a British couple in our 60s, slowly bringing an abandoned farmstead in central Portugal back to life.

Since late 2023, we have been on a part-time journey under Schengen visa rules: restoring old stone buildings, managing the land, and building a sustainable future on a shoestring.

We’re not experts — just regular people learning as we go and sharing the unfiltered reality of part-time rural renovation.

Each week, we share practical, honest updates from our project, including:
💺 Bringing comfort to a ruin
🧱 Renovating buildings with local materials
📚 Learning new things every day
🪵 Managing woodland
🌞 Living a slower, simpler, healthier way of life

If you're dreaming of relocating to Portugal, restoring a run-down homestead, or simply curious about life in rural Europe, you’ll find inspiration (and plenty of lessons) here.

👉 Subscribe and follow along as we prepare for full-time life in Portugal — one challenge, one lesson, one job, and one step at a time.