Lying low in Lisbon’s Hamptons...Everyone else, trot on to the Algarve. But when the Espirito...

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and come to observe the flamingoes,herons and storks that lord it overthe wetlands.The tanned kaftan crew gather for

long lunches at the beach restaurantSal, on Praia do Pego, owned by thewonderfully named (and GeorgeClooney lookalike) Vasco HipolitoRaposo. He served us a divinecoriander-and-lemon-steamedrazor-clam soup (restaurantesal.pt).Further up the coast, on CarvalhalBeach, we visited O Dinis Bar doPescadores, owned by the twinkly-eyed fisherman Dinis Parreira, whoproduced a sea bass so fresh, I swearit winked at me.As the sun dipped below the

horizon, we joined the familiesheading into the village of Comporta,to gather outside the Colmo Bar,with its Balearic beats, for a juice ora cocktail, or to peruse thewhitewashed boutiques that stockthe latest independent designers. Alocal villa owner, Christophe Sauvat,co-founder of Antik Batik, is amongthese, and his latest clothing designsadorn the bronzed shoulders ofComporta’s summer residents.The villagemini-mercado here is

nicknamed Little Harrods, havingresponded to its elite clientele bystocking Himalayan salt, Fever Treetonic and Big Tom bloody-mary mixalongside the aisles of sardines,straw baskets and wine.This is the crux of Comporta.

When you’re here, you’ll wantfor nothing — yet it remains awonderfully unassuming andunder-the-radar corner of Iberia.

lRose Astor was a guest of OriginalTravel, which has a four-night stay atSublime Comporta from £650pp,including car hire and return flights(020 7978 7333, originaltravel.co.uk)

Slow-burner Left, theSublime Comportahotel, and Rose tucksin at O Dinis Bar doPescadores. Top,taking the reins onCarvalhal Beach

Brejos, one of the seven hamlets thatmake up Herdade da Comporta, acouple of years ago. He was on ahorse ride with his youngest child atthe aristocrat Jose Ribeira’s ridingschool. Perrin was effusive about thejoys of living a “carefree, barefootand simple” existence. The sight ofthem splashing along the emptyshore on Ribeira’s well-groomed

horses had an almost cinematicquality, as if seen throughthe lens of a French NewWave camera.

Simple living is, itseems, what the richand bling-weary whohide here are after.It’s still a rich farmingarea, with rice, cork,wine and salt

production all boomingtrades. The protected nature

reserve, which makes up a largechunk of the estate, ensures that thearea won’t be bulldozed into golfresorts any time soon. And alongsidethe wealthy, it is also a big magnetfor twitchers, who book simple B&Bs

weekends, but the clientele is still90% foreign, mostly affluentFrench, Belgian and Swiss, whoflock to Comporta for its privacyand exclusivity. Louboutin,Anselm Kiefer and Philippe Starckown properties nearby. Oneguest bumped into Starck on thesand dunes riding a bicycle withextremely wide tyres. Whenasked where he bought thetyres, Starck replied: “Iinvented them.”Out exploring one

day, we bumped intoPatrick Perrin, afourth-generationParisian art dealer,who built a house in

Christian Louboutin,Anselm Kiefer andPhilippe Starck all ownproperties nearby

Sublime

Praia do Pego

LISBON

Comporta

AtlanticOceanAtlanticOcean

10 miles

We stayed in the aptly namedSublime Comporta, a stylish retreatamid 17 acres of indigenous pine,cork trees and glistening lakes.Originally a private villa, theproperty now has 14 hotel roomsand 10 minimalist concrete, glassand wood two-bedroom villas withkitchens and ample plunge pools.The design team is impressive,

made up of Miguel Cancio Martins,who worked on London’s BuddhaBar, architect Jose Alberto Charrua,and owner Gonçalo Pessoa. There isalso an organic spa, a tranquil poolarea and a kids’ club. Guests getaround on bicycles or in buggies. Thevibe is incredibly laid-back.The latest addition to Sublime is

the Celeiro restaurant, with chefBruno Caseiro, a protégé of NunoMendes (of Chiltern Firehouse andTaberna do Mercado fame), at thehelm. The diners are a mix offashion, film and art big-hitters; weate alongside the Marc Jacobs CEO,Sebastian Suhl, while Harrison Fordrecently enjoyed a break here.Lisbonites head down for

Wait here,” our driverRicardo orders, climbing out of our4x4 grasping a screwdriver. It’sbaking hot, it’s lunchtime and we’rewell off the beaten track. I feel thepanic rising. But this is nobreakdown, Ricardo explains as hehops back into the cab: “I let downthe tyres and now we fly over thedunes.” And with that we are off,scrambling and bumping our wayalong the sandy hillocks towards theglistening Atlantic coast and its longstretch of deserted beach.Can this be? I’m in Portugal, in

midsummer, and just an hour’s drivesouth of Lisbon. Where is everyone?The answer lies in the history of

this rather exclusive corner of theTroia peninsula. This is the Herdadeda Comporta — herdade translatesroughly as “homestead” — morethan 30,000 acres of unspoiltcoastline, rice paddies andcork forests.It has until recently been the closely

guarded playground of Europeanaristocracy and off-grid celebrities,and pretty much invitation-onlyfrom the Espirito Santo family whoown it. Caroline of Monaco,Christian Louboutin, you’re in.Everyone else, trot on to the Algarve.But when the Espirito Santo

bank crashed in 2014 — amidallegations of tax evasion and moneylaundering — the family beganopening up the land to investors.Since then, it’s rapidly gained areputation as the Hamptons ofPortugal, a sort of St Tropez as itwas in its heyday.

Lying low inLisbon’s Hamptons

Harrison Ford’s stayed and you can buy Himalayan salt in the mini-market. Rose Astor rides into exclusive Comporta

Rose Astor; Nelson Garrido