OstraOur story
Our story
A rice farmer's house, three years of patient building, and a hotel that still keeps farm hours.
For most of the last century this house belonged to the rice fields. When we found it, the roof was open to the sky and the courtyard was full of pines. We did not want to replace it. We wanted to let it be lived in again.
How we got here
- 1931
A farmhouse among the rice
Built by a rice-growing family from Carvalhal, with lime walls, a timber roof and a courtyard for drying the harvest.
- 1978
The fields go quiet
The family moved to Setúbal. The house stood empty for forty years while the pines crept in.
- 2019
We start rebuilding
Marta and João Valente bought the farm and spent three years restoring it with builders from the village.
- 2022
The first guests
Ostra opened with 22 rooms, Restaurant Arroz, and the pool in the old irrigation tank.
- 2025
Garden Rooms and Casa Ostra
The stables became eight Garden Rooms, the grain store became Casa Ostra, and we stopped at 34 rooms.
Built with what was here
We reused the original roof timbers, re-limed every wall by hand and laid floors in clay tiles fired forty minutes away.
Anything new is made from cork, pine or linen, and nothing is there just to fill space.
- Lime plaster
- Reclaimed pine
- Cork
- Clay tile
- Linen
How we run the place
A few rules we set when we opened, and still keep.
Food from close by
Most of what Arroz serves comes from within 50 km: rice from the Sado estuary, fish from Sines, vegetables from our own garden.
Sun and rain
Solar panels on the old stable roof cover most of our power. Rainwater from the courtyard waters the garden.
People from the village
Most of our 41 staff live within twenty minutes of the hotel, and many have been here since the first season.
Quiet on purpose
No televisions in the rooms, no music by the pool, and dinner ends when the last table is ready to leave.
From the founders
“We wanted the kind of hotel we like to stay in ourselves. Good beds, honest food, and nobody in a hurry.”
What guests say
Out of 5, from 1,240 verified guest reviews over the last two years.
“The quietest place we have stayed in years. We woke up to pine trees and fell asleep to the sea.”
“Ask for the Sea Suite. You can lie in the freestanding bath and watch the light change over the dunes.”
“By day two the staff knew how we took our coffee. Dinner at Arroz was the best meal of the trip.”
“We brought our two children and our dog. Casa Ostra had space for all of us and the pool kept them busy for days.”
Come and stay a while.
34 rooms between the pines and the sea, with breakfast in every rate.