Rural Golf Retreats
“Are there alternatives to the traditional golf package holiday? How about a cosy little cottage in the country, a silky 7-iron away from the nearest fairway?”
The 13th at Palheiro is surrounded by oceans of Agapanthus which flower beautifully in the late spring.
Maderia was on my radar. I knew it had golf courses and a pleasant, year-round climate but for some reason, I hadn’t quite made the connections. Friends that had, had fallen in love with the place. Little did I know, the same fate awaited me!
GARDEN OF EDEN!
Sumptuous Palheiro Nature Estate is surrounded by 18 magnificent holes of golf.
In 2019, Madeira was declared the “Best-Emerging Golf Destination in the World”. At the same time, it was elected (yet again) by the ‘World Travel Award as the "World's Leading Island Destination", going unchallenged for the past eight years. Not bad for a disparate little group of extinct volcanoes in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!
RURAL RETREATS
If you want to escape to your own secluded slice of heaven, come and stay in one of a host of wonderful rural properties.
Funchal offers a wealth of superb hotels with plenty of activities, excursions, entertainment, restaurants and cafes. In recent years, however, accommodation alternatives such as Airbnb, country cottages and even ‘glamping’ have seen a steady rise in popularity.
A local association called ‘Rural Madeira’ has brought together country cottages, cultural encounters and healthy outdoor activities ‘far from the madding crowd’. And of course, golf!
Off we went to sample some of their back-country bivouacs!
Bio-Quinta Do Pântano
“This is where the game of golf first teed up on these islands!”
The village of Santo da Serra is only half an hour from Funchal and 15 minutes from the island’s airport. This upland area is famous for cider production with apples & pears growing profusely at these higher altitudes. This is also where the game of golf first took root on these islands!
Bio-Quinta Do Pântano is surrounded by organic fruit trees and vegetables not to mention a 27-hole golf course within an easy 7-iron!
We were staying at ‘Bio-Quinta Do Pântano’, an organically certified Quinta or farm estate replete with flowers, vegetables, fruits, sheep, chickens and one lovely little white goat. Across the fence in 1928, a swathe of pasture was ‘repurposed’ into Madeira’s first rudimentary golf course. All two holes of it!
Behind me & the tree is where the original two holes of golf in Madeira were laid out.
SANTO DA SERRA GOLF
The game has come on a treat since then and Bio-Quinta Do Pântano sits next door to the resplendent Santo da Serra 27-hole facility. Lounging on the Quinta’s spacious patio, I could hear golfers chatting a silky 7-iron away with the occasional cry of ‘Fore’.
Apart from that, all is perfect peace! You’d be hard-pressed to find a more tranquil spot. I woke up during our first night and was dumbstruck by the silence. It sounds daft but I think it was the silence that woke me!
Pântano’s main house sleeps up to 8 people so it’s a great option for a group of golfers - with all the organic fruit you could handle.
Accommodation at the Bio-Quinta comes in the form of two self-contained studio apartments and another two spacious houses. The main house can sleep up to 8 people. It’s self-catering but on our first evening, the owner, Emanuel, prepared espetadas for us, traditional Madeiran meat-on-the-skewer washed down with flagons of local cider. The alfresco dining table “was once the original golf clubhouse bar,” he informed us. I thought I spotted a few spike marks! You can also dine in style at nearby ‘Restaurante A Quinta’, their ‘bacalhau’, (codfish done in cream) particularly palatable!
Emanuel prepares ‘espatadas’ on the original clubhouse bar.
THE MADEIRA OPEN
Spectacular tee-off from the 1st on the Machico course, Santo da Serra.
Santo da Serra Golf has hosted the Madeira Open no less than 20 times with the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Padraig Harrington, Ian Poulter and Constantino Rocca gracing its gorgeous fairways.
Santo’s three loops were designed by Robert Trent Jones Snr. (Valderamma, SpyGlass, etc) in 1991, making good use of the area’s diverse topography. Besides some challenging holes, the course offers amazing views of the Desertas Islands across the sparkling Atlantic Ocean or the occasionally snow-crested ‘Pico do Arieiro’ mountains to the north.
The Ladies’ tees at Santo can be as challenging as the men’s.
VILLAGE OF CAMACHA
The village of Camacha plays an important role in keeping Madeira’s traditional folklore alive.
If Santo da Serra's claim to fame was to introduce golf to these islands, the village of Camacha introduced football!
This was the very first recorded incidence of the game ever being played in the country of Portugal! The story goes that after attending school in England, a young Harry Hinton, son of an English wine exporter, arrived home to Madeira bringing with him a leather ‘tub’. Needing pals to play with, the 18-year-old enlisted local lads and the first game of ‘footie’ kicked off on the village green here in Camacha. The year was 1875!
The multi-purpose village green in Camacha is where football was first played in the country of Portugal. Someone in their infinite wisdom recently decided to concrete it over.
CASAS VALLEPARAÍZO
To be closer to our next golfing venue, we upped sticks and set up camp near the village of Camacha. It’s perfectly feasible to mix lodgings like this. Two or three nights in each place works well and lets you get a better feel for different parts of the island.
It doesn’t get more picturesque that the cottages of Casas Valleparaízo
“The country cottages of Casas Valleparaízo in Camacha are idyllic! Hansel & Gretel would be charmed with the place! ”
Our own personal peacock keeps an eye on proceedings… including his harem of peahens!
Our little ‘pastoral palace’ had two upstairs bedrooms, a fully serviceable kitchen and spacious lounge complete with a log-burning fireplace. It can get cold in the evening at these higher altitudes! Casas Valleparaízo’s cottages would be ideal for two golfing couples or four friends. If there are more of you, hire another cottage next door. There’s even a neighbourhood peacock to keep an eye on proceedings.
The dominant peacock decided to put on a display to wish us farewell on the fairways.
PALHEIRO GOLF
The 1st tee at Palheiro Golf. This course and its clubhouse offer by the most spectacular views of Funchal and its harbour.
Palheiro Golf is only a short drive away, an 18-hole track that winds and weaves through its own ‘Nature Estate’ with astonishing views of the Atlantic Ocean and the city of Funchal below, It’s like walking in the clouds. And the clubhouse view is for sure one of the most striking clubhouse views - anywhere!
My daughter and I enjoy Palheiro’s clubhouse terrace along with the equally spectacular food and service!
SHOT-SHAPING JOY
The views of the city of Funchal from several parts of the golf course are breathtaking.
The golf course is equally inspiring! The condition of the course perhaps doesn’t quite fall in line with the pristine tracks we might be used to back home but it more than makes up for it with intricacy and sheer, shot-shaping joy. Palheiro reminds me of the pinball machines of my youth where you look to bounce the ball off one of the many banks to gain more metres. It’s really great fun!
The 13th is a beautiful par 3 surrounded by Agapanthus plants otherwise known as Lily of the Nile.
Each and every hole here has its own unique shape & character. You could play this course forever and never get bored! After golf, take a stroll through the Palheiro Nature Estate. But most definitely book lunch or dinner at the recently remodelled clubhouse. The food and service are superlative and the view, especially at sunset is simply a ‘Madeira must’ for golfers and non-golfers alike.
THE ISLAND OF PORTO SANTO
The healing sands of Porto Santo!
There was only one more golfing venue to sample and this is my favourite. From Funchal, you sail to the neighbouring island of Porto Santo aboard the ‘Lobo Marhina’ leaving port at 8am most mornings. Settle down in the dining room for a ‘Full English’ and do the same for dinner on the way back - the ideal way to spend the 2.5-hour crossing.
“The island of Porto Santo is where Madeirans and mainland Portuguese take their summer breaks enjoying one of the best golden beaches in the world”
The island of Porto Santo is where Madeirans and mainland Portuguese take their summer breaks enjoying one of the best golden beaches in the world, the special sand renowned for its health-giving properties.
This small island is also where Christopher Columbus made his base before his trans-Atlantic voyages of discovery, marrying the daughter of the island’s first governor and building a house on the island. You can see what remains of it alongside a dedicated museum.
SEVE’S LASTING LEGACY
Seve Ballesteros ‘uncovered’ this golf course on the slopes surrounding Pico Ana Ferreira back in the early 2000s. It’s completely different from the island’s two other golfing venues; more links-like with the wind being a consistent factor.
The front 9 has some strong tests, long and open with a couple of peevish par 3s thrown in. You might think you have the measure of the place until you arrive at the 13th where the ensuing holes cling to the cliff’s edge, absolutely stunning and should take their place among Europe’s best.
The 14th at Porto Santo stands in the middle of a great set of cliffside holes.
Again, wind is a major factor in how you play them, especially on the two par 3s, the 13th and 15th. But it’s how much you bite off at the 14th, a dogleg right that will linger long in the memory. If you play it wisely, you’ll gain a good position to take on the green. Get greedy and it’s an awkward second shot from a devious waste area to reach the raised dance floor.
Porto Santo Golf Club also offers one of the best clubhouse restaurants, worth booking for lunch or an evening meal. Chef Daniel Rodriguez Mendez, otherwise known as 'Gato' (which means 'cat' due to his unusually pale blue eyes) is from Uruguay and has a real passion for cooking, clearly evident in his excellent dishes.
LIFE’S A BEACH
You can sail to Porto Santo for the day, play a round of golf and get back to the main island in the evening. But I recommend spending at least two or three nights on the island. The beach alone is worth sampling! There are several beachside bars where you can spend the day soaking in the sun and sights with the occasional dip in an azure Atlantic Ocean.
Sergio & I patiently waiting on the ‘Boutique da Poncha’ to open.
The island is at its best during the summer months but it’s mega busy from June to September. The course also tends to dry out during the warm months as Porto Santo is an arid island. Course conditions are ideal for the rest of the year.
NEW HORIZONS
It doesn’t look like much now but in the next two years, this site will be transformed into Madeira’s 4th golf course.
The big news on Madeira is there’s a new golf course coming!
Ponta do Pargo occupies the main island’s most westerly tip. At the beginning of his design project, Sir Nick Faldo visited the site four times to create a ‘tour de force’.
The cliffside location will be sure to attract lots of visitors… and wind!
The project stalled but it is back on track again and hopefully, Madeira’s fourth course will open in a couple of years. It’s clearly going to be another visual stunner thanks to its dramatic cliffside location. With nothing between Ponta do Pargo and South Carolina, wind will be this course’s main defence.
Casas da Levada in Ponta da Pargo complete with its own little Hobbit Bar!
Where to stay in Ponta da Pargo? We visited Casas da Levada for a two-night stay and I’ve got to say, it was the most delightful of all Madeira’s rural retreats. The cottages are fabulous with cute little bunnies hopping around. You can truly relax in the well-maintained grounds not to mention the ‘Hobbit Hole’ honesty bar where everyone congregates in the early evening to enjoy the sunset and an aperitif!
Was Bilbo Baggins behind the bar?
For more info visit www.casasdalevada.com
RURAL ROUND-UP
I think country cottage accommodation works particularly well for golfers and prices per head based on 4 or more sharing are extremely attractive with the added bonus of getting to know these islands in a far more intimate way.
My son & daughter took to canyoning like ducks to water
If you want to mix it up, there is lots more to do on these islands such as Levada walks, mountain biking, boat trips, canoeing, canyoning etc.
But if all you want to do is golf, with some exceptional meals thrown in and to be able ‘kick back’ in your own secluded slice of heaven, you’re heading in the right direction!
For more information on golf and accommodation in Madeira’s rural settings visit www.madeirarural.com
