About Us

(1954) is the founder of Monte Rosa. In 1984, she left her teachers job in Holland and moved to Lagos to realize her dream of making  a vegetarian restaurant with a fresh juice bar.  The ‘Monte Rosa project’ was born in 1993. An old farmhouse was carefully converted into comfortable guest accommodations and tastefully decorated. For years Sandra was a hostess and cook, but now that she is retired she has been able to delegate most of the responsibilities to her team. Gardening remains a hobby. Inspired by the philosophy of the Findhorn community (Scotland), she aims to partially use the guest houses for permanent residence from November 2024. For the remaining guest rooms, she would like to attract people during the winter period who are looking for a few months of peace and space, for example to write or recover from a Burn Out. ‘Work should be love in action’ is a goal she adopted from Findhorn. And ‘listening to what our inner voice is telling us’ is another principle that she loves to implement at Monte Rosa.

(1965) was born in Moldova, but has lived in Portugal for almost 20 years and speaks the language well. As a gardener he takes great care of the land of Monte Rosa. With great attention to detail he takes care of the plants and trees and helps to keep the perma garden in order. But he is also a real ‘handyman’ and, where possible, also does the maintenance jobs on the property. In addition, he is, on request, the grill man at BBQ evenings. In short, Ivan is a ‘multitasker’ and a very helpful, calm and sympathetic colleague.

(1997) Originally from the southeast of Brazil, Vini will spend his second year at Monte Rosa as the chef in our kitchen. With love he prepares delicious and healthy meals based on different food-cultures. Therefore, he uses as much as possible the vegetables and herbs from our own garden. Vini loves to get up early so after cleaning the pool you’ll find him in the kitchen to prepare the breakfasts. In his spare time he likes to do yoga and meditation and he brings his good energy to our garden. He is digitally well -skilled and also helps Monte Rosa with things like website renovation.

(1983) grew up in the Algarve and she can inform you about the area and its traditions. After living in India for eight years, she still longed to return to her homeland and has been back for three years. You’ll often find her in the office, answering emails and controlling the booking schedule. Together with Stefanie, she is your host. For questions or to check out, you can also contact either of them. Together they serve breakfasts and sometimes Patricia helps with dinner.  She is creative and has a good eye for detail. In her spare time, Patricia designs bags. Feel free to ask her about that!

(1981) Comes from Belgium, where she was a social worker and taught Pilate. Her dream was to live in Portugal one day. When Monte Rosa was looking for someone to take responsibility for organizing our sports activities, she applied and we found the perfect candidate in her. She loves hiking, cycling and surfing and is an experienced hiking guide. She also helps serve breakfasts and answers Dutch-language correspondence. Together with Patricia, she is your hostess and you can contact both of them to arrange excursions or to do your check-out.

(1959) is Portuguese, born in Angola. She has worked at Monte Rosa for over 20 years (with a few breaks) and is responsible for cleaning the rooms and making the beds with crisp sheets. She is also helpful in the kitchen and sometimes prepares typical Portuguese recipes such as ‘Caldo Verde’ or ‘Frango na Pucara’, a chicken dish with wine and Brandy. She loves the countryside and therefore likes to be at Monte Rosa. Now that Noémia is approaching her retirement she works only half days. During that time, she gets a lot done as the volunteers like to help her hang or fold laundry.

We regularly welcome volunteers at Monte Rosa who are preferably versatile and able to stay for at least one month. They, for example, help in our perma garden, irrigate the land, help prepare dinners, set the table, do the dishes, clean the pool. And sometimes volunteers perform easy maintanance jobs or help our cleaning staff. If you are interested in working with us on a voluntary basis, please send an email with your CV, a picture of you, the period you are available and a brief description of yourself as well as your motivation to:

info@monterosaportugal.com