MEET YOUR INSIDER
HEATHER MACLACHLAN...
If someone had told me 17 years ago that I would be living in
Madeira and running a self catering accommodation business
I would have wondered if they were smoking their socks! At the
time I owned a successful children’s clothing manufacturing
business in Cape Town and my life on the tip of Africa precluded any thought of
moving.
But the universe conspired and, through business, my father was introduced
to a few members of the extensive Madeiran community living in Cape Town. Of
course one thing always leads to another and, by the end of the following year, we
had been to visit the island and my father had fallen under its spell. Once he retired,
visiting Madeira during the South African winters became an annual pilgrimage.
The island eventually worked its magic on my mother and it was agreed that
they would look for something of their own; a little lock up and go. That ended up
being a piece of land in Calheta. They subsequently discovered that the palheiro
(stone shed) they thought belonged to someone else actually belonged to them so
forthwith plans were drawn up to increase its little footprint and add on a second
floor; alterations which they supervised themselves over the next two visits.
“There is a very unique rhythm to life here...
there is nothing that needs to be done
today that cannot be done tomorrow. A true
amanhã lifestyle!”
Contact Heather:
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more about Heather's self
catering cottages!
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call Heather direct on
+351926417836
Having fallen in love with the island myself I decided to join my parents and be a
part of the exciting project that was unfolding there. In April 2009 I received my
Portuguese residence visa, my Mum celebrated her 80th birthday and the project
was under way. By September 2010 we had moved into our new family home and
were nervously awaiting the arrival of our first guests at Banda do Sol Cottages!
I find it hard to believe that three years have passed since that day. If
someone were to say “here’s a ticket to go wherever you want in the world” I would
be hard pressed to choose another place. There is a very unique rhythm to life here,
be it sitting in the sun at one of the almost obligatory local coffee shops watching life
go by, taking a swim in the ocean at high tide, chopping some bamboo from down
the road in order to stake one’s tomatoes and then donning one's glad rags and
popping into Funchal to attend an international Jazz Festival!
There’s nothing that needs to be done today that cannot be done tomorrow.
A true amanhã lifestyle. Added to which I’ve not yet had a better cup of coffee
anywhere else in Europe! My life here is a holiday.
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