The Rocha Estate, on which you find Santa Catarina House and chapel, covers most of a peninsula on the Caia reservoir, within the Santa Eulália parish limits in the borough of Elvas.

Located on a strip of olive grove which juts into the waters of the Caia reservoir, the “Monte” (main housing cluster) of the estate commands a privileged position. Fashioned in the traditional Alentejo way, the newly restored Santa Catarina House is a simple, long rectangular building next to the smaller caretaker’s house.

Part of the Natura 2000 network, the property is excellent for nature-watching and includes some wonderful landscapes of rolling hills punctuated by ancient holm-oaks, in which partridges, rabbits, hares, ducks and storks live alongside different types of birds of prey, lapwings and bustards.

You may engage in canoeing, angling, sailing and windsurfing; and also nature-watching and trekking in the tranquil surroundings.

A comfortable and welcoming place. There is a very large living room, with fireplace, satellite TV and DVD, which gives onto an ample west-looking porch, with views of the lake (only 45 yards away), its banks and its islands and a dining-room. Both of these rooms are air conditioned.