23/09/2026
🌻 CASA DE COCO — END OF SEASON 2026 🌻
And just like that…
Another season is coming to an end.
As I sit here looking back at 2026, I realise that Casa de Coco has once again been filled with something much more valuable than bookings.
It has been filled with people.
New couples beginning holidays together.
New families making memories.
A lovely single lady arriving with Cookie.
A gay couple travelling with Tommy.
Floor and her family returning once again, this time with Como.
A father and daughter arriving on their bikes for the Góis rally.
And then there was Jan, returning once again with his daughter Kelly, her fiancé Steven, and Niels.
Jan had stayed here with his wife, Hennie, the previous summer. Sadly, she passed away later that year.
So welcoming Jan back this time was different.
He came with Kelly and Steven, now 18 weeks pregnant with their first baby, and Niels — and somehow, over those three weeks, what began as another stay became something much more personal.
There were conversations, laughter, little moments, and plenty of practical help — including Jan helping me with my electric fence… and managing to get himself shocked not once, but twice. 😂
And then there were the evenings when we simply sat together and played Hitster, testing our memories with music and arguing over which decade a song belonged to. 🎶😂
Nothing particularly extraordinary.
Just one of those simple, happy moments that somehow become the ones you remember.
But more than that, I saw a different side of Jan this time.
Perhaps grief changes us. Perhaps time does.
Whatever the reason, I felt a softness in him that wasn't there before, and somewhere along the way, our connection became deeper than that of host and returning guest.
Some people come to Casa de Coco and stay for a few nights.
Some come back.
And some quietly become part of the story.
Jan is one of those people.
And next year, when Kelly and Steven return with their new baby, there will be another little chapter waiting to be written.
I will be very happy to see them all walk through that gate again. 🧡
Some arrived as strangers.
Some returned as familiar faces.
And some, somewhere along the way, became friends.
There have been conversations over w**e, laughter in the garden, children discovering the freedom of all that space, dogs making themselves completely at home, quiet afternoons by the pool, barbecues, little acts of kindness, tired arrivals and happy departures.
And plenty of moments that I didn't know, at the time, would become memories.
That is the strange and beautiful thing about Casa de Coco.
It isn't really just about the houses.
It isn't the pool.
It isn't even the garden, although I have spent enough hours cutting, planting, watering, fixing and generally fighting with it to know that it deserves a special mention. 😂🌿
It is about the feeling.
The feeling that you can arrive here and breathe.
That you can have as much privacy as you want, or sit down for a chat if you feel like it.
That children can be children.
That dogs are not an inconvenience, but part of the family.
That different kinds of people can arrive here and simply be themselves.
And perhaps that is why the reviews mean so much to me.
When guests talk about the peace, the garden, the little details, the welcome, the feeling of being at home — they are describing something I have tried to create here for years.
And then there is Freya. 🐾
For those who have met her, you will know that behind the enormous dog, the serious face and the very impressive bark is an incredibly soft and kind soul.
Freya has always been very much her own girl.
She doesn't perform tricks for anyone.
She doesn't believe every human needs to become her best friend. 😂
And she certainly doesn't spend her days trying to please me.
But with the people she knows, there is a beautiful gentleness about her.
And this season, once again, I was reminded of something that means a great deal to me — especially to parents bringing little ones to Casa de Coco.
Watching Freya around toddlers has been one of the sweetest parts of my season.
She is calm.
Curious.
Patient.
She can simply lie nearby while a tiny human wobbles around, learning to walk and discovering the world.
And yes… I have watched her around a 14-month-old learning to walk, and I trusted her completely in that moment.
Of course, children and dogs should always be supervised together. But there is something incredibly special about seeing such a big dog understand, in her own way, that this little person is small.
That is Freya.
Big enough to make strangers think twice at the gate…
soft enough to lie beside a baby learning to walk. 🐶🧡
And perhaps that is another little piece of what Casa de Coco is about.
There is room here for the noisy, the quiet, the young, the old, the two-legged and the four-legged.
There is room for people who want to explore Portugal and people who simply want to sit under a tree and do absolutely nothing.
There is room for a first visit.
And there is always room for those who decide to come back.
To everyone who stayed with me during the 2026 season:
Thank you.
Thank you for choosing Casa de Coco.
Thank you for trusting me with your holidays, your families and your dogs.
Thank you for the conversations, the laughter, the kindness and the memories.
And thank you to those of you who returned.
Because there is no greater compliment to a little place like this than someone saying:
“We're coming back.”
Now, the gates will close for a little while.
The garden can breathe.
The pool can rest.
And Freya and I can finally slow down.
Well… I can try.
Freya will continue doing exactly what Freya wants. 😂🐾
I am tired.
Very tired.
But when I look back at this season, I also feel incredibly grateful.
Because once again, Casa de Coco has brought beautiful people into my life.
And once again, this slightly crazy little place has reminded me why I started it in the first place.
So, from my heart:
Thank you for being part of Casa de Coco in 2026.
Whether you stayed for a few nights, came back for another year, shared a meal, had a conversation, let your dog take over the garden, watched your children make friends with Freya, or simply enjoyed a quiet afternoon under the trees…
You left a little something behind.
And you took a little piece of Casa de Coco with you.
🌻🐾🧡
Until next season…
Cece & Freya ###
