Her husband has always stood by her and encouraged her in her projects, one of the most recent being Monte da Bela Raposa. This is where a fox actually passes by every morning.
After witnessing the massification of tourism in Sintra, where she lived, she was looking for something with an emotional value that could connect her to her origins and inspirations, and the Alentejo offered her that sense of fulfilment. 18 months was the time it took to conceive of and implement the project, which she started three years ago. She found a rocky site with a large lake and, what was initially intended as a second home ended up becoming a space for sharing, tourist lodgings with a personal touch, a place for meditation and pure contemplation. The interiors of this bucolic paradise are a fusion of the places Françoise has been to, her travels in India and China, but not only that — the Alentejo region is also perceptible in every nook and cranny, be it in the vaulted ceilings, the olive groves or the atmosphere created there, infused with local scents and flavours.
On this 100-hectare horizon, a boutique hotel has sprung up in a larger house, surrounded by three smaller ones, like replicas of the main house, arranged in a U-shape. Each ‘house’ bears a name, depending on the perspective of the surrounding view. From the entrance to the main house, we head to the living room, dining room and kitchen, communal spaces for guests, where socialising and daily meals are prepared with fresh produce from the garden tended by Françoise herself.