Hidden in a
green valley

The Penedo do Lexim is one of the most dramatic geological features in central Portugal — an ancient volcanic chimney from the Lisbon Volcanic Complex, formed roughly 72 million years ago when magma punched through the earth and cooled into columnar basalt, the tall hexagonal stone columns sometimes called "basalt organs." The resulting rock rises like a natural fortress above the Ribeira de Cheleiros, visible from the valley floor and from the hiking trails that leave our gate.

What makes it extraordinary is not just the geology but the 6,000 years of human choices it inspired. Its height made it the best vantage point for miles — used as a watchtower, a fortress, and a sacred site across the Neolithic, Bronze Age, and medieval eras. The walks guests take from the gate pass directly through this protected archaeological zone.

In 1975, the site was officially classified as Imóvel de Interesse Público — national protected heritage. You'll walk past it on the Penedo do Lexim loop trail.

Between 4000 and 3000 BC, the first settlers built a fortified hilltop village on the Penedo do Lexim — one of the most significant Neolithic and Chalcolithic archaeological sites in the Mafra municipality. The Chalcolithic (Copper Age) settlers built defensive walls, hut foundations, and sophisticated early Iberian stone architecture still detectable in the rock today. Excavations have recovered pottery, chipped flint tools, polished stone axes, worked bone, early metal objects, and food remains — a remarkably complete snapshot of daily life 5,000–6,000 years ago.

The site was occupied into the Bronze Age, likely used for communal rituals, trade, and as a seasonal refuge. The valley's fertility — spring water, river access, south-facing slopes — made it irresistible to every generation that came after.

The name "Cheleiros" itself almost certainly derives from celeiro — granary — reflecting how this valley stored grain tithes for centuries, a living place of abundance rather than a ruin.

In February 1195, King D. Sancho I of Portugal granted Cheleiros its Carta de Foro — a royal charter making it an independent municipality, a status it held until 1836. The charter was later confirmed by D. Dinis (1305) and D. Manuel I (1516) — three separate royal endorsements for a single valley. The land later came under the ownership of noble families and the Casa do Infantado, the royal household branch that administered significant estates across Portugal. Nearby, the parish church and an albergaria (pilgrim hostel) formed the heart of medieval village life.

A 13th–14th century medieval bridge still spans the Ribeira de Cheleiros — a short walk from the cottages, and almost certainly built on Roman foundations. The Romans left roads and infrastructure throughout this valley; the river crossing here was a strategic node on routes that connected the Atlantic coast to the interior. Evidence of Roman-era roads still surfaces in the landscape around Cheleiros. The bridge and its surroundings are part of the Rota Memorial do Convento cultural trail, linking our valley to Saramago's novel and the Mafra Palace.

The valley's old mills — azenha means "water mill" in Portuguese — takes its name directly from the working mills that once dotted this stretch of river. The stones that ground grain for medieval Cheleiros are the same stones in our walls.

In 1717, King João V of Portugal ordered the construction of the Mafra National Palace-Convent — a monument so vast it employed tens of thousands of workers and consumed the resources of an entire region. This valley was one of them. Stone, timber, and labour from the Cheleiros area were carried ten minutes up the road to the construction site. The palace took decades to build; today it stands as a UNESCO World Heritage Site with 1,200 rooms and a 36,000-volume library. Every time you look toward Mafra from the valley, you are looking at something this land helped create.

In 1982, Nobel laureate José Saramago published Memorial do Convento — one of the greatest novels in the Portuguese language. The story follows the building of Mafra National Palace (ten minutes from here), and Saramago's characters travel through this exact valley. He describes the steep descent into "Cheleiros, at the bottom of the valley" with the precision of someone who knew this landscape intimately.

Today the Rota Memorial do Convento is a free cultural walking trail that connects Mafra Palace to the valley, passing the medieval bridge and the exact viewpoints Saramago described. You can walk from our gate to these literary landmarks. The interpretive centre in Cheleiros village (free entry, seasonal) brings the novel's world to life in the place it was set.

In 2004, winemaker André Manz was clearing land along the Ribeira de Cheleiros when he found 200 ancient, unidentified vines growing wild. Nobody knew what they were. Analysis revealed them to be Jampal — an indigenous Portuguese grape variety so rare it had effectively ceased to exist as a cultivated wine. The vines had survived by accident, in this valley, for an unknown number of generations.

Manz vinified the grapes under the label Dona Fátima. The wine was unlike anything else being produced in Portugal — textured, aromatic, deeply local. Bloomberg named it wine discovery of the year. The Lisboa Wine Region, already known for the Atlantic-influenced microclimate of the Ribeira de Cheleiros corridor, had a new star variety and a remarkable origin story.

Today ManzWine is a short walk along the river path from the cottages. You can taste Dona Fátima and other Jampal wines at the estate — a wine that would not exist if this valley had not quietly kept those vines alive. Ask us about the walk and the best time to visit.