Welcome to Cima, an eco-tourism, retreat and seminar project
We take you on a Portuguese experience
Coming soon - Restaurant, Cabins, Surf & Yoga
Cercal, Alentejo - Portugal
Aurélien & Julien, who have been friends for over 20 years, were keen to set up a different kind of project!
For those of you who don’t know us so well, or just to remind you of us, here are our little faces…
In the few lines that follow, you’ll find a project, a reflection on life, the ideas that drive us, and the need for change… Let’s take you on a journey towards this transformation…
The Genesis
After years as shopkeepers in Normandy, the desire for a new life arose.
It culminated in personal reflections in which the feeling of being aligned in life became one of our vectors. We wanted to escape the hectic city life, the world of consumption, whose only goal was to fill an emptiness in which we ended up losing ourselves.
The time had come to really reflect on what drives us, what purpose we would give to our lives, measure the gap between what’s going well and what’s not… in short, try to analyze ourselves to understand who we are and why we are where we are!
We tried to ask ourselves the right questions, we deconstructed, we worked our way through to arrive at the obvious… the life we have is no longer the life we wanted.
We were realizing that beyond a place itself, it’s a location that brings together all the things that drive us, which will be OUR PLACE !
The desire to reconnect with nature, to live in the sun close to the ocean, to be able to grow our own vegetables, to plant vines, to try our hand at what others have passed on to us, to be able to go surfing, to do yoga, to take our time… in short, so many things that bring us closer to a simple life that suits us.
And Portugal seemed to tick quite a few boxes! So we went to see what is going on there!
The Quest for a Place
When flying became possible again after Covid, we caught one of the first flights to Lisbon. The region we wanted to explore was between Lisbon and Sagres.
We quickly realized that it was too crowded in the south of the country and too urban too close to the capital… This was not what we were looking for.
Arrival in Alentejo
We arrived in the south-west of Alentejo between Porto Covo and Vila Nova de Milfontes and then something happened, a feeling of being in the right place, a feeling that’s hard to explain because it’s very internal, but something that resonated within us. We didn’t know the place or the people, but we felt right at home! The coast was incredible, the landscapes were untouched by anarchic construction, the hills, the steppes, it was sunny, it was hot, it was ultra wild, we felt like we were 35 years back in time…
There was this thing, “like a childhood memory, the place where we went on holiday that we never wanted to leave, the place where we could see ourselves living”, what if that’s it?
We quickly realized that it’s going to be difficult to get by on our own and that, in any case, transactions will go through an estate agency - that’s how things work down here!
We met up with Duarte, and we had a good feeling with him - he quickly understood what we were looking for!
Among others, he suggested a plot of land at Cercal, which is admittedly uncultivated, but whose potential we recognized straight away.
The days went by, we continued our investigations, canvassing the whole area, but we never forgot about this plot of land… it was a sign, it was probably meant for us!
We called our close friends (they’ll recognize each other) and told them all about it. A craze was created around this adventure. This life project became a project of friends…
The idea was launched, it brought people together, the grey areas were cleared up, something strong was in the making. The decision was made, we booked the site!
We exchanged ideas with friends and made return trips to Portugal.
The project took shape, and we set up a Portuguese company to acquire the property and, at the same time, a French investment company made up of around 12 friends.
The Cima Project
The idea of building a different kind of place, one that could be a base camp for the people around us, remains the goal, but in the meantime, we’re going to have to do something with it.
If the idea of a friends’ project is one of the guiding principles, living in a place that brings together everything that drives us is another.
Travelling has enabled us to discover different places to live, different ways of working and, above all, different ways of thinking.
So, we decided to create an eco-hostel*. A place for holidays, living, teleworking and seminars, where the connection to nature and the ocean will be omnipresent.
The 2.5 hectare site will house a bar / coffee shop / restaurant, youth hostel-style dormitories, wooden cabins, a swimming pool, an agricultural building, a yoga deck and a seminar room.
The concepts of ecology, sustainability and self-sufficiency resonates strongly with us, which is why we’re going to focus this project in that direction. We’re going to grow a permaculture vegetable garden that will supply the restaurant.
The original idea was to combine Aurélien and Julien’s desires: but the project really took on its full meaning with the location we found.
How to organize these ideas into a viable project without falling into the pitfalls we encountered in our previous professional projects?
Our professional background and our current philosophy of life have led us to take a different approach to setting up this new project.
If, as with any commercial project, the aim is to achieve economic profitability, and ultimately to make money, either during operation or on resale… here, the ultimate goal is quite different! It could be described as more of an associative project than an entrepreneurial one.
We are also seeking to calmly re-consider our relationship with work and money, so we will be introducing pay equity for all employees.
It’s hard to explain in just a few lines this real desire to do things differently, but we know that you’ve already had a taste of the idea behind it…
The Place
Located in Cercal do Alentejo in south-west Portugal, halfway between Lisbon and Faro, 10km as the crow flies from the ocean.
At the tip of the triangle formed by Vila Nova de Milfontes and Porto Covo, in the hills on the edge of the Alentejo Natural Park, and the route of the Portuguese GR11, the European E9 and the Rota Vicentina.
We’re surrounded by fields of cork oak, eucalyptus and olive trees. We enjoy sunny weather 300 days a year, and the sea air makes temperatures bearable even in summer.
Project Progress
So, we reserved the land in July 2020 and signed the preliminary contract in September.
To make sure there were no problems, we approached Natalia, our lawyer. She discovered that the division of the land on which the house is located had never been registered. She therefore contacted the owner to regularize the situation.
Meanwhile, we were making progress with Gonçalo, our architect. He explained to us that the planning permission process was divided into 3 phases. The first phase was the architectural phase, to validate the project as a whole. The second phase consists of the specifications. And finally, the third phase is the validation of the work by the Camara, which issues the “housing licence”.
The property has been officially registered at the end of November 2021.
In December 2021, through our Portuguese company, we became the owners of this land!
We had to wait a few more months for the authorities to issue us with the title deeds! Without this document, we were not able to apply for planning permission.
In Portugal, it’s the Camara Municipal (the community of municipalities) that issues the permits, and unlike in France, there are no delays here!
In May 2022, after obtaining the title deeds, the architect submitted the 1st phase of the project to the Camara de Santiago do Cacem.
In February 2023, the Camara came back to us with a few minor changes to make, nothing major, except perhaps that we had to wait an unknown period of time for the first phase to be completed!
In June 2023, after contacting the Camara, we were given an appointment at their offices.
They asked us to make a few more changes, which we did.
The summer passed without news, so we contacted the councilor in charge of town planning via the President of Cercal.
We agreed to meet again at the end of November 2023, with a few more changes to be made… we’ll do it!
After 15 days without any news, we call the Camara, and the elected representative confirms: it’s OK, everything’s fine, the first phase has been validated !!!!!
We had to wait until January 10th 2024 to get the official confirmation. We could now begin the second phase of the licence: the special features.
We approached the engineering firm with which our architect works to put together the specifications file.
As you can see, it’s only 3 years since we started the process ;-)
Time takes on a whole new dimension here, and we really had to experience it to understand it… but isn’t that what we’ve come for?
During the 1st quarter of 2024, we talk to the engineers. We provide them with our electricity requirements, our ideas for materials, our ecological choices for water management, all sorts of things that will also be necessary for the consultation of construction companies. Normally, the deadline between the validation of the 1st phase of the building permit and the submission of the specifications file is 6 months, so we have to submit it before July 10, 2024. But in the meantime, in view of the project’s typology, we were obliged to have an energy study carried out by ADENE, Portugal’s energy agency. This postponed our submission date by 6 months, and cost us a few hundred euros in the process.
So it was mid-December 2024 when the specifications file was submitted to the Camara. By mid-February we had heard nothing from them, and now knew we had to keep them on their toes!
At the beginning of March 2025, we received approval for this second phase. Our permit is finally VALIDATED !!!!
Financing
We’ve tried to give you a simple overview of the origins of this project, its beginnings and the energy that drives us.
Slow administrative and banking procedures led us to think long and hard about how we wanted this project to exist.
As we wanted to avoid using banks as much as possible, our thinking led us to rethink our original approach to financing.
Our project is people-oriented, it mobilizes the community, it brings people together because many people see themselves in it, it makes sense because of the way it is articulated, it conveys values, it is future-oriented, and it is sustainable. All these values lead us to believe that funding, supported by people who are sensitive to them, does make perfect sense.
What if this project could exist simply through our network?
And what if we were the actors of these new ways of working.
And what if, to go even further, we could pay off the loan we took out to buy the land. That way, we wouldn’t have to depend on the traditional banking system, and we’d only be surrounded by people who believe in our project and in us!
THANK YOU for your attention in reading these pages.
It would have been easier to explain it to you in person… We’ve certainly forgotten a few things, you may have questions, or you simply need to discuss it with us, so don’t hesitate to contact us, we’ll be delighted to share this wonderful project with you!
Best regards,
Aurélien & Julien
