EU.flag

If you first researched visa requirements and residency conditions attached, you would have realised its a pipe dream.

GrahamF

If you think UK regulations are bad, you're in for a nasty shock in Portugal, where computers are used to generate more paper forms, not to simplify matters. Yes, it is possible to buy a small plot to park a caravan on, try searching Youtube where there are lots of videos of land for sale, usually in very remote areas.

Pollyana

Unbelievable.
Have you ever experienced a wildfire/bushfire?
Whichever country you are in, those rules are not there for fun. They are not "anal". They are essential.
They are there for basic safety, to help mitigate the risk of fire, and help to protect people and property when a fire does take hold.
A wildfire is not something you throw a blanket over. Get real.

(sorry, but 19 years working with Australian bushfires gives me very little tolerance for this kind of attitude)

Score76

Probably best if you consider somewhere else. Rural plots in Bulgaria are very cheap.
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philat98

If you want to buy a smallholding Bulgaria is a very good option. I am suprised that there are so few Bulgarian residents on BE. I suspect the Bulgarian language might be a bit tricky but so is Portuguese.
Italy has plenty of cheap rural property but most of it is a load of rubbish.

Red Eric

Portuguese is a Romance language, so close to Latin, which has a huge influence on English. It's not actually any more difficult to learn from scratch than would be, say, French, Spanish or Italian (only without the requirement for singing lessons that the latter imposes).

Bulgarian is a step further removed - it's in the Indo-European family, which includes English and all the Romance languages but in the Slavic group.

dmu

At least most European languages are recognizable and relatively easy to learn, but, personally, I could never cope with any languages in Cyrillic or Greek, let alone Arabic and anywhere further East. Hats off to those who do...

VientienePT

Dear Mickety Mackety, we renovate ruins in the Alentejo and rent them out, so being on Idealista.pt (the largest property site) is like our hobby! Seeing what's out there. In our experience, since arriving in March 2020 and reading what you're looking for, we would suggest the best bet would be village properties, terraced bungalows with small gardens. I would say there are the most abundant properties that are liveable and at the cheapest end of the spectrum, still available in the low 10s of thousands in the countryside, not close to Lisbon or the Algarve coast of course. We ourselves chose Estremoz, about half an hour from Évora and it's true here as well as across the Alentejo whenever we look. I guess you may need a visa, like a D7 retirement visa, in which you'll need a 12 month contract, or to purchase a property, or prove you are in the process of buying one (such as with a CPCV, which is a promissory contract where you pay a deposit but have not yet completed). Hope this helps!

liveaboard

A ruin in Portugal is a legal state that is not a legal habitation; to make it into one, you need planning permission, architects plans, and a licenced contractor to build the house, then drainage, water, and power before final certificate is granted. the time required end to end is 4-10 years, and the cost is about the same as the value of the property when it's finished.

In other words, not what you want to do.

It is legal to PARK a caravan on a country plot, but not to stay in it. In reality, lots of people do it anyway (like everywhere else). But be aware, you could be evicted at any time.

Land clearance is often talked about, but actually it's only required for a 50 meter radius around a habitation and 10 meters to the side of a road. So since your caravan is not a habitation, you don't legally need to do it.

In reality, you could easily be killed. Brush fires move fast, very fast.

I don't understand how you can possibly even imagine keeping animals if you only want to be here 4 months a year.

Lou71

My advice is try inland eastern Algarve, it's well located and not too far from Faro. There are plenty of reasonably priced rural properties in the Castro Marim area so the best thing to do is get over here and look around.

Keeping animals and maintaining crops is impossible unless you decide to live here full time.

Are you planning to relocate to Portugal permanently? If so, it's easier than Spain for British people post Brexit with a lower minimum income requirement.