The creation of the Palheiro estate was started in 1801 by the 1st Conde de Carvalhal, João Esmeraldo and set in the beautiful parkland of Palheiro Ferreiro. The house's main purpose was a hunting lodge and summer residence. The Conde had water brought in by levada (waterway) from near Pico Ariero (second highest peak on the island) some 11 miles away to a small reservoir. He enlisted the help of a French landscape gardener in the laying out of the Quinta. His hand is evident in the width and spaciousness of the avenues he planned, the principal one of which - the plane tree avenue stretching down from the hunting lodge has no less than 100 trees on each side. There were orchards also planted to the north of the house.
The Conde used to employ more than 200 men on the estate for the purpose of keeping it in order. He was reputed to have been a kind landlord and was much respected throughout the whole of the island.
The Conde also imported specimen trees from all over the world. Tradition has it that the Conde was given many rare tree specimens by Dom João VI (John the Runaway) and masters of sailing ships at the time of commencement of the Quinta.
The Condes used to keep horses on the estate, their stables used to be in the middle of the circle of plane trees which you can still see today to the north of the swimming pool. There was also a deer park and other animals were kept in fenced enclosures.
The Condes exercised their carriage horses at the Pico do Cavalo, above the plane tree avenue. Another favourite ride was to the folly or `mirante´ on the way to Balancal through the pine woods which was reached by a road winding round up to the hilltop.
On both these roads some of the stone seats which were covered in blue and white tiles of which vestiges still remain can still be seen today.
In the 1820s in order to make the house more habitable, 2 new wings were added. Down in the basement of the house were storage rooms with floors made of beaten earth which helped create ideal conditions for the storage of fruit.
The ground floor with its living rooms was enriched with decorative ceilings and frescos of flora motifs on the walls.
The entrance was painted with friezes of acorn branches, the Conde's emblem. The lateral walls in the hall could be opened to transform the whole of the ground floor into a spacious ballroom.
A folly was constructed on a hill above the Quinta; this is an octagonal temple of neo-classical design and has been adapted today as the Palheiro Estate emblem. It has remained as a `ruin´ since the count's time when ladies and gentlemen used to socialize there after the hunt. It is said that local lovers used the temple as a meeting place!
At about this time the Conde also had built a chapel in simple baroque style, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. On the feast of its Patron Saint all the employees on the estate used to gather there and deck the old building with flowers, recite the Rosary and pray that their Patrons may live another year to spread happiness amongst them. But in those bygone days, things were different and the last of the Carvalhals would sit at his dining-room window some thirty yards away and watch the priest through the open door of the chapel reading mass. It was so much more comfortable and comme il faut.
´The house and the chapel and the mysterious pathway leading between the camellia trees it was said, had their own visitor from another sphere! The last lady of the Carvalhals came back to her old home and wandered around her garden and disappeared through the chapel doors and was never seen to leave.
An Englishman who visited the Quinta on 13th January 1826 wrote, "the house is modest in size as well as in architecture, but elegant and comfortable and the gardens that surround it are rich in plants and flowers. The camellias are the principal ornament producing red and white flowers which rival the rose in form and colour but do not have the beautiful scent of them."
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