Waterhole

When we walk up into the forest behind our house we skirt past a farmhouse that is one of the oldest houses in the village. Continuing up the hill another 400 metres we go past this pool.
Apparently sometime in the late 1800's this pool, a natural spring, was modified to make it deeper and then pipes of wood were led down the hill to the farmhouse - the first house in the village to get piped running water.  These days the pool is a bit scummy and full of dead leaves and rotting wood but in its glory days as a water source it would have been regularly cleaned and covered over to keep it so. 
Nowadays in the village everyone's water arrives magically in pipes, and our wastes disappear via similarly magic pipes.

In the extra picture you can see some of our Portuguese honey being decanted into smaller jars. It's good to have such a tasty reminder of Alentejo and our friends who live there (and had a source of local honey)!