We went on a short expedition to the local winery at Monte da Ravasqueira, just north of Arraiolos, which has made me more interested in the pattern of land ownership in the Alentejo. We were told yesterday that many of the big estates were broken up after the Revolution in 1974, but this obviously survived, complete with its well maintained outhouses, collection of carriages and shop selling their own label wine:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
Most of the port estates in the Douro survived intact, too: stories abound of stand-offs between local workers and Lisbon revolutionaries, with the British/Dutch/whatever owners as mute bystanders.
Thank you. I wondered how it played out on the ground. Charles