About Us

(1954) is the founder of Monte Rosa. After being a teacher in Holland, in 1984 she moved to Portugal to start a health food restaurant and juice bar in Lagos. Her mission is to stimulate people to practice a healthy lifestyle. With her idealistic entrepreneurial drive, in 1993 she started her ‘Monte Rosa project’. Old farmhouses were rebuilt with care and love into comfortable and tastefully decorated guest accommodations. For many years Sandra was the hostess, cook, and organizer. She enjoys facilitating meetings between like-minded people and encouraging personal development and sustainability. Now Sandra is retired and she delegated most of the responsibilities to her team. She still helps in the vegetable garden, is involved in renovation ideas and she continues to guard the Monte Rosa vision. Inspired by the Findhorn Community (Scotland) she intends to create an atmosphere of ‘work is love in action’. Sandra is also regularly in the Netherlands, where she follows a course in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT).

(1977), from Belgium, fulfills a coordinating role at Monte Rosa since February. Together with Doreth she is your hostess and with her cordial and helpful attitude she is a pleasant point of contact for our guests. Ingeborg keeps an overview of the many activities in the Round House and sometimes provides breakfast. In her younger years she was a top athlete in short track speed skating. Her perseverance still characterizes her. If you want to know more about Ingeborg as a health coach, visit www.wanderwall.be. In her spare time Ingeborg is an enthusiastic cyclist.

(1965) was born in Moldova, but has lived in Portugal for almost 20 years and speaks the language well. As a gardener he takes great care of the land of Monte Rosa. With great attention to detail he takes care of the plants and trees and helps to keep the perma garden in order. But he is also a real ‘handyman’ and, where possible, also does the maintenance jobs on the property. In addition, he is, on request, the grill man at BBQ evenings. In short, Ivan is a ‘multitasker’ and a very helpful, calm and sympathetic colleague.

(1963) is Dutch, but with Portuguese residence. As she has a degree in French and in Portuguese language and with her good sense of responsability Monte Rosa found in her the perfect person to help with the administration, reservations and the other correspondence. She is a warm host, together with Ingeborg. For questions you can contact Doreth in Portuguese, English, Dutch, French or German. Doreth is also preparing the diners together with Vini. If she is not at Monte Rosa, you may find her on one of the lovely Algarve beaches going for a good walk.

(1959) is Portuguese, born in Angola. She has worked at Monte Rosa for over 20 years (with a few breaks) and is responsible for cleaning the rooms and making the beds with crisp sheets. She is also helpful in the kitchen and sometimes prepares typical Portuguese recipes such as ‘Caldo Verde’ or ‘Frango na Pucara’, a chicken dish with wine and Brandy. She loves the countryside and therefore likes to be at Monte Rosa. Now that Noémia is approaching her retirement she works only half days. During that time, she gets a lot done as the volunteers like to help her hang or fold laundry.

(1997) is a working student, originally from the south of Brazil. He studies psychology in Porto. Vini has a great joy in preparing delicious and healthy meals based on different food-cultures. Vini loves to get up early so after cleaning the pool you’ll find him in the kitchen to prepare the breakfasts. In his spare time Vini likes to do yoga and meditation. He brings his good energy also to our garden.

(1994), originally from Spain, is a real joy to have around. She was trained as a primary school teacher and is absolutely wonderful with kids. You can ‘hire’ her for baby sitting. Laura loves working in our bio garden, so we can eat food that was grown with love. Together with Noémia, she also takes care of the rooms. In her spare time Laura likes to go hiking. Her positive attititude is very inspiring.

We regularly welcome volunteers at Monte Rosa who are preferably versatile and able to stay for at least one month. They, for example, help in our perma garden, irrigate the land, help prepare dinners, set the table, do the dishes, clean the pool. And sometimes volunteers perform easy maintanance jobs or help our cleaning staff. If you are interested in working with us on a voluntary basis, please send an email with your CV, a picture of you, the period you are available and a brief description of yourself as well as your motivation to:

info@monterosaportugal.com