What about staying in a house with grounds designed by a noted landscape gardener? Road Trips Gardeners have the chance to do exactly that if they decide to venture to the Algarve in Portugal.

One of the country’s most famous landscape gardeners – Jose Meixa – designed the grounds at Casa Nova da Eira, a colonial-style house which has been added to Vintage Travel’s portfolio for 2011.

Totaling more than 6000 square meters, the grounds feature lawns, rockeries, mature pine and fruit trees as well as many native Mediterranean shrubs. In addition, there’s a private pool, covered and open terraces and a cobbled entrance courtyard.

Internal features include fine paintings and model boats in glass cases (illustrating the owner’s passion for art and sailing) while the entire first floor is dedicated to the principal suite (double bedroom, bathroom, dressing room) and a balcony with views towards the Atlantic Ocean.

Sleeping 11, this five-bedroom, five-bathroom property is situated in the hamlet of Azinheiro. It’s about a 20-minute drive from Faro (where you can take the ferry to the Ria Formosa Natural Park). Rental charges vary by season.

Ria Formosa (that’s it in the photograph) is also a designated Natural Park of over 170 square kilometers, and a stopping place for hundreds of different birds during the spring and autumn migratory periods. The protected lagoon landscape stretches along the Eastern Algarve coast from Faro to the village of Cacela Velha near Tavira.