My favourite place

Lily Cole on Monchique, southern Portugal

The writer, environmentalist and former model on how she fell in love with the charms of the Algarve

I go to Portugal a lot and it’s become almost like home to me. My partner Kwame is from there and I first visited in 2012, in order to meet his family. We’ve been going back with our daughter, Wylde, who is five, for extended periods of time ever since, and it certainly now feels like my favourite place. Kwame’s family live just outside Monchique, which is a small town in the Algarve, up in the mountains – a very traditional, humble Portuguese town.

It’s very beautiful and quiet, with amazing views. It’s properly secluded, not like other parts of the Algarve, which are touristy. It’s more of a traditional experience. They have a really beautiful garden and the weather is usually lovely. His mum is an amazing cook; she grows a lot of her own food, so we tend to hang out in the garden a lot or go to the beach – either the west or the south coast, both are about a 45-minute drive away.

The west coast has wilder beaches and they are often quieter. The coves there are incredibly beautiful with interesting rock formations and cliffs. It can be windy – the west coast of Portugal is famous for surfing and you get very big waves there sometimes. The south coast has warmer water, but can be more touristy, especially in the summer.

I love wild swimming. It depends on my mood how cold I’m willing to go, but I always feel great after a swim in the sea, a lake or reservoir.

There is no bad time of year to visit – off-season is nice because the beaches are quieter, and it is quite temperate, even around Christmas time. I love spring and summer because of the flowers, and all the food is grown locally.

There are some great little cafés and restaurants catering to a local clientele. We are about an hour’s walk from the town – I would love to cycle, but it is quite hilly – so we tend to drive or walk.

The longest I’ve stayed there is about two months. It’s a bit like a retreat from life. I actually

started writing my book, Who Cares Wins, which is about environmental concerns, while I was there. I stayed all of last summer, and it felt like the right space to write. I had lots of help with my daughter because of the family being around, so I got a lot done.

Kwame’s family became a small but integral part of the book; they have installed solar panels to meet their energy needs, and sell the surplus back to the grid. There’s a big movement across Europe and in Portugal to decentralise energy – people can take control of their own supplies

We’re thinking of going there this summer and staying for the rest of the year. I don’t really want to be going backwards and forwards; I’m doing my best to reduce how much I travel anyway. Travel is the area of greatest contradiction in my life. It is amazing on so many levels, and helpful, and obviously brings revenue to certain communities, but it’s such a paradox. It’s an area I’ve explored in quite a lot of detail in the book, because we need to travel less, or at least more mindfully, for the sake of the environment.

Who Cares Wins, by Lily Cole (Penguin, £20), will be published on Thursday

LILY COLE’S ALGARVE RECOMMENDATIONS

Above Below Colourful buildings in the heart of Monchique. Lagos beach

Mount Fóia overlooking the Atlantic