MOUNTAIN SONG

With its enviable setting in the Tramuntana range, this Mallorquin home combines paredback simplicity with total tranquillity

- Robyn Alexander

Having been regular visitors to Mallorca prior to purchasing a property on the island, Mercedes and João Marques Pinto searched for their ideal home for quite a while before they found it. This was because they were looking for something a little out of the ordinary, explains Mercedes. “We wanted to find [a house] that we could come to all year around,” she says. They were also looking for a location that “would have activities for us and the kids, and we also wanted it to be in quite close proximity to a port”.

When they finally discovered this abode— more than 15 years ago now—the couple fell for its “charming appearance” right away, says Mercedes. She adds that the house is called Ca’n Marquet, a name that it has had since long before the Marques Pintos became its owners, and one which hints at its long and probably complex history.

“Unfortunately, we know very little about [the history of ] the house or the families who lived here,” says Mercedes. “[But] we have learnt that initially two families lived in the house—and we also found an interesting underground alcove, where supposedly contraband items were hidden hundreds of years ago.”

Ca’n Marquet is certainly very private, peaceful and secluded, and is situated on the outskirts of the small village of S’Arraco. Close by is the port of Andratx, where the Marques Pintos keep their boat in the marina. And the property’s location within the protected confines of the Serra de Tramuntana, a Unesco World Heritage site, makes it part, Mercedes says, of “the most unspoiled part of Mallorca—and this is why we love it [here]”.