The beautiful village of Varzea Pequena takes its name from the fertile land in which it is situated. Historically the villagers have worked on the land growing crops, particularly potatoes and maize in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the hill behind the village was used to grow olives. The houses in the village are mainly constructed from the round glacial stones gathered from the fields and the river. Between the large stones, are smaller stones and pieces of red terracotta from earlier buildings, held together with clay, and around the windows are granite and sandstone brought into the village from outside the region. The river Ceira plays an important part in the village’s history. About ten thousand years ago the water of the Ceira was blocked at Candosa, forming a large lake that stretched up the valley to Góis and Bordeiro. The lake deposited the rich fertile soils.

The waters of the Ceira, for over a thousand years, have been diverted through irrigation channels to irrigate the fields and crops. Within living memory, a “water judge” has traditionally been appointed to designate when each family can draw water from the levada, to ensure that everyone has a fair share. Mostly adhered to, there have been some occasions when people would try to sneak a little more than their share – sometimes in the middle of the night – and this could lead to falling-out between families. The daily work of the inhabitants of the village, as in so many others, revolved around the seasons and the stage of the crops being grown. When the maize was harvested, everyone would sit round together to clean off the cobs – a time of sharing and conviviality, and bets were made as to who could clean their cobs the fastest. There was also a custom that if somebody chanced upon a cob containing dark kernels, - a “mulatto” or “queen’s cob” - that person had to go round and give everyone a kiss! (The dark cobs are in fact the result of a recessive gene from an old strain of maize). Potatoes were divided into three categories: the biggest were stored, the middle sized ones kept for seed potatoes for the next spring, and the smallest were given as food for the pigs, or used to make “batatas a murro” (a tasty oven-baked dish of potatoes, onion, garlic and olive oil, where the potatoes are “punched” when they are cooked).

Today Varzea Pequena is still a village where people enjoy gathering together. In the summer, the older women of the village sit together on the bench in front of the chapel, or in the shade across the street, and make lace. In the past, Varzea Pequena was famous for its festas and dancing, and  in the fields people would sing and exchange stories while they worked. The folkloric dance group still meets every Saturday in the Casa do Convivio, and in the late summer there is a folkloric dance gathering where the participants parade through the streets of Varzea Pequena on their way to dance in the square in Varzea Grande. The annual festa, held on the first Sunday in September, is known to be one of the best in the region. The festa is held in honour of Rainha Santa, to whom the little chapel is dedicated.
There is a very popular swimming beach just down from the village, the Praia Fluvial de Canavais, with a picnic and barbeque area and a café-bar in the summer.

In researching the villages, we are always amazed by the hospitality of the local people, not only sharing stories of their lives, but also their own food and drink. Varzea Pequena was no exception. We were shown round the old corn mill, that has been working for over 150 years, and were invited to sit down with the local community and join in their “merenda” (afternoon snack) of meat, fritters, and local wine. We were also introduced to the very hard-working donkey “a Russa” (“the Russian”), who kindly agreed to having his photo taken.