Four travellers make the day go: reserve a four person day in Portugal or Greece

How the fourth reservation gets found

You name the date and the office holds it provisionally with the person who runs the day, then writes to you with the count as it stands. Other travellers reach that same date from anywhere, some through this office and some directly. The person running the day generally wants a decision two to three weeks out, because a press, a vat or a boat has to be scheduled around it. When the count is met, the reservation is confirmed in writing and nothing further is asked of you. When it is not met by that date, the office passes the answer on as soon as it has it, in writing, with the reason attached rather than left to silence.

Days that need a few pairs of hands

Nine sit at this level. Granite presses and pergola vines in the Vinho Verde, where the year's first cloudy wine is made, from $196. The last rowed ferry on the Minho, a crossing older than the border it crosses, from $164. Brick fishing stations in the flat water south of Ferrara, in a lagoon that is neither river nor sea, from $172. A tower house day in the deep Mani where there is almost no soil, from $156. Larch planks steamed and bent on the Gytheio slipway, from $150. Apples ground and pressed in an Asturian llagar and poured from a height to aerate the liquid, from $154. Carbide lamps kept burning in a closed Hainaut coal seam, from $146. A hide on the cold Lesse at half past five, from $118. And copper vats in Parma at four in the morning, curd cut by hand, wheels stamped before breakfast, from $176.

If the fourth never arrives

Then the day does not run, and you are told. Since this office takes no payment and holds no card details, there is nothing to refund and no fee to argue about; the loss is a date you had set aside. What the office does at that point is offer the alternatives in the same region, which usually means one of the mark one days that runs on its own, or the same subject at mark four as a private booking, at the higher figure that implies. It will not quietly move you onto something else, and it will not tell you a day is likely to fill when it has no reason to think so.

The questions this group raises

Who counts towards the four?

Everyone reserved on that date, whether through this office or directly with the person running the day. If you are two and two others are already down, the day is met. If you are four, you meet it on your own and nobody else has to appear. The count is of travellers on the sheet, not of separate reservations, so a party of four is one message and one confirmation.

How long before the date do we know?

Two to three weeks out is normal, because a llagar, a cheese room or a ferry crossing has to be planned around the number attending. The office writes as soon as it hears, either way. If you need a firm answer earlier than that, say so at the first message, because a few of these days will settle sooner when the count is already close.

Can we pay extra to make one of these run with just two of us?

No, and it is not really about money: this office takes no payment at all. A pressing day or a four in the morning cheese room costs the same to open whether two people or six are standing there, and the person running it has set the number that makes opening worth it. If you want a day that runs for two, take a mark one day, or ask about the same subject privately at mark four figures.