Valinhos is a small countryside hollow just outside Fátima where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to the three children on 19 August 1917. That apparition was out of sequence with the monthly 13th pattern because the children had been arrested and imprisoned by the administrator of Ourém, who was attempting to extract the secrets they claimed to have received. Released in time, they went to Valinhos instead of Cova da Iria.
The site is marked by a small chapel and a statue, in a setting noticeably more rural and intimate than the monumental esplanade in the centre of town. A holm oak tree here — like the one at Cova da Iria — is venerated, and a stone altar stands nearby. It's a 20-minute walk from the main sanctuary, usually quiet even when the main pilgrimage area is crowded, and gives a better sense of the pastoral landscape the children inhabited.