Welcome to our world…..
Les Soeurs Anglaises ……
…. is a place to step away from everyday life and spend time doing something you love. For more than fifteen years, we have welcomed artists, makers, musicians and creative people from around. the world to our home in South West France, creating intimate residential workshops and retreats where creativity, conversation, good food and friendship come together.
We keep our groups deliberately small, creating a relaxed and supportive atmosphere in which people can learn, experiment, make things, exchange ideas and simply enjoy being somewhere different. Some arrive already experienced; others come to try something completely new. What matters is having the time, space and encouragement to explore your own creativity
More than fifteen years of Creative Retreats……
Over the years, Les Soeurs Anglaises has grown through the people who have passed through our doors: workshop leaders with extraordinary skills, participants from many different backgrounds, and the friendships and creative collaborations that have developed along the way. What began as a simple desire to share this place with interesting, creative people has become a community that continues to grow. We have hosted workshops across textiles, art, craft and music, always with the same belief that the best creative experiences happen when there is enough time to learn properly, enough space to experiment and the right people around the table.
Every old house has a story……
Ours has several. Set among the rolling hills of Périgord Vert, just beyond the lively village of Verteillac, the estate has been part of this landscape for centuries. Local tradition tells of a marriage between the Princesse de Briançon and the Sieur de Verteillac in the C14th, from which the hamlet is said to have taken its name. It is also believed that a medieval castle once stood where the Maison de Maître now sits. By the early C19th, the old stronghold had given way to an elegant gentilhommière, while a mill which produced the rich walnut oil for which the Périgord has long been famous was built over the stream that still runs beside the house (now a japanese garden). The estate also had its own chapel, where pilgrims travelling the ancient route to Santiago de Compostela would stop to rest, pray and receive alms before continuing their journey south.
Abandoned in the 1960s, the property stood empty for decades, until Katie Elliott Armitage and her husband, Mike, undertook a complete restoration of both the Maison de Maître and it’s sister barn, L’Espace, which houses the magnificent studio and more accommodation and situated about 100m up the hill. Their aim was never to erase the property’s colourful past, but to uncover it, preserving its character using local materials, celebrating its history and thereby offering it a new life..
Whatever the truth of the old stories, the house has watched over this corner of the Dordogne for hundreds of years, and now invites others to become part of its continuing story.
A place to stay, eat and create …….
Choose from a range of standard and superior quality accommodation, meals made from delicious, seasonal ingredients served with recommended wines, and a gloriously safe environment where you’ll be free to shed the stresses of everyday life and concentrate on discovering (or re-discovering) your creativity - a highly enriching opportunity to learn new skills, make memories and form friendships that will last a lifetime.
Discover our accommodation …….
Food and hostpitality …….
Food is part of the experience here. We cook with seasonal ingredients, sit down together for breakfast, lunch and supper, and enjoy the kind of conversations that happen when people have nowhere else they need to be. Meals are not simply something to fit around the workshop; they are part of the shared rhythm of the week.
A place to stay, learn, relax and create …….
Choose from a range of standard and superior quality accommodation, meals made from delicious, seasonal ingredients served with recommended wines, and a gloriously safe environment where you’ll be free to shed the stresses of everyday life and concentrate on discovering (or re-discovering) your creativity - a highly enriching opportunity to learn new skills, make memories and form friendships that will last a lifetime.
Discover our accommodation …….
