ABOUT US

By 2007, Katie Elliott Armitage, Susie Bolton and Carol Temple had each moved to South West France and were delighted to discover they were still friends. Between them they'd worked in advertising, design, teaching and media. Different skills, one shared instinct: that creativity flourishes when people gather in beautiful surroundings with time, space and good company. So they built somewhere for artists, musicians and makers to step outside their everyday lives and rediscover the pleasure of making things by hand.

What began as a handful of workshops in the Périgord Vert has, over more than fifteen years, grown into one of Europe's most respected creative retreats, pioneers of the idea, well before "creative retreat" became a fashionable phrase. Guests have arrived from the UK, Europe, North America and beyond, drawn by tutors as generous as they are talented, and by that particular alchemy of good teaching, good food and good conversation. The formula hasn't changed. Every workshop is chosen with care, every tutor for kindness as much as skill, every meal eaten together at one table. Rooted in music, textiles, art and craft, the retreats run on conversation and collaboration as much as instruction, there's as much learning in the studio as at dinner. What guests remember isn't easy to pin down: a sense of arriving somewhere unhurried, welcomed without pressure or expectation, among people who share their enthusiasms. Whatever it is, they keep coming back — not for another workshop, but for the place itself.

Katie, Susie and Carol are still there, still doing the welcoming, still delighted by the same thing: strangers becoming friends, confidence quietly returning, creativity switched back on. So come and lose yourself in what you love — the rest, as always, we'll take care of.