The workshop village

Places

Cerdeira Home for Creativity

Place
Lousã, Portugal
Official site
cerdeirahomeforcreativity.com
Themes
Countryside, Mountain

In the Serra da Lousã, 700 metres up, the farmers had left Cerdeira by the middle of the 20th century. In 2000, two families began rebuilding its schist houses. Today the hamlet lives off its school of arts and crafts and the guests who rent its houses.

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The workshop village

In 2006, one of the founders launched “Elementos à Solta”, a yearly festival where art meets nature, with exhibitions, workshops and music. The school teaches the potter’s wheel, woodwork, tile-making and cooking, and artists from around the world come to stay in residence. Their work hangs in the houses.

The houses were rebuilt in stone, clay and local timber inside a Natura 2000 area, and 15% of direct bookings fund reforestation on the mountain. Ten houses sleep up to 43 people; the Casa da Aldeia, the largest building in the village, hosts meetings and workshops. Take the train to Coimbra, the metrobus to Lousã, then drive the last 9 km.

Photo credits : Vitor Oliveira (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0) ; Ricardo Saraiva de Almeida (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

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