A place to weave humans into a profound connection with the wisdom of the landscape.
In June 2025 we came to learn that 24 hectares of wild land was for sale, and to developers that would turn the natural haven into a land of intensive farming or solar farm.
We listened in and heard the call that this land would be the perfect home to create a Rural School of Arts. A school that is unique in the land-based teaching that it offers, and its holistic approach to craft and health. A School housed within a People’s Forest, that will come to offer local people of all heritages the opportunity to be nourished by and learn the stories of their landscape for generations to come. A place to welcome people from all over the world in service to human to earth vitality.
The wild land
This thriving ecosystem is currently home to a range of old native trees, a river, ruins and an abundance of natural life. We fell in love with its diversity and unique ancient rhythms.The land is a key resource for maintaining the rhythm and abundance of the whole area. Once bought the land will be donated to an association for it to be forever held in service to the vision, local ecosystem and community.
Story from our hearts
About us
Craig Bamford, is a architect, designer, and craftsman. His multimedia practice is united by an overarching belief in creating works that are an extension of the natural world – acting as the link between people and the earth. SASA Works was founded by Craig Bamford, a practice led together with Işık Sayarer, fusing traditional craftsmanship, artistry and architecture to create spiritual, elemental spaces and objects. Craig’s ongoing enquires into healing forms and harmonic spaces is informed through a listening to a sense of place and the wisdom of the ancestors. The Rural School of Arts will be designed as an expression of this practice bringing together 30 years of making in wood, metal and holistic architecture. Previous projects include The Moon House, The Teahouse, and The Artists House for the Cold Press and Alchemy and Form at Blue Mountain School, alongside private commissions for spaces all over the world.
www.sasaworks.co.uk
Isik Sayarer, is an artistic healer, maker and designer whose work explores the meeting of land, craft, myth and the sacred. She has spent 20 years creating experiences and stories with communities and individuals. Stories and teachings that invite a deeper sense of belonging to each other and the world we inhabit. This practice has lead to a range of projects; long-term projects spanning over decade with urban and rural communities in the UK, bringing unexpected groups together through collective creation of film, living spaces such as gardens, and cultural moments of performance and celebration. She works with the mystic sense and the whispers she hears from the land to guide beings in ceremony and collective visioning, creating spaces to listen and attune to a deeper sense of time. Her offerings are influenced by degrees in Environmental Science and Fine Art and trainings in constellations, somatic practice, movement and mediation.www.altantepepath.com
In 2011 Isik founded Fourthland, an artistic practice she directs with Eva Vikstrom, a practice that spans performance, ceremony, textile, sound, film and writing to offer a range of teaching programs and healing experiences. In 2017 they brought a group to Portugal on retreat, which began the journey here. The Rural School of Arts will form a nest for these teachings. www.fourthland.com
Bruno Ramos, has more than 30 years’ experience in journalism and marketing, sociocultural and regional development. He holds a degree in Communication Sciences from ISCSP- Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas. Bruno worked as a journalist, editor-in-chief, and editor for several specialised publications dedicated to advertising, design, music, cinema, and wine. He also coordinated a number of corporate communication projects. In addition, he has written various travel features and opinion pieces for national and regional newspapers.In 2001, he moved to Fundão to work with rural territories. He served as editor of the municipality’s cultural agenda, joined the Local Development Association Pinus Verde, and became co-founder of the Aldeias do Xisto (Schist Villages) project, where he worked until 2024—first as Communications Director and later as Executive Director. Bruno Coordinated national and international projects linked to sustainable architecture, territorial development, craft, and the arts and represented the projects both nationally and internationally. He is involved in and collaborates with various cultural associations, communities, and civic movements in Portugal’s Central Region.
White Stone Association, is a not-for-profit Association of spiritual nature lovers who in 2006 dedicated the land called Mount of Oaks to prayer and regeneration of soil, people and wildlife following the principles of Permaculture. Emma and Barabara are the current guardians of Mount of Oaks, they are teachers and practitioners of permaculture design, natural building and regenerative practices, herbal remedies, prayer, intercultural dialogue and community development. Hosting different communities on the land at different times. They look forward to many collaborations with Ilha and us which feels like a perfect continuation and evolving process of this local ecosystem of Rocks, Soil, Water, Plants, Trees, Animals, Fungi and Humans who are rooting to remain in the memory of this landscape long after we depart! www.mountofoaks.org
Local Partnerships
Elaine Mclaughlin, has spent the last few years embracing the traditional songs and music of the region, learning to play the Aduf drum alongside its songs associated with harvest and celebration. She is a storyteller and poet and brings her life's learning, humour, and wild spirit to help this magical project thrive. Elaine will become part of the team creating moments with elders in the village alongside pathways for local children to hear the call of the Forest. Supporting the existing connections and weaving new threads. She has a saying: “I IS Land and land is us". Something our ancestors knew the importance of and something to return to, as humanity moves further and further away from who we are.
Francisco Amaral (Chico’s), arrival in the valley felt like a home coming. Rooted in this land Chico listens to its whispers and walks in service of co-creating a collective vision — where the seeds of ethics, community, and love grow from local action into global transformation. For the last 15 years this pilgrimage of life has taken him on a journey decolonizing his roots in Environmental Engineering through teachings in Permaculture, Deep Ecology, Community, and Spiritual Practice
Katarina Sidova, is a natural connector with a joy of bringing people together. Since moving to the valley she has made a practice of weaving old and new locals together. Fusing relationships with the village elders and discovering a wide range of new ecological projects in the area. Katarina will be part of the team that weaves local audiences together alongside developing journeys and encounters for groups through the forest. She knows that being in nature is when the magic happens again and again. She grew up with her grandparents in a small village in Slovakia, surrounded by beautiful mountains, forming a deep love for land, forests and animals. Climbing trees & getting her hands dirty in the soil is when she is happiest.
Our growing teaching community
Fourthland, artists Isik and Eva offer teachings and experiences that connect with myth, kinship and collaboration with more than human realms. Their work is created through a deep exploration of community collaboration and ancestry.The Rural School of Arts will become a nest for this work.
Nancy Fuller, will bring wild clay ceramics to the School as part of the living crafts programme. After an MA in History of Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Nancy perfected the complex ancient art of wood-firing creating special pieces that are both sacred and functional.
Chico’s has worked as co-founder of initiatives and cooperatives in the regenerative-agriculture movement in Portugal. His practice embodies integrity, ecological wisdom, and collective purpose. Years of pilgrimage around the world through diverse landscapes, ecosystems and culture have enriched his understanding of land-based projects. Chico gives attention to the holistic, reciprocity of community life, permaculture, and holistic design.
Cécile is a film director. She strives to make cinema that evokes the spiritual dimension of our human search for meaning and purpose. Her first feature film Mother Vera won The Grierson Award for best documentary at the BFI London Film Festival and best film at Festival Dei Popoli. Cécile is BAFTA connect member and a Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Grantee 2020.
Alberto Balazs is a cinematographer working at the intersection of fiction and documentary. His work brings together stories of migration, memory, ancestral wisdom and syncretic cultures. Screened and awarded internationally at Festivals such as Sundance, Venice Biennale, Rotterdam.
Alejandro T Tarraf is a director, producer and scriptwriter, working with fiction and documentary. His work, portraying the mystic experience of human and nature, has been screened and awarded internationally at IFF Rotterdam, Bafici, Ficunam, AFI Fest, Taipei golden horse, Institute of contemporary Arts - London, amongst others.
A Story from the tree
We heard the loud cries of a cork oak tree standing like a shepherd at the edge of the wild land. Over 20 years of listening to land and place and creating art, architecture and land projects attuned us to hear the call.
We first heard the call that something with the land upon which it stood was changing. After we investigated this with the local mayor we discovered that the land that had been held in the same family for over a hundred years was being prepared for sale. Prepared to be presented to developers to create an intensive cherry farm that would remove the natural landscape of native trees and rocks, creating a project that would affect the natural water table and river system, in fact the entire ecosystem. We got the phone number of the owners and called them, they explained the plan. With the trees in our hearts we said “WE will buy it”. Clear as clear.
The tree then explained that the land was here to become a Rural School of Arts and become a People’s Forest, a place that welcomes humans to be part of an enriching landscape for generations to come. All of this we wrote down and carrying these messages in our hearts we went to meet with the owners. They presented their ideas for the sale and we suggested “What if it was to become a Rural School of Arts? ”
Deeply moved the family replied that it was always their fathers dream to create an art school, the father being friends with the poet Eugénio de Andrade.
“You have heard the energy of the land they said.”
The tree became quiet, knowing that its work as the messenger was done. We gathered as a collective in service to what we heard.
“The word, as you once said, comes
moist from the woods: we must plant it;
it comes moist from the earth: we must save it,
it comes with the swallows”
Eugénio de Andrade
