Retreat details
This retreat marks the beginning of a new chapter in Vale de Moses and the first of many creative gatherings to come. It is an invitation to pause. To observe. To be present and conscious of ourselves, the environments we inhabit and our place within them.
Through daily yoga practice, reflective journalling and creative expression, we explore how awareness shapes both our inner and outer worlds. This week is about noticing how we move and play, what we gather and create, and how we leave our imprint.
As the first of a new series of art retreats, we invite you to come, participate and discover where your creative freedom and consciousness might take you.
Yoga
Movement classes will be guided by Margarida, whose teaching is rooted in mindful, intelligent sequencing and deep respect for individual experience. With a warm and attentive approach, she creates a space where exploration feels safe and expansive. Her classes support strength and softness in equal measure, offering a physical and emotional anchor for the rest of the week’s creative work.
The Visual Journal
Throughout the week, you will be encouraged to record their experiences in a visual and creative journal, which may include written reflections, sketches, collages… to capture your experience of the valley and your internal landscape during your stay. This process will be guided by Eloïse and Ana, holding space for curiosity, experimentation and personal expression.
Ceramics: Creating a Ritual Vessel
We will explore ceramics as a millennia-old creative practice. You will be introduced to a variety of hand-building techniques to discover which approach best suits your form. We will also explore handle-making through extruding and pulling methods. The intention is not perfection, but presence — shaping clay slowly and consciously.
Optional Extras
A wheel-throwing pottery workshop (max 4 people per session), additional hand-building time,
A cooking workshop with Chef Stephen
A one-to-one pendant wax carving workshop with Eloïse.
These offerings are designed to allow you to shape your retreat experience — adding rest, exploration or further creative immersion as you feel called.
What’s included
Morning yoga posture practice with Margarida
Afternoon Arts workshops with Ana (Ceramics) and Eloise (Jewellery)
3 freshly prepared, nourishing vegan/vegetarian meals daily
5 nights accommodation in stone cottages or Glamping belle tents
Ayurvedic consultation and massage
Sweat Lodge Session by the cascading river pools
Transportation to and from Oleiros
Your Team
Margarida, Yoga Teacher, 2016 Mysore
Ana Magro, Ceramic Artist
Eloïse Winter, Artist - Translator
Margarida Yoga Teacher
Margarida is an old family friend from Lisbon. She first met Vonetta in Mysore 10 years ago where they practiced together during the winter. She has been practicing yoga since 2012 and through her various trips to India, has deepened her practice and knowledge of Yoga - feeling its joy, magic and humility in every moment.
Having taught in India, England and Portugal, she continues to deepen her personal and professional practice in Buddhist meditation and mindful walks in the forest, using the Finnish practice of Forest Mind. She loves silence and nature, choosing this path every day because she deeply believes that the capacity for change lies within each person.
Ana Magro
Ana is a ceramic artist whose work centres on presence, material sensitivity, and the quiet dialogue between hand and clay. She began her practice in 2018, developing a deep connection to wheel throwing and a respect for technical precision grounded in repetition and care.
After working within studio communities in Manchester, she returned to Portugal, where she now creates small-batch functional ceramics inspired by Portuguese and Japanese pottery traditions, interpreted through a contemporary and organic lens.
Ana also facilitates clay workshops that focus on attention, touch, and process rather than outcome. She guides participants through simple making practices that encourage slowing down, observing closely, and working with care. Balancing technical structure with openness, she creates a supportive space where people can reconnect with their hands, their creativity, and their immediate environment.
Eloïse Grace Winter
Eloïse is an artist-translator of Bajan and English descent, raised in rural Portugal, whose practice weaves together silversmithing, linguistics, illustration, and collective gathering. Through their work, they seek to translate and invite the magic of the natural and the spiritual into the continuous present, through adornment and collective care.
An interest in social and artistic practices motivates the creation, curation, and facilitation of various community projects, forest retreats, events, exhibitions, and creative directions. Since 2021, they have worked with the arts collective The Blacker The Berry Project, as the first and current Head of Safer Spaces.
Writing is an integral part of their practice. Moving between poetry, creative and asemantic writing, exploring language as a material flexible in meaning and in purpose. Their asemantic writing functions as a visual and intuitive form of illustration, inspiring the symbolic emphasis present in their jewellery.
Travelling to us
We are located approximately 2.5 hours from both Lisbon and Porto and accessible by car, with a number of hire options available in both cities. For those looking to travel by public transport, we recommend travelling via Lisbon for the early morning 7am coach to our local town of Oleiros (Tickets available one month in advance from Rede Expressos bus services ) where we’ll pick you up for the short drive to the retreat. You’ll arrive in time for breakfast on Monday morning.
If driving here, check in anytime after 10am. At the end of the week, everyone departs early Saturday morning for a buffet breakfast in a café in Oleiros before boarding the 8.15am bus to Lisbon or Porto.
Check in/outs and transportation outside of these times may be available at an additional cost, please contact admin@valedemoses.com to confirm.
Accommodation & Prices
Single bed in the Moses Cottage, Adega Cottage or Glamping Belle Tents - 800€
Double or Twin beds in farmhouse or - 1,400€ for two people
Double/Twin SoulPad for single occupancy - 950€
To stay for just a night or two during the retreat - 175€ per night
Children under 18 - half price. Children under 5 - stay for free
We ask for a 20% deposit to secure your place and if for any reason you can’t make it, we simply carry your deposit forward to any retreat with us in the next 3 years.
For group or family booking discounts or if you have any questions, please contact admin@valedemoses.com