The Lagar, our restored olive press building, contains a main space for meetings, activities and group sessions as well as more enclosed study and arts spaces, a library space and a communal kitchen. Younger children have a beautiful play room in a separate building overlooking the river and waterfall.
We have made many improvements to the building over our years here. Initially doors and windows were added, as the building was open to the elements. After that, insulation was installed under the roof of the main building. The following year, we crowdfunded to create a more user-friendly main space and to help to stop water coming into the building in heavy rains – including a fake back wall and a floating floor. The next improvement was to tile the ground level floor space and to create a covered area just outside of the main building, giving us more sheltered space.
At the moment, the Lagar’s main building is comprised of several spaces. At it’s heart is a spacious central space for our meetings. In the same room, it is possible to admire some of the mechanisms used to crush the olives in the oil making process and, above it, a beautiful and cozy library. The back room of this main space has a big wooden floor at a higher level, housing a sizeable study space with several tables and storage units. On the far corner of this room, a bespoke staircase leads to a mezzanine that provides another classroom space. Back at ground level and adjacent to the main meeting space, there is again another classroom space and above it a bigger room that provides more study space.
The Jardim runs in another building of the quinta (farm), inhabiting a beautiful room with wooden floors and big windows, spilling out into the surrounding greenery and the soothing sounds of the waterfall.
Contiguous to the main building of the Lagar is our kitchen and next to it a cute two-story toilet room.
There is a beautiful flat area of land outside the Lagar building, ideal for outdoor play. Scattered through out this area, there are a climbing structure designed and partially built by the children, a trampolin, several sets of swings, a sand pit, a charming little mud caffe under a big elder tree and several garden beds.
Bordering the land flows a singing stream where the smaller children go for paddling in hot weather followed by a waterfall that dips into a pool where the older children swim.