Our History

The Primary school was built in 1872 in the parish of Ludgvan. Before the school was built, opportunities for education were restricted to Sunday school in a small room attached to the chapel. In 1870, the “elementary education act” law was passed which entitled every child between the age of 5 and 10 to go to school, marking the start of state education as we know it. The following 10 years, thousands of schools were built around Britain, and this was one of them.

in 2021, Dee started the restoration project on the Primary School. The intention, in the midst of a pandemic and an increasingly changing world, was to create a sanctuary for tranquility and turn the school back into a space for gathering, community and education. The education this project promotes is one of self inquiry and self knowledge, and the space this project seeks to create is a sanctuary that facilitates connection to self, to others and to the magnificent nature that surrounds this building and land.

Since then, the project has grown and the space has formed. The school’s lovingly restored and designed interior hugs you in a warm embrace and takes you on a cozy nomadic adventure.

Al-Nara, the wood fired sauna, whisks you away from the distractions and worries and in her lovingly built barrel that smells of lush hardwood, she helps you explore a meditative state where you literally sweat the small and the big stuff. Badawi, the Mongolian yurt, sits near the sauna, waiting to immerse you in a temple space of warm rugs, incense and spices as you lay there looking at the stars through its crown wheel.

The primary school is what it wanted to be all along: a sanctuary space for learning the art of connecting to self, to others and to nature. May the gatherings, sound healing, spiritual discourses, retreats, immersive experiences and community-led initiatives continue to provide a sanctuary to all those who seek it.