Almost 400 years old, the farm that serves as a home to Pico do Refúgio was once many things: a lookout to prevent attacks by pirates, militias fort during the civil war that opposed liberals and miguelistas, orange farm – when the main fruit of the island was orange and not the pineapple – country house of artists and even tea factory (Tea Ataíde, name of the owning family).
Since 2008, it is a rural tourism accommodation with eight houses, and since 2015 has a program of artistic residencies (where photographer Daniel Blaufuks and musician Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, for example) have already been.
With bedroom, living room and an area that goes from 55 to 110 square meters, each of the eight houses is equipped with kitchenette and fireplace or salamander. Some occupy old barns of the farm, while the lofts are in the decommissioned tea factory with a seven-foot high ceiling. “There are 20 hectares to walk, with swimming pool and diving school”, summarizes the owner, Luís Bernardo, advancing that in the future the idea is to also have a restaurant and also artistic workshops as a carpentry.