Sanctuary Stay | Sherburne, NY

Our Founding Story

Built from
healing, not
business plans

Brigitte and Alyssa didn't set out to build a retreat. They set out to create the place they had been searching for: a space where holistic care, creative expression, and wild land converge into something that actually changes people.

Brigitte Rizzo

Cofounder · Metabolic Health Practitioner · Operations

Turned personal loss into a calling, dedicating her work to supporting cancer patients through integrative care.

Alyssa Cabral

Cofounder · Creative Director · Health Coach

Multiple rare disease diagnoses in her early 20s transformed her understanding of wellbeing, creativity, and what it means to truly heal.

"We wanted to create the place we'd been searching for, where nature, creativity, and genuine care live together under one sky."

Brigitte & Alyssa, Cofounders

What We Offer

An experience rooted
in three things

Nature. Creativity. Connection. Every offering at Sanctuary Stay is built around these pillars.

🌿

Eco Lodging

Sustainable tiny homes, cabins, and glamping yurts built with regenerative design principles. Fully off grid and solar powered. Zero waste. Deeply comfortable.

🎨

Workshops & Retreats

Weekend and multiday immersive experiences: foraging, wildcrafting, painting, pottery, functional medicine, forest bathing, and more.

🏡

Artist Residencies

Two to four week stays for artists, writers, and wellness educators. Land access, studio space, and a community of fellow creatives.

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Community & Events

Seasonal festivals, community open days, and private event rentals on 75 wild acres, from weddings to corporate retreats and photoshoots.

Wellness Pathways

What are you here
to tend to?

Most retreats offer one fixed program. But nobody arrives needing the same thing, and you won't need the same thing next season either. So we start with a question.

Our pathways grow from the wellness wheel Alyssa uses in her health coaching practice. It maps twelve areas of life that nourish you beyond what's on your plate, from your relationships and creativity to your work and your sense of meaning. When one area runs low, you feel it everywhere. Each pathway gathers related areas into one focus for your stay.

The wellness wheel: twelve areas of life, six pathways.

Restore

Body & vitality

HealthPhysical activity

For when your body is asking for care. Forest bathing, movement and embodiment, and functional medicine workshops, with time to rest built in.

Nourish

Food & home

Home cookingHome environment

Foraging walks, soil to table cooking, and preservation. Leave with simple rhythms for the kitchen and the home you return to.

Connect

Community & belonging

RelationshipsSocial life

Community gatherings, seasonal festivals, and family stays with Seedlings. Come with the people you love, or come to find your people.

Create

Play & expression

Joy & playCreativity

Pottery, painting, woodworking, and outdoor art. Hands busy, mind quiet, and permission to make something just for the joy of it.

Expand

Purpose & growth

CareerFinancesEducation

For a crossroads in your work or learning. Reflection retreats, skill building workshops, and residencies that give you room to think about what's next.

Transcend

Meaning & spirit

Spirituality

The center of the wheel and the thread through every path. Stillness, ritual, and unhurried time alone on the land.

Check in with your wheel

Before you arrive, look at each area of your life and notice which ones feel full and which feel thin right now.

Choose your pathway

Pick the one that needs the most care this season. Your answer may change next time, and that's the point.

Stay with intention

Your workshops and time on the land are shaped around that pathway, so you go home with something that lasts.

Seasonal Programming

Life moves in cycles.
So do we.

We're open spring through fall, and in winter we rest with the land. Each season brings its own rhythm, its own medicine, its own invitation.

Spring

Awakening

Foraging walks
Seed planting & permaculture
Creative flow workshops
Soil to table cooking

Summer

Play & Create

Outdoor art installations
Movement & embodiment
Community gatherings
Family immersion days

Fall

Harvest & Ground

Preservation & wildcrafting
Woodworking studio
Reflection retreats
Seasonal festival

Children's Programming

Seedlings
Little roots,
wild hearts

Children learn best when they play in dirt, follow their curiosity, and feel the world beneath their feet. The Seedlings program is our dedicated space for the youngest adventurers, a place where kids connect with nature, creativity, and community in the most joyful, hands on way possible.

Designed for ages 3 to 12, Seedlings weaves together seasonal nature education, art making, storytelling, and outdoor exploration. No screens. No pressure. Just wonder.

Ages 3 to 12 Spring to Fall Nature Led Family Retreats

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Spring

Little Growers

Seed planting, soil exploration, bug study, and first foraging walks. Kids go home with their own seedling to tend.

☀️

Summer

Wild & Free

Outdoor painting, creek play, nature journaling, mud kitchen, and campfire storytelling. Pure childhood magic.

🍂

Fall

Harvest Makers

Apple pressing, leaf art, simple woodworking, and learning where food comes from. Hands always busy, hearts always full.

Family Retreat Packages

Bring the whole family. While parents attend wellness workshops or simply rest, kids are fully engaged in guided Seedlings programming. Lodging + family programming available as a complete package.

Join the Waitlist

A boy climbing high into a tree — Climbing & exploring

A group of children sharing a hammock among the trees — Time together in the trees

A young girl planting seedlings in a field — Little growers

Founding Members

Help us build
this together

You don't need a membership to visit. Once we open, anyone can book a stay or a workshop. If you'd like to be part of it from the very beginning, there are two ways to join us now.

Become a founding member

Free to join. Founding members hear about every step as we build, get first access to bookings when we open, and help shape what Sanctuary Stay becomes.

Donate to the land

Give any amount you choose. Every dollar goes directly to developing the land and building Sanctuary Stay, and every donor is thanked in our founding story.

Make a Donation

Or email us at hello@sanctuarystay.net and we'll send you the details.

Contributions to Sanctuary Stay are gifts and are not tax deductible.

Artist Work Trade Program

Come create.
Teach a little.
Stay a while.

Sanctuary Stay believes that artists deserve access to land, nature, and creative sanctuary just as much as anyone. Our work trade program invites working artists, makers, musicians, and wellness facilitators to stay on the land in exchange for leading a small number of workshops for our guests.

It's a simple, honest exchange, and one we think changes people on both sides of it.

The Exchange

You bring

Your craft & presence

Two or three guest workshops over your stay
Your own creative practice on the land
Your energy and community spirit
An open studio or sharing at the end of your stay

We provide

Space & sanctuary

Two weeks of private accommodation on 75 acres
All workshop materials covered
Meals during your stay
Studio space and land access

Ready to apply?

We're building our first cohort of work trade artists for our 2027 opening season. Share your practice, your workshop idea, and your availability. We'd love to hear from you.

Apply via Waitlist

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Visual Artists & Makers

Painters, printmakers, ceramicists, textile artists, natural dyers, and anyone who makes beautiful things with their hands. Lead a workshop that teaches guests your craft in the context of the land around you.

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Nature & Land Practitioners

Foragers, herbalists, permaculture teachers, wildcrafters, and land stewards. Share your knowledge of the natural world in ways that connect guests to the ecology of Upstate New York.

✍️

Writers & Storytellers

Creative writers, poets, journalers, and oral storytellers. Lead workshops that help guests find language for their inner lives through fireside circles, nature writing, personal narrative.

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Movement & Sound Artists

Musicians, sound healers, dancers, somatic practitioners. Bring your practice outdoors. Lead a morning sound bath, an evening movement session, or a drum circle under the stars.

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Children's Creative Facilitators

Artists and educators who love working with kids. Facilitate Seedlings programming for our youngest guests, bringing wonder, craft, and nature play to children ages 3 to 12.

Where humansremembertheir roots

Built fromhealing, notbusiness plans

An experience rootedin three things

What are you hereto tend to?

Life moves in cycles.So do we.

SeedlingsLittle roots,wild hearts

Help us buildthis together

Come create.Teach a little.Stay a while.

Be first to knowwhen we open

Where humans
remember
their roots