Lessons to live by
What can other ways of life teach us about our own?
There are people and communities whose ways of life have been shaped by their deep connection to the land at their feet. The lives they lead, and the living traditions they hold on to, have been practiced, passed down and adapted over countless generations. Their roots run deep.
With The Keepers, we’ll bring you close to the people who carry this living body of knowledge in their everyday lives. As you learn alongside them, you’ll find a different perspective on how you lead your own.
Rooted in place
A closer connection. A change of perspective.
We don’t often reflect on how we live our lives. There’s so much to do, and so many ways to stay connected, that it can be hard to feel fully present.
The Keepers will turn your gaze outward – spending time alongside different ways of life and the people who practice them.
Shared with family or friends, each of these journeys will feel real and tangible and humming with life. Through them, over the course of long, intimate exchanges with some of the world’s most remarkable communities, you’ll learn new perspectives on life, family, community and connection.
You’ll discover deep roots. They’ll grow with you.
Meet the Keepers
Growing Together
Langhe-Roero, Italy
The earth has its treasures. These Keepers know their true worth.
In Langhe-Roero, food and community are deeply entwined, where the fruits of the land give the locals more than sustenance, but a true sense of belonging. Milking the goats of Paolo’s herd. Tasting the hazelnuts of Elettra’s orchard. Raising a glass with the Aloi family, who’ve worked this land for generations. These moments will bring you closer to the land and the people who so proudly tend it, learning what the locals know intuitively: that doing things slowly means doing them right.
From these farmers and foragers, you’ll nurture a new relationship with food that sustains us.
Moving Mountains
The High Atlas, Morocco
Home is where the hearth is. These Keepers keep the fires lit.
The Aït Atta community are nomads. Twice each year, they make a meandering seasonal migration across the High Atlas Mountains. This journey of practical necessity defines their whole way of life. And you’ll share the load alongside them, learning about a culture where hard work and everyday rituals are tightly bound together. As each day passes, you’ll see how their way of life is passed down from parent to child, whose deep bonds, and connection to the land, make them feel at home wherever they find themselves.
From these mountain nomads, you’ll gain a new perspective on the power of interdependence.
Finding the way
China
Powerful forces shape our lives. These Keepers can teach us to live in harmony with them.
Feng Shui helps a whole society to orient itself in a rapidly changing world. Those who practice it are searching for ways to live in harmony with the world. From the movements of Tai Chi to the cosmic architecture of temples, you’ll understand how to live in tune with the spaces and places around you. Where health, wealth and happiness aren’t fixed by fads or trends, but an ancient system of belief that walks in step with our ever-changing world.
From these Daoist masters, you’ll learn to live in harmony with the world around you.
Time and Tide
Chiloé Island, Chile
Surrounded by the sea, these far-flung Keepers have learned the true meaning of resilience.
The remote archipelago of Chiloé has developed a way of life that’s markedly distinct from the mainland, where the ocean that surrounds them has made them who they are. For generations, Chilotes have learned to live with the rhythms and the resources that the water provides, from the baskets they weave to the oysters they farm. Through them, you’ll become part of a living chain of knowledge that connects every Chilote at the wild edge of the earth.
From these hardy islanders, you’ll learn how resilience breeds a different kind of richness.
A common tongue
Connemara, Ireland
For the people of Connemara, the spoken word is the living, breathing bedrock of their identity.
It reminds them where they come from. It tells them who they are. For centuries, their stories and songs have echoed across bogland and floated across beaches, thickening the air of pubs and firesides and kitchens. Hearing these stories of boatbuilders, bakers, foragers and folklorists is to bend your ear to a way of life that’s been carried across the generations. It’s a story without a beginning and a tale without an end.
From the people of Connemara, you’ll learn how stories and songs shape our sense of belonging.
About Black Tomato
Tailor-made trips, award-winning service. Since 2005.
We believe travel can do more than take you somewhere else. For us, it can change the things you notice, your sense of place. It can even change your sense of self.
Since 2005, we’ve created tailor-made journeys that go far beyond the expected. Shaped by curiosity and imagination, they’re built on a bedrock of relationships we’ve nurtured over time. Through this journey, you’ll get closer to people you might otherwise never meet. Not just glimpsing their lives but folding into them.
The Keepers distills this belief, inviting you to learn more about yourself by learning about other people and the places they call home. Through these exchanges, the world comes to feel more personal, more connected. More real.
For families, these journeys offer something rare and different. A shared sense of curiosity, a chance to learn side-by-side and the opportunity to keep learning long after your journey comes to a close.
