Our Roots
Photo Credit: Mark Simmonds Photography©
Founder
Sarah Pugh
Sarah Pugh lived and worked in Bristol from 1997, starting out as a community gardener, fundraiser and activist. She founded the Bristol Permaculture Group - an active network of over 2,000 people practising sustainable growing and living in the city, and in 2007 set up the first Transition City; Transition Bristol.
She developed her love of teaching permaculture through facilitating Patrick Whitefield's Sustainable Land Use course and Mike Feingold's Permaculture Design course. Sarah then went on to lead her own style of Permaculture Design courses, which emphasised working together to develop productive, resilient and abundant urban landscapes and communities. She was a hardworking single mum to her boy, Albie and until 2020 she was the Lead Tutor and Creative Director of the Practical Sustainability Course.
Very sadly and far too soon Sarah passed away in 2022, after a two year journey with brain cancer. Her infectious enthusiasm, proactive no-nonsense approach, and vision for collaborative action live on through the network of the thousands of lives she touched.
Hear Sarah talk here;