A Room That Actually Works
Every house has a practice room of at least seventy square metres with no pillars, a level floor that is warm underfoot, daylight from two directions, blackout blinds for screen work and a sound system that can be ignored or used. Mats, bolsters, blankets, chairs, a flip chart and a projector are stored in a cupboard in the same room. Doors open onto a terrace so a session can move outside in twenty seconds, and the room is far enough from the bedrooms that an early group does not wake a late sleeper.
Bedrooms Without Forced Sharing
Retreat groups are usually a mixture of couples, friends and people who have never met, and asking strangers to share a room causes more cancellations than any other single factor. Our houses have a majority of single and twin rooms with their own or shared-between-two bathrooms, so a facilitator can offer a genuine choice at different prices. Beds are proper mattresses rather than folding frames, rooms have blackout curtains and reading lights, and there is enough storage for a two-week stay.
Kitchens Built for Twenty
Cooking for a group in a domestic kitchen is miserable. Ours have commercial-depth worktops, a six-burner range with two ovens, a large fridge and a separate one for drinks, a dishwasher that cycles in twenty minutes, heavy pans, good knives, and enough crockery for twenty-four without borrowing. A cook can be booked for some or all meals, or a group can cook together — the long table seats everyone at once, which changes the atmosphere of a week far more than the menu does.
Genuine Isolation
No house has a neighbouring property in sight or a road passing it, and each is let to one group at a time with nobody else on the land. That means silence for meditation, freedom to hold a session outdoors at six in the morning, and no need to explain your programme to strangers at breakfast. Housekeeping visits only when asked, deliveries are timed to the group's schedule, and our own staff are contactable without being present.
Water You Can Get Into
On the inside of a slow bend the current is gentle, the bank shelves rather than drops, and the water is clean enough to swim in every day of the summer. Each house has steps, a small pontoon or a shingle beach, plus a canoe or two and a hammock in the shade. Water quality is tested through the season and the results posted in the house. Several facilitators now build a swim into the daily schedule, and nobody has ever complained about it.
Straightforward Commercial Terms
A single price for the whole house for the whole period, published in advance, with heating, linen, cleaning before and after, firewood and equipment included. No per-person supplements, no charge for using the practice room, no commission on what a facilitator charges their own participants and no requirement to buy our catering. Deposits are modest, the balance is due four weeks before arrival, and cancellation terms are the same for everybody and written in plain language.
