Our Day Retreat Masterclasses
This is your time.
Come spend a day with us at one of our masterclass retreats and leave feeling inspired, nourished, brimming with confidence, new skills and insights. We invite only exceptional writers, artists and practitioners to lead our masterclasses in a luxurious and supportive space. We keep our classes small so you get all the time and attention you need.
Your day with us will include; tea or coffee on arrival, a delicious organic, locally grown (plant-based) lunch and all refreshments throughout the day
There’s plenty of space to write, read and work in peace.
We will end our day relaxing around the fire with a glass of wine and you might share your work (only if you want to!)
All our one-day retreats are £225 (concessions are available)
Your morning session will explore the creative process, voice and fearlessness via discussion, exercises and free writing. After lunch you will have time to write in one of the many spaces in the garden and house, and will have a supportive one to one session with Heidi to discuss your work. We will then all come together for a final discussion.
This retreat is priced at a reduced rate of £150, as lunch is not included (unlike our other retreats). Coffee, tea, and cake will be provided—please remember to bring a packed lunch.
Heidi James is the author of critically acclaimed novels Wounding, So the Doves (a Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month) and The Sound Mirror. She won The Saboteur Award for her novella, The Mesmerist’s Daughter and was a finalist in The Cinnamon Poetry Collection Prize. Her short stories, poetry and essays have been published various anthologies and magazines including, among others, We’ll Never Have Paris, Somesuch, Dazed and Confused and Galley Beggar Press. She hosts a podcast, First Graft, where she discusses the writing process with other writers. She has a PhD and alongside lecturing in English Literature and Creative Writing, she is a qualified writing and creativity coach and mentor.
Finding Your Voice with Heidi James
4th July 2026 10am - 5:30pm
This is the class for you if you would like to develop the tools and confidence to write and don't know where to start. Perhaps you feel stuck or blocked and would like to understand what is in the way.
Spend the day nurturing your creativity in the sumptuous and welcoming home of writer, Heidi James
Our modern world pushes us to look outside ourselves for knowledge, approval and self-worth. Advancing technology, algorithms and AI will intensify this and we’ll find it harder and harder to tell what’s true and what’s not. But we’ve always had access to our very own source of wisdom and authenticity – the language of the heart and the creative power of the feminine.
If you’re a mystery seeker at heart, and/or you’re ready to come along with a beginner’s mind, this is the masterclass for you. During the morning session and through guided contemplations, we’ll ask ourselves: how am I showing up in the world right now? Is it my mind (the masculine/rational) or my heart (the feminine/intuitive) that’s running the show? How can I differentiate between these two energies in me? What do they feel like in my body? What do they sound like? And how can I work more consciously so that one doesn’t overpower the other?
After lunch, we’ll delve deeper into the feminine as the very source of our intuitive wisdom and creative power. We’ll explore our relationship to nature and the elements (earth, fire, wind, air and water) and how they might help us connect to a deeper sense of trust and knowing. There will be plenty of time for solo contemplation in the many spaces of the garden and house as well as the chance to have supportive one-to-one time with Jackie.
Jackie Mendoza is a writer, mentor and facilitator who holds spaces for writers and creatives so they feel able to show up as their authentic selves. Jackie trained as a Transpersonal Counsellor and is a Master Practitioner of NLP as well as a shamanic practitioner. Much of her work focuses on somatic awareness and embodied practices that bring greater coherence between mind and heart. Her poetry has been published in Covert 5 Magazine as well as in Re-Membering South Asian Feminist Poetics. Her first novel in progress was shortlisted for Peters Fraser & Dunlop’s Queer Fiction Prize in 2023. She is a trustee for Little Green Pig, a local charity that helps young writers flourish, as well as the writer development agency, New Writing South.
Creatrix – Unearthing the Wisdom Within with Jackie Mendoza
15th August 2026 10am - 5:30pm
This class is for you if you’re craving time and space to unplug from the chaos and noise of the outside world so you can reconnect with what’s truly important to you. If you’re curious to explore how nature and her elements can help restore your sense of connection and flow. If you’re ready to delve into the wisdom of your heart and body
Spaces are limited to 10.
Your morning session will explore character, environment and structure via discussion, exercises and free writing. After lunch you will visit somewhere very special to gather sensory prompts building a bank of metaphor and imagery to draw upon in your writing.
Lucie McKnight Hardy’s stories have featured in a variety of publications, including Best British Short Stories 2019, The Lonely Crowd, Uncertainties IV, The New Abject, Black Static and as a limited edition chapbook from Nightjar Press. Her debut novel, Water Shall Refuse Them, was published by Dead Ink Books in 2019. Of her second book, Dead Relatives, the Guardian said, ‘This short story collection confirms the author’s reputation in the field of literary horror.’
Haunted People = Haunted Houses with Lucie MnKnight Hardy
TBC
This class is for you if you would like to develop the tools to write terrifying ghost stories. Explore how characters and their environments are intertwined and how the way in which a character inhabits a landscape influences the narrative and the ‘haunting’. Spaces are limited to 10.
In your morning session you’ll read and discuss excerpts from a number of different memoirs, analysing their style, voice, and approach to narrative and storytelling.
After lunch you’ll have time to write a scene based on a memory or experience from your own life, and will have a one to one session with Octavia to discuss your work. The group will then reconvene for a final discussion.
Octavia Bright is a writer and broadcaster, and her critically acclaimed debut memoir This Ragged Grace was published by Canongate this year. She co-hosts Literary Friction, the literary podcast and NTS Radio show, with Carrie Plitt. Recommended by The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC Culture, The Sunday Times and others, it has run for ten years and has listeners worldwide. She also presents programmes for BBC R4 including Open Book, and hosts literary events for bookshops, publishers, and festivals – such as Edinburgh International Book Festival and events for The Southbank Centre. Her writing has been published in many places including The Guardian, The White Review, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Wasafiri, Somesuch Stories, and The Sunday Times, amongst others. She has a PhD from UCL where she wrote about hysteria and desire in Spanish cinema.
The Possibilities of Memoir With Octavia Bright
TBC
This class is for you if you’re interested in exploring the memoir form and all it has to offer and you’re curious about different approaches to life writing, and how to translate your lived experience onto the page.
Contact us.
To book a space on one of our retreats fill in the form below or email me directly
In the unlikely event that we have to cancel the entire day we will refund the full amount to you. If the tutor has to cancel we will endeavour to find a suitable replacement tutor or we may reschedule the event in consultation with you.
Guest cancellations made within 30 days prior to an event are eligible for a 50% refund, however we are unable to refund any cancellations made within 10 working days prior to the event unless the place can be filled.