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, coffee and pastries 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 cocktails and nibbles and you might share your work (only if you want to!)
All our one-day retreats are £165 (concessions are available)
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
4th November 2023 10am -6:30pm
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 the morning session we will read and discuss excerpts from a selection of YA and children's books and discuss the use of character to help younger readers engage.Eve will also provide some short exercises, to help you develop characters further. After lunch, you will have the opportunity to write your own character-led piece based on a writing prompt provided, or based on a piece of writing you are already working on. You will have the opportunity to have a one-to-one session with Eve to discuss your work,.
Eve Ainsworth is a working class award-winning and Carnegie nominated children’s author who has written for both middle grade and teen readers. Her debut novel for adults, Duckling, was published by Penguin Random House in Spring 2022.
Eve has vast experience working as a public speaker and creative workshop coordinator for schools, libraries and other events both nationally and internationally. She also is an experienced mentor and is very passionate about helping those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Eve was born and raised in Crawley, West Sussex and is one of seven children. After her degree, she had a varied background working within HR and Recruitment roles, before landing a job she loved – mentoring and supporting challenging and vulnerable students in a large secondary school. This inspired her first teen book 7 Days. Eve is fiercely proud of her working class roots and her large, loud family. She still lives in Crawley with her husband, two young children and crazy pets.
Developing Realistic Characters for YA and Children’s Literature with Eve Ainsworth
13th April 2024 10am -6:30pm
This class is for you if you are interested in writing or developing children or YA stories and are particularly motivated to create realistic, dynamic and memorable characters. Spaces are limited to 10.
Through an immersive exploration of the song-writing process, Gwyneth will give you an insight into finding the story you want to sing, playing with melodies and harmonic sequences, developing arrangements and building collages from the sounds around you. If you want to build confidence in your emerging voice, broaden the horizons of your musical identity, or simply get a devising toolkit to take into your creative practice, this course is for you.
Vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer & musical activist Gwyneth Herbert has worked in collaboration with writers, musicians, directors, choreographers, visual artists, academics, clowns and young people to create a canon of genre-defying interdisciplinary work, as well as seven critically acclaimed albums under her own name. Other credits include: Letters I Haven’t Written (UK Tour); A Christmas Carol, The Snow Queen (Bristol Old Vic); The A-Z of Mrs P (Southwark Playhouse), After Lydia (Watermill Theatre). As a composer: The Patsy (BFI Silent Film Festival 2010); The Palace That Joan Built (Art on the Underground / Theatre Royal Stratford East) as well as commissions for London Sinfonietta, Mahogany Opera Group and Snape Maltings. 2022 saw her celebrated adaptation of The Nutcracker at Bristol Old Vic and her first opera Our Street - created with the community of Lewisham as part of the Borough of Culture Celebrations. Gwyneth tours regularly around the world with her band.
***** “A remarkably gifted talent” - The Guardian
***** "Brilliantly original" - Mojo
Find your Song with Gwyneth Herbert
4th May 2024 10am - 6:30pm
Draw inspiration from the beautiful woodland surroundings and delve into your inner emotional landscape to unlock the music within. All levels of experience welcome!
Your morning session will focus on how plot and structure work together in driving your novel forwards, we’ll explore how dynamic characters are vital to the story and how to blast through any blocks. Using exercises, discussion and critique we will build your confidence and knowledge and add to your writer’s toolkit.
The afternoon session will be all about you having time and space to work on your novel, with Heidi on hand for individual discussions and advice.
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.
Plotting Your Novel with Heidi James
24th May 2024 10am - 6:30pm
Join author Heidi James for a masterclass in plotting and structuring your novel. Understand what drives the story forward and how the differences between plot and structure are the key to writing a compelling, extraordinary novel.
Throughout your day you will acquire tools giving you new ways of seeing and expressing yourself. These techniques will automatically become part of your everyday routine and will give you creative autonomy and power.
Annabel will work with you as a group and individually to create bespoke exercises whilst drawing out your own unique interests and vision. Working from objects, and the beautiful grounds at Bishops Lodge, we will draw from life in a fun, relaxed and easy environment. Annabel will suggest subjects, techniques and materials that will work specifically for you, as well as ideas, books and artists that will help you on your creative journey.
Through a variety of media including painting, photography, video, cyanotype, and drawing. Annabel Dover engages the viewer in untold tales of wonder. Throughout her practice she finds herself drawn to objects and the invisible stories that surround them. Through their subtle representation she explores their power as intercessionary agents that allow socially acceptable emotional expression. The work presents itself as a complex mixture of scientific observation and tender girlish enthusiasm.
Her work is part distillation, part peripatetic ramble through her influences which range from archaeological illustration, archaic scientific techniques and the enthusiasms of a Victorian lady to the theories of Freud and anthropological research.
Dover was born in Liverpool, educated in Newcastle and London. Her PhD at Chelsea College of Art explored a practice-led response to the cyanotype albums of Anna Atkins. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally.
Creative Confidence with Annabel Dover
15th June 2024 10am - 6:30pm
Join artist and writer Annabel Dover if you would like to develop your creativity as an artist but feel overwhelmed, lost or unable to express your ideas. Annabel will gently guide and support you as you explore a range of creative exercises that will enable you to naturally express your own creative voice using the techniques of art.
This class is for ALL creatives.
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 2024 10am - 6:30pm
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.
Your morning and afternoon sessions will explore poetry, prose, memoir, authenticity, being your own narrator and writing in a way that is true to yourself, Salena will guide you to use tools such as your own voice, your creative experience, empathy and observation to enhance your writing. She'll encourage you to have confidence, to write about your past and present and to imagine a better tomorrow, using your lived experiences to inform the story you tell. Delving into her own wide experience, allow Salena to guide you towards building the muscle and resources needed to share your work with the world and write your truth in the way that does it and you justice.
Poet, author, activist, broadcaster, memoirist and essayist. Born in the UK, Salena Godden is of Jamaican-Irish heritage and based in London. Widely and consistently anthologised, Salena Godden has published several books, she has also written for BBC TV and radio and has released four studio albums. Published books include poetry volumes Under The Pier (Nasty Little Press); Fishing in the Aftermath: Poems 1994-2014 (Burning Eye); literary childhood memoir Springfield Road (Unbound).
Mrs Death Misses Death is a debut novel by Salena Godden. A BBC Radio 4 documentary about the writing of Mrs Death Misses Death was broadcast throughout December 2018, the programme followed the work-in-progress over 12 months. The novel is now published by Canongate.
Write YOUR Way with Salena Godden
Date TBC 2024 10am -6:30pm
Join award-winning author, poet and broadcaster, Salena Godden for a unique masterclass in how to write your story the way you want to write it. Spaces are limited to 10.
Contact us.
To book a space on one of our retreats fill in the form below or email me directly