UPCOMING RETREATS
31st March - 3rd April 2023 - Mama + Child Retreat
31st March - 3rd April 2023 - Mama + Child Retreat
31st March - 3rd April 2023 - Mama + Child Retreat
Just after the spring equinox, join us in our beautiful, cosy farmhouse as the natural world around us starts to come back to life.
29th May - 2nd June 2023 - Mama + Child Retreat
31st March - 3rd April 2023 - Mama + Child Retreat
31st March - 3rd April 2023 - Mama + Child Retreat
Our location is absolutely stunning as spring turns into summer and the plants, trees and flowers burst into life.
21st - 25th August - Mama + Child Retreat
31st March - 3rd April 2023 - Mama + Child Retreat
21st - 25th August - Mama + Child Retreat
Join us at the height of summer for a recharge and a rest, and to create magical memories with your little one/s.
Our retreats take place on a beautiful 12-acre Sussex country estate in The High Weald, an Area of Outstanding Beauty all year round. Mamas are welcome to bring their partners or another adult.
Our spacious, homely accommodation consists of a large Grade II Listed farmhouse with 7 bedrooms and 4 rustic lodges. It is set within enchanted herb gardens and its private fields, woodlands and wildflower meadows are home to chickens, rabbits, alpacas, sheep, secret passageways and the friendly farm cat. The panoramic view takes in untouched valley landscapes that you can gaze out over from the hot tub.
There is a beautiful 17th century barn for yoga, an outdoor heated pool for a morning swim or an afternoon splash about with the little ones, a ceremonial fire pit, a large extended farmhouse kitchen where we serve 3 delicious, nutritious meals per day (plus home-made snacks like cakes, muffins and energy balls), 2 big communal lounges to chill out in and inglenook fireplaces to light and keep us cosy if the rain sets in. Beyond the fields is the river Rother and its sandstone ridges made of quartz crystalline, which, some believe, enhances cognitive clarity.
Our day will start with a light, continental breakfast before mums (and partners if they wish) head off for a nurturing yoga class. It's best not to eat too much before yoga, but there will be fresh fruit juices ready and waiting afterwards, followed by a seasonal, locally sourced, plant-based brunch prepared by our wonderful chef Sharon, who lovingly creates every dish and hand picks salad, vegetables and edible flowers on the morning of our retreat. Nothing is wasted - vegetable peelings and left over food is all saved and fed to the chickens. All stages of weaning are catered for, along with all dietary requirements and a variety of milk (including whole cows milk, oat, pea, almond etc) for the little ones.
Yoga is held in the sanctuary of our beautiful Long Barn. All levels of yoga are welcome. The female body goes through so many changes during pregnancy and birth that even the most experienced yogis tend to find that their practice alters once they become a mother, which is why our teachers are all specialist pregnancy and postnatal yoga teachers.
Mamas can turn their focus to essential self-care, feeling safe in the knowledge that the children are being taken care of by our carefully selected team of holistic, child-led carers in our magical children's lodge and its large outdoor play space. The lodge has a separate quiet area for naps and snuggles, and for those that prefer to nap on the go, their designated carer will walk them around the grounds in their buggy or sling.
After yoga mums have some precious time to themselves to have a treatment, 1:1 session, connect with other mums, or perhaps they'd prefer to simply find a quiet place within the grounds to curl up and journal, read a book or take a nap.
The afternoons are dedicated to deepening the connection and bond between mother and child. We will have various workshops, including nature foraging in the local ancient woodland, crafts and mum + baby / mum + toddler yoga classes.
After the little ones are tucked up in bed, tired mums will find a candlelit yoga nidra or sound bath in the Shala to prepare them for a restful night’s sleep.
It goes without saying that all activities on retreat are optional. If a mum feels that what she needs is to drop her child off with our carers and go back to bed, that is absolutely what she should do. If a mum would like to book extended childcare, we can also facilitate that. This week is for mums to really let go of self-expectation, the perceived expectation of others, and to tune into what it is they really need without judgement.
There are just 11 places available on our boutique retreats. There is the opportunity for mums to double up in our lodges. Prices start at £1350
OUR LOCATION IS COVID SECURE
THE SOUL SANCTUM EXPERIENCE
· Mid-week retreats - 4 nights accommodation with 3 full days of activities.
- Weekend retreats - 3 mights accommodation with 2 full days of activities.
- The farmhouse has four large ensuite double bedrooms and three double bedrooms that share a bathroom. Our 4 rustic converted lodges all have their own bathrooms, living rooms and kitchens and are spacious enough for the whole family, or for mums to double up with friends or family.
· Morning yoga classes in our beautiful Shala.
· Afternoon activity such as a child friendly foraging walk to source herbs and plants to make a delicious campfire dinner, yoga for all or family circle with craft making.
· At least 1 evening Sound Bath / Yoga Nidra with a listening service for the children.
· Opening welcome circle and closing circle.
· One complimentary on site treatment. Choose from a facial, massage, chakra healing, Reiki or Intuitive Healing. Further treatments can be booked with our holistic treatment team.
· Creative children’s programme each morning for 4 hours with carefully selected carers from Forest School / Steiner / Waldorf / Froebelian backgrounds.
· 3 meals a day for all, plus snacks for the children. These are delicious, organic, seasonal and plant-based prepared by high-end chefs. Children’s meals to include weaning foods and child-friendly dishes.
· Daily organic juice.
· Snacks and fruit.
· Unlimited coffee, herbal teas and water.
· Self-care gift bag, including perfume oil, wax melts etc.
· Free Wi-Fi.
An example of our daily schedule
7:30-8:30am
Self-service breakfast in the farmhouse
8:30-9.00am
Carers arrive and children are dropped off at the play-area
9.15am
Yoga in the shala
10.15-12.30pm
Free time for treatments, reading, sleeping, journaling, connecting with others, a walk in the local woodland or just ‘being’.
10.15am
Children’s snack supervised by carers
11.30am
Adults (child free) brunch
12pm
Children’s lunch supervised by carers
1pm
Parents and children reunited
2-4pm
Foraging walk followed by a campfire dinner
5-6pm
Dinner
8-9.30pm
Sound Bath with Listening Service provided
JOIN US?
The Team
Alix Wenmouth
Alix Wenmouth
Alix Wenmouth
Alix is Soul Sanctum’s curator and facilitator. After a successful 15 year career in music, film and event PR, during which a regular yoga practice ebbed and flowed, Alix began feeling a deep, intense call for a new way of life. so she finally took the plunge and retrained - becoming a Hatha and Vinyasa Flow yoga teacher (E-200 RYT), a Pr
Alix is Soul Sanctum’s curator and facilitator. After a successful 15 year career in music, film and event PR, during which a regular yoga practice ebbed and flowed, Alix began feeling a deep, intense call for a new way of life. so she finally took the plunge and retrained - becoming a Hatha and Vinyasa Flow yoga teacher (E-200 RYT), a Pre & Postnatal yoga teacher (85hr RPYT), a certified Retreat Leader, Aromatherapist and a Reiki trained energy healer.
Brydie Rowan
Alix Wenmouth
Alix Wenmouth
With a dedicated yoga practice spanning 20 years and various disciplines, along with 8 years of teaching internationally, Brydie is known for leading joyful, creative classes in a deep, slow flowing style that gives students space to listen and respond to their bodies’ needs.
A focus on intelligent sequencing, functional alignment and mod
With a dedicated yoga practice spanning 20 years and various disciplines, along with 8 years of teaching internationally, Brydie is known for leading joyful, creative classes in a deep, slow flowing style that gives students space to listen and respond to their bodies’ needs.
A focus on intelligent sequencing, functional alignment and modification for the individual balanced with freer forms of movement and expression invites both beginners and seasoned practitioners to be present and explore their edges – building strength, clarity and openness in a safe, gradual, authentic way.
This personalised approach, coupled with a light hearted community spirit means that everyone can benefit – irrespective of age and experience.
The invitation is to feel and own the practice in a way that promotes a sense of belonging within ones self and the wider world.
It is her core belief that a true teacher connects the student to the teacher within and she wants you to leave her classes having come home to yourself.
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Jack Cryer
Jessame Coulson
Jessame Coulson
Jack is a qualified Holistic Baby and Child Care practitioner and works with both Emmi Pikler's respectful approach to infants' emotional welfare and innate physical capabilities and Rudolf Steiner's understanding of child development. We are incredibly lucky to have her heading up the Soul Sanctum childcare team.
Jessame Coulson
Jessame Coulson
Jessame Coulson
Jess is part of our core Soul Sanctum childcare team. She lives in West Dorset and is happiest by or in the sea. She loves going for runs on the cliffs and in the countryside and generally being outside in nature. She’s guided by the seasons and takes comfort in the cycles of the year and the moon. She enjoys going to look at art and
Jess is part of our core Soul Sanctum childcare team. She lives in West Dorset and is happiest by or in the sea. She loves going for runs on the cliffs and in the countryside and generally being outside in nature. She’s guided by the seasons and takes comfort in the cycles of the year and the moon. She enjoys going to look at art and making craft and art things herself (usually out of things she’s found on the beach). Jess is in great demand as a holistic childminder and runs her own outdoor parent and child groups, Nurtured by Nature.