Bone Rest: A Women's Day Retreat

When you arrive, you'll be handed a small bell.

Ring it if you need anything at all, your host will tell you. She'll hear it, wherever she is. Your only job today is to receive.

Most women flinch at that. By mid-morning, the bells are ringing.

This is a day with nothing in it. No yoga at eleven, no workshop at two. You arrive at a private space in St George, the day opens with a short sound journey, and then it's yours.

Sauna if you want it. Art and crafting activities if you feel inclined. Shade under the vines, sun if you'd rather. A quiet corner and a book, other women to talk to or not talk to.

Meanwhile your hostess moves between the kitchen, garden and the sauna, the quiet room inside, tending. Cordials pressed that morning, lunch laid out, tea brought to wherever you've settled, cake in the afternoon, the sauna kept hot, a blanket if the shade turns cool.

Everything you eat and drink is vegan, organic and wheat-free made by her hands. You don't fetch anything. You don't clear anything. You ring the bell and it comes to you.

Most of us were never taught to rest, or to ask for what we need. Our mothers weren't, and their mothers weren't. This is a day to put that down for a while.

What to expect

A short sound journey to open the day, and another to close it

A private Finnish sauna

A tiered garden with sun looking out onto tree tops, shade under the vines, and quiet corners to retreat too

All food and drink included, handmade, organic and vegan: lunch, garden cordials, snacks, herbal teas, dessert

Tuning forks, books and art materials there if you want them

A small circle of eight women, no more

Nothing you have to join in with and nothing you have to do

Step away feeling

Rested in your bones, properly fed, and surprised at how good it is to be looked after.