LAND & HEART: CULTIVATING GROWTH
Cultivating the land, cultivating mindfulness
12th - 16th May 2025
This is the second in our Land & Heart series of work retreats. These retreats offer an opportunity to integrate work and practice by means of nature connection, Buddhist practices of meditation, ritual and acts of service.
Spend time with your hands in the soil, directly helping us to restore and maintain the heritage walled garden of Alfoxton Park, contributing to providing home grown food for our community and future retreatants. It was left for 15 years to become overgrown with grasses and brambles and we are currently in the process of restoring it to its former glory through the principles of permaculture.
This retreat offers a chance to switch off from the busyness of life and be immersed in nature, integrating work with meditation as well as using work as practice through the act of service, mindfulness and nature connection. Enjoy physical activity and being outside, whilst absorbing knowledge of plants, permaculture and organic vegetable growing from our expert gardener.
The wild beauty of the land surrounding Alfoxton park offers a unique setting to develop a wider awareness of your place in the world as part of-not separate from.
“Once in a rare while you find yourself in a place that is not only environmentally but also socially and spiritually inspiring. This was my experience. I connected with old soul friends, learned important lessons, and realised there were skillsets I had that I hadn't previously appreciated. "
- Keone
There is a breadth of opportunity to engage with work of varying levels of intensity and appropriate to different physical abilities. We will spend 4-5 hours working on the land or in the garden each day. Please contact us before booking with any information or queries regarding accessibility, to ensure that this retreat can meet your needs.
WHAT TO EXPECT?
Deepening love for the land through nature connection and mindfulness activities
Helping to prepare and maintain vegetable and flower beds; sowing seeds and planting out seedlings; weeding and mulching.
Out on the land, work may include maintaining newly planted trees, clearing and general maintenance.
Meditation and Buddhist ritual (open to all levels of experience) throughout the day, both in the shrine room and on the land.
Periods of silence to give space for reflection as well as plenty of time for connection with others.
FACILITATION TEAM
OLIVIA HAYWOOD-SMITH
Olivia is the Head Gardener at Alfoxton Park, bringing extensive horticulture and foraging knowledge to the community.
Olivia is passionate about nurturing connections between people and the natural world and has held a series of successful land-based retreats at Alfoxton. She leads weekly meditation classes and works with many volunteers in the garden, with a hope to inspire the intergration of buddhist practices with nature connection.
timings & travel
TIMINGS
Please arrive between 3pm and 5pm on the first day. Dinner is served at 6pm. The retreat will finish by midday on the last day.
The exact schedule will be provided when you arrive, but here's a sample schedule of a typical day:
7.30am Meditation with community
8.15-9am Breakfast and prepare for day
9am Sharing circle
9.30am Work period, with tea break
12.45pm Meditation
1.15pm Lunch
2.15pm Work period
4.15pm Free time
5.30pm Meditation with community
6pm Dinner
7.30pm Meditation/ritual
TRAVEL
The nearest railway stations are Bridgwater and Taunton. We are about 1h 15min from Bristol by car.
The 15 bus leaves Bridgwater at 16:50 during college term dates and stops at the Plough Inn in Holford. We are a 15min walk from there.
Please get in touch for further advice with public transport, or for help arranging lifts / carpools.
Make sure to put "Coach House 2, Alfoxton Park" into Google Maps. Other variations will take you to Alfoxton House nearby which is not us. Otherwise use grid reference 51.165187, -3.220080.
The What3Words for our car park are ///soup.candy.huddling
Accommodation & Food
ACCOMMODATION
This is a camping retreat - bring a tent or live-in vehicle. Toilets, showers and a sauna are available. Warm and waterproof clothing are advisable, along with gloves and boots or wellies. You may also wish to bring a torch and hot water bottle.
We have limited accommodation indoors for those with specific needs. Please let us know when you book if this is the case for you.
FOOD
Delicious vegan meals will be provided throughout the retreat.
Accessibility & Diets
We are committed to Alfoxton being a fully accessible venue and are working hard to achieve this. However, while the renovation work continues, visitors with specific mobility or accommodation needs may experience barriers to accessing all areas of the building and land.
If you have any questions or concerns, just get in touch, and please inform us of any significant dietary or accessibility requirements before submitting your booking request.
Costs
Alfoxton Park is a charity and works on the principle of Dana or a 'gift economy'. Read more about Dana here.
A £78 deposit will secure your place on this event. You will be invited to make a donation to Alfoxton when you attend.
If you are an Triratna Order member and need financial support to pay a retreat deposit, you can apply for a grant from the Abhayaratna Trust.
TECHNOLOGY, ALCOHOL & DRUGS
All of our events are alcohol and drug free.
During the meditation retreats we ask you to turn off your mobile phones and other devices and not contact people outside of the retreat.
For all other events and workshops we ask you to be mindful of the use of devices and stay present, in order to make the most of your time here.
Any Questions?
Check our FAQ page or send us an e-mail at events@alfoxtonpark.org.uk
We have two additional retreats in our Land and Heart series in 2025: Tree Care in March and Harvest Festival in September.