Alfoxton Park - Land & Heart: Tree Care

LAND & HEART: TREE CARE
Forest-bathing & nature restoration

3rd - 7th March 2025

This is the first 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 in nature and directly help restore the ecology of the SSSI land of Alfoxton Park by helping us maintain the trees we have planted over the last 4 years and protecting them from the large herd of deer that wander the land. This retreat offers a chance to be immersed in a wild landscape and switch off from the busyness of life, thus developing a wider awareness of your place in the world as part of-not separate from.

Enjoy physical activity and being outside, whilst absorbing knowledge about native trees, plants & nature restoration. This retreat offers the chance to integrate formal practice with work as well as work as practice through the act of service and mindfulness.

The land of Alfoxton Park is wildly beautiful and offers a unique opportunity find intimacy with ancient woodland and the beings that inhabit it.

“Beautiful people. Beautiful trees. One need say no more. "

- Adam

WHAT TO EXPECT?

Forest bathing and mindfulness-based nature connection
Maintenance and care of our newly planted trees, other land- based work.
Meditation and Buddhist ritual (open to all levels of experience) throughout the day, both in the shrine room and on the land.
Tree walk- Learn about our native trees, how to identify them and how to care for them.
Periods of silence to give space for reflection as well as plenty of time for connection with others.

Due to the terrain you will need to be able to walk up and down hills. We will spend 4-5 hours working on the land each day. Please contact us before booking with any information or queries regarding accessibility, to ensure that this retreat can meet your needs.

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

Unless otherwise stated, please arrive between 3-5pm on the first day. Dinner is served at 6pm. Our retreats usually 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

All retreats at Alfoxton are camping retreats and you'd be welcome to bring a tent, however due to the cold weather this retreat would be more suited to those with a live-in vehicle.

We have a limited number of spaces in a dormitory and carvan which we will allocate based on availability. Please let us know when you book whether you'll bring a vehicle or you'd need a dorm space and we'll get back to you to confirm availability.

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.

FOOD

Delicious vegan meals will be provided throughout the retreat.

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: Cultivating Growth in May and Harvest Festival in September.

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