Alfoxton Park - Land & Heart: Harvest Retreat

Land & Heart: Harvest Retreat

27th - 30th September 2027

This is the third 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 friendship.

Harvest time at Alfoxton! Autumn will be coming in and the land changing its colours as we approach the end of the growing year.

Join us as we mindfully harvest seasonal foods and rejoice in the bounties of the land and garden.

This work retreat is an opportunity to integrate meditation with daily life, as well as using work as practice through the act of service, mindfulness and nature connection.

The themes of this retreat will invite you to let go of the scarcity mindset and move into the realm of abundance, gratitude and gifts. It will be an opportunity to mark the turning of the seasons and contemplate our own personal harvests, reflecting on our actions from the past year, ritually setting intentions on the day of the equinox for the coming winter.

The wild beauty of Alfoxton Park and the Quantocks national park offers a unique setting to engage with land centred rituals and activities. You are more than welcome to bring musical instruments, poetry and stories to contribute to the Equinox festivities!

Facilitation Team

Jyotika

Jyotika was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2000. He has worked for Dharma Life magazine, as Subhuti’s Personal Assistant, as Secretary to the College of Public Preceptors, and more recently has project managed the purchase and refurbishment of Shubha Vihara, Ireland’s first Triratna retreat centre. He is now the head gardener at Alfoxton Park, specialising in growing organic vegetables.

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.

Timings & Travel

Timings

Please arrive between 3pm and 5pm on the first day. Dinner is served at 6pm. The retreat will finish by 1pm on the last day.

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

We serve a vegan menu using mostly organic fruit and vegetables, from Riverford and our own walled garden. We are able to cater for most general food intolerances, such as gluten free, but not for all diets. See 'Accessibility and Special Diets' below.

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. Please get in touch about any significant accessiblity requirements.

It is not possible to cook for people with highly sensitive allergies: if you are a coeliac or have any other medical condition which could seriously jeopardise your health or your experience then please get in touch to discuss a potential self-catering plan with our Kitchen manager.

Please contact us about either of these 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 £57 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 and 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?

Send please send any questions to events@alfoxtonpark.org.uk

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