Residential Arvon Plus: Non-Fiction

This is an Arvon Plus residential – which is fully catered and enables you to stay on for two additional days of writing, once the tutored part of the course has ended. Arvon Plus courses run from Saturday to Saturday. The tutored part of the course runs Saturday – Wednesday evening. Then it’s your writing time Thursday and Friday, departing Saturday morning.

Join Amy Liptrot and Rob Cowen for a collaborative course exploring the art and craft of contemporary non-fiction, including place writing, nature writing and autobiography. Inspired by Lumb Bank and its surrounding landscapes, we’ll uncover how place, memory and personal experience become compelling narrative. Through workshops, writing exercises and one-to-one tutorials, we will experiment with form and voice, craft vivid sensory description and discover the techniques and tools for overcoming creative blocks.

Throughout the week, we will also explore the trickier territories facing the modern writer: the nature of memory, the ethics of memoir and writing in the age of AI. Whether you are working on new material or old, memoir, nature writing, travel or hybrid forms, you’ll leave with new ideas, sharper skills, and a clearer sense of what makes your writing unique.

*Please use the expandable links below to reveal timings and further details of the course schedule.

Room with a valley view: £1500
Rooms in this price band have a single or double bed, and most are on the first or ground floor. One room in this price band is in the attic but has a valley view.

Attic room without a valley view: £1250
These rooms have low ceilings and extra stairs to climb.

Room with a view: £1050

Room without a view: £875

As part of our effort to increase participation in the arts, we offer limited concessionary places at a 30% reduction. You can select this option at checkout if available.

Physical access at Lumb Bank:

The upper floor of the barn is accessible by lift, and the ground floor is level access or ramped. There is an accessible toilet on the ground floor. Lumb Bank’s main building is accessible for wheelchair users, but the access to the house itself is down a steep country lane, and the initial part of the driveway is bumpy and uneven. If you are coming on a course and require assistance to enter the building or are a wheelchair user please contact us on access@arvon.org or rozie.kelly@arvon.org so we can meet you on arrival and guide any vehicles in. If you need to park onsite please contact us to arrange this in advance (one space available per course).

Please see our access page for general access information for residential courses.

Our grants scheme may be able to cover a portion of your course fees. Disability costs and additional living/support costs are taken into account when considering your grant application. You may also be entitled to concession pricing on selected courses.

If you have any questions or concerns and want to chat to a member of staff prior to booking please contact us on access@arvon.org

The Ted Hughes Arvon Centre, Lumb Bank is an 18th-century millowner’s house in West Yorkshire, which once belonged to Ted Hughes. It’s set in 20 acres of steep woodland with breathtaking views to the valley below.

You’ll find many quiet places to write in the house and garden – and a well-stocked library. All rooms are single occupancy, and bathrooms are shared.

All your meals are provided, locally and sustainably sourced wherever possible. Help yourself to breakfast, our team will prepare lunch, and dinner is prepared in groups each evening using the delicious recipes and ingredients provided.

Explore the Pennine landscape of woods and rivers, weavers’ cottages, packhorse trails and ruins of old mills. It is half a mile from the historic village of Heptonstall and two miles from Hebden Bridge.

See here for more information on Lumb Bank.