Totleigh Barton Writing Retreat with Yoga | Stretch your creative muscles | Arvon
Totleigh Barton Writing Retreat with Yoga
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Totleigh Barton Writing Retreat with Yoga

Stretch your creative muscles
Tutor
  • Photo of Elizabeth Jenner
    Elizabeth Jenner
Date Monday August 5th - Saturday August 10th 2024
Location Totleigh Barton

Take a deep breath, stretch your body, relax your mind – and become your most creative self!

Yoga teacher, writer and editor Elizabeth Jenner will help you get inspired and find your focus this summer, through mindful movement, meditation, and relaxation. Work on your writing project at your own pace in the company of supportive peers, with the benefit of twice-daily yoga classes: morning sessions designed to energise and uplift you for a day of creative expression and evening sessions to help you relax and unwind afterwards.

Suitable for anyone with a genuine interest in yoga, including beginners.


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

Band A rooms: £960

Band B rooms (bathrooms accessed via covered pathway): £895

Concessions: Band A Room £672

Concessions: Band B Room £626.50

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 Totleigh Barton:

We do not currently recommend this house if you are a wheelchair user. Totleigh Barton is a sixteenth-Century manor house and has many steps and tight corners. In the future we hope to redevelop the property to provide level access. For additional detailed information on physical access in bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, dining, shared spaces and the grounds please visit our dedicated access page.

General Access Information for Residential Writing Weeks:

Available on all courses for those who are Deaf, Partially Deaf or who have significant hearing loss

We provide BSL interpreters on some courses. If you require this please check whether the course you are interested in offers this facility. Or get in touch on our dedicated access email: access@arvon.org

Available on all courses for those who are blind, partially sighted or who have significant sight loss

Available on all courses for those who have Dyslexia

There’s no need to worry about spelling, grammar or handwriting on our courses, the focus is on creativity.

Available on all courses to those who identify as Neuro Divergent

Arvon is committed to providing a supportive and welcoming environment to all.

If you need to take some time out to rest, or be alone, you’re welcome to do so. Participation in any activity is entirely at your discretion.

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.

For additional detailed information on how we can support people with learning difficulties, mental health issues, and those with special diets and allergies, please see our dedicated access page.

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

Totleigh Barton, the first ever Arvon centre, is a 16th-century manor house in one of the most peaceful and idyllic parts of Devon.

Totleigh Barton is a thatched manor house with single occupancy rooms and shared bathrooms. The house offers many comfortable lounge and spaces to relax and write throughout the house and a renovated barn offers a comfortable space for evening readings. Mobile and Wi-Fi signal is limited. We invite you to think of a retreat to this beautiful old house as a full ‘digital detox’ – a chance to make real progress with your writing with no distractions.

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.

Totleigh Barton lies two miles from the village of Sheepwash, with walks along the River Torridge nearby. There is a beautiful and productive garden and quiet spaces on-site for writing.

See here for more information on Totleigh Barton.

“I arrived at the beginning of the week wondering whether I might be a writer or even if I could write. But when I left, not only did I feel I could write, I knew that’s what I was going to do next.”
— Piers Torday
“It is invaluable to writers at an early stage to have this feedback on their work. Many people on my course said that they wished that they had received this type of input earlier in their career – that it might have borne fruit and improved their success. It also provides time to think – in an over complicated world it is hard to carve time for yourself against the requirements of work, family, and daily chores. Arvon was a breath of fresh creative air.”
— Penny Clark
“Both courses I attended have had a massive impact on my writing, and been part of the motivation and encouragement I needed to begin working professionally as a writer.”
— Participant, Residential Writing Week

Course Timetable

Times are subject to change

Monday

16.30-17.30: Cream tea and welcome talk in the dining room. Please make sure you arrive in time for this session as it will include vital information about the week, as well as the opportunity to meet your tutors, staff and other participants.

18.30: Dinner. Our hosting team will serve the evening meal.

Tuesday

08.00-09.30: Morning yoga session.

13.00: Lunch. Our hosting team will prepare and serve lunch – everyone must wash up and put away their own things after meals.

16.00: Three or four members of the group, today’s cooks, begin to prepare the evening meal and wash up for everyone afterwards.

16.30-17.30: Afternoon yoga session.

18.30: Dinner.

 

Wednesday

08.00-09.30: Morning yoga session.

13.00: Lunch. Our hosting team will prepare and serve lunch – everyone must wash up and put away their own things after meals.

16.00: Three or four members of the group, today’s cooks, begin to prepare the evening meal and wash up for everyone afterwards.

16.30-17.30: Afternoon yoga session.

18.30: Dinner.

Thursday

08.00-09.30: Morning yoga session.

13.00: Lunch. Our hosting team will prepare and serve lunch – everyone must wash up and put away their own things after meals.

16.00: Three or four members of the group, today’s cooks, begin to prepare the evening meal and wash up for everyone afterwards.

16.30-17.30: Afternoon yoga session.

18.30: Dinner.

Friday

08.00-09.30: Morning yoga session.

13.00: Lunch. Our hosting team will prepare and serve lunch – everyone must wash up and put away their own things after meals.

16.00: Three or four members of the group, today’s cooks, begin to prepare the evening meal and wash up for everyone afterwards.

16.30-17.30: Afternoon yoga session.

18.30: Dinner.

Saturday

Breakfast, goodbyes, and departure. We ask everyone to have stripped their beds, washed up and put away breakfast things ready to vacate the building by 10.30, but you can leave as early as you wish. 

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