What we did

Our welcome chat was reassuring; there would be no ‘deep journey’ and this was not about fixing stuff. Relaxation was the simple aim. A combo of down-to-earth and decadence worked; the opening session had music, candles and gentle voices and washing-up bowl foot spas with the calming addition of lavender bath milk.

Wisdom was generously shared by the experts assembled by Weleda; Evelyn the homeopath, Claire the gardener, Elizabeth the skincare expert, Kate the yoga teacher and Caroline the aesthetician are a friendly bunch, full of conversation and other life skills. An impromptu learn to knit session was an unexpected bonus.

I worried that lying still for a 90-minute facial would be a challenge, but I was talked through not just the what but the why, as the scents rolled in; lavender, rose, citrus and pomegranate. A blackthorn elixir drink (think a kind of sloe Ribena) was the final flourish.

I tried to take one lesson from each session; why rose is good for ageing skin, how the blanket-cocooned savasana at the end of yoga promotes digestion, good metabolism and opens the heart, how it’s not so much about the skincare you use but how you apply it that matters, and that nature is not simply a place to escape to but a part of us.

You’re not obliged to join all the scheduled sessions, however, what seemed a bit of an effort to go to 8am pre-breakfast yoga class on day 1 was much-looked forward to by day 2. There’s outdoor time, too; on a nature walk I found myself standing like a tree, eyes closed, being buffeted by the wind, really using my senses, which were rebooted here.

The most refreshing thing was the laughter among the learning. Wine and a firepit under the stars closed the weekend and we chatted about what we’d learnt from our break.