&BREATHE POSTNATAL RETREAT

It may take a village to raise a child, but how many villages have a resident physiotherapist, nutritionist, trained nanny and happiness coach? New mum Clio Wood had wanted to reconnect with her body after a difficult pregnancy and traumatic birth, but couldn’t find a postnatal retreat to host her partner and baby, too. So she created &Breathe as a family bolthole, with personal training, massages and physio for both parents, nutritious food, emotional support, other parents to chat to, and experts trained in pelvic floor and abdominal issues.

With eight-month-old Clover and three-year-old Jay, I qualify for the Toddler Plus retreat, which offers activities for older siblings, too. My partner, Will, has stayed at home to manage a house move, so my mum has stepped in. We arrive at a rambling 18th-century manor house in time to join three other families for lunch. It’s like being on holiday with friends, eating and chatting around the table while the kids play. Jay is happy to go off with Lucy the nanny and the other children, and there are always spare hands to help with Clover while I follow my programme of mindfulness, fitness classes and physio, and enjoy a grown-up dinner each evening.

Before the retreat, I’d been surviving day to day, not enjoying my time with the kids as much as I wanted to. The meditation classes help me to live in the moment and appreciate doing simple things with them – puzzles, reading, baking, swimming and picking apples. It’s just what we need – I feel taken care of and Jay and Clover love being surrounded by other children. The training is a wake-up call, though – I’ve always been quite fit, so I am shocked to find myself struggling. Nicky, the personal trainer, says I have diastasis (separation of the abdominal muscles post pregnancy) and tailors the classes accordingly. I leave feeling on track, with a personalised fitness programme and the motivation to get my body (and myself) back again.’ ELLA PORTER