Courses/Retreats

‘Late February days; and now at last, Might you have thought that Winter’s woe was past; So fair the sky was and so soft the air.’ (William Morris) Lose that winter woe on an untutored retreat. Enjoy the space to write, free from domestic distractions and fuelled by outstanding food.

It is said that March ‘comes in like a lion, out a lamb.’ Whether wintry or vernal, enjoy the space to write, free from domestic distractions and fuelled by outstanding food.

‘Places we love exist only through us’ – Ivan V Lalic. Many great poems spring from a sense of place. If you start with place a poem can go anywhere; the subject opens out in all sorts of directions. On this week in Garsdale – one of the most beautiful places of all – there’ll be time to stretch out and explore all the ways places can make poems, just as all those special places make us.

'Everyone has a book in them'. Do we? Perhaps it's true when we write from our own experience. Whether it's a single episode from your life to craft into an essay, or a whole family history that's itching at your writing hand, this course will help you find the extraordinary in the authentic.

This fiction writing course is suitable for writers of all levels and will be helpful whether you arrive at Garsdale with a blank page or with a project on which you have already started work.

Come to Garsdale in May, ‘Of spring and summer months the queen.’ (Clare) Leave off gathering nuts and enjoy the space to write, free from domestic distractions and fuelled by outstanding food.

Welcoming new and experienced poets, this popular course will appeal to those keen to develop their poetry. We’ll explore the craft and mystery of poetry, its many devices: image, metre, rhyme, lineation … how both traditional forms and free verse can enrichen a poet’s voice. Using a range of poetic voices and themes as stimulus, we’ll write out of memory and from close observation.

‘Summer’s lease has all too short a date.’ So take advantage of a June untutored retreat. Let your writing blossom now summer is here with its seasonal influx of house martins, curlews, lapwings and oyster catchers. Enjoy the space to write, free from domestic distractions and fuelled by outstanding food.

This tutored retreat is designed for writers to work intensively with a focus on individual sessions to help them develop their work. Each participant will have a 30 minute individual tutorial each day, Tuesday - Friday and there will be an introductory 60 minute group workshop on the Monday.

Novelists, memoirists, short story writers – do you need time, space and encouragement to move your manuscript forward? This retreat is for prose writers who want guidance and motivation to help their work-in-progress achieve its potential.