Courses/Retreats

Leave those domestic chores behind and escape to the peace and tranquillity of a Garsdale summer.  Indulge yourself with space and time to write in idyllic surroundings fuelled by outstanding food. Meet up with your muse…

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.

'Departing summer hath assumed / An aspect tenderly illumed.....' (Wordsworth) 'Tenderly illume,' your writing with an autumnal excursion to the unfaded beauty of the Yorkshire Dales. Dedicate time and space to your writing, escape domestic chores and be nurtured by outstanding hospitality.

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.

‘O hushed October morning mild, Thy leaves have ripened to the fall’ (October, Robert Frost) Share those ripened leaves in Garsdale’s autumnal beauty on an untutored retreat. Dedicate time and space to your writing, escape domestic chores and be nurtured by outstanding hospitality.

Whether you’re new to poetry or have been writing for many years, this course aims to help you develop your skills within a safe and supportive environment. We will explore the craft and mystery of poetry, its many devices: image, metre, rhyme, lineation … and how an awareness of both traditional forms and free verse can influence the choices we make as a poem evolves.

Treat yourself to the mists and mellow fruitfulness of Garsdale and give your writing a seasonal massage! Dedicate time and space to your writing, escape domestic chores and be nurtured by outstanding hospitality.

Now is the winter of your full content. Indulge yourself with log fires, outstanding food and the space to write, free from domestic chores.

How poems have minds of their own and what we can do to discover their secrets. In this course, we’ll be exploring how we as poets can best serve the poems we write. It’s all-too easy to think we know what we want to say – but what if the poem has other ideas? In writing workshops, we’ll focus on trusting our poems and on learning how to be comfortable with the uncertainty that a new poem brings.

Treat yourself to the mists and mellow fruitfulness of Garsdale and give your writing a seasonal massage! Dedicate time and space to your writing, escape domestic chores and be nurtured by outstanding hospitality.