Welcome 2026
Welcome to our 2026 schedule of courses, tutored retreats and untutored retreats at The Garsdale Retreat!
2025 has been another phenomenal year – a few places short of being fully booked. It felt rather like Glastonbury when we opened for bookings last November with half the places going in the first week and two retreats selling out on the first day!
Once again, we have been delighted to welcome back many ‘returners’ as well as newcomers. We had one retreat this year where six out of the seven participants were returners. All speak of the unique, nurturing atmosphere of The Garsdale Retreat and the special feel of being in a writer’s home. In 2023 an entire poetry course group met up up for a weekend’s writing together. Firm friendships are often formed and last way beyond the duration of courses or retreats.
We’re delighted to welcome to Garsdale our usual high quality tutors and guest readers. As ex-teachers, it is very important to us that the tutors are not only outstanding writers but also expert teachers.
We very much enjoy performing music and poetry each course and retreat. Although this began as an occasional offering, it’s now firmly established as a regular evening feature of courses and retreats.
As usual many participants also suggest they would come back to Garsdale for the food alone! Rebecca’s cordon bleu cooking certainly goes from strength to strength with many demands being made for a new set of recipe cards. ‘Seven More Soups’ or perhaps ‘Seven Salads.’ Who knows what the winter might bring!
The remote beauty of our Yorkshire Dales location has again been very much appreciated. Most people have enjoyed walks in the National Park and a few intrepid souls have enjoyed swimming in the Clough!
It has been wonderful to once again greet people from around the globe including Canada, Australia, Singapore, Malta, Spain, Germany, France, USA, Turkey, Portugal, Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland. We feel we are a truly international centre!
We are delighted to offer another broad range of courses in 2026: poetry, fiction and memoir not to mention our ever popular untutored retreats.
Rebecca and I hope you find a course or retreat to suit your creative needs and look forward to welcoming you to Garsdale in 2026.
Hamish Wilson
Director