Cost: £695 (early bird 10% discount until end April)*
or shared room £595

Dates: Fri 4 Sep – Fri 11 Sep 2015

Language: English

Explore the soul of place and the place of soul through working outdoors in this lush remote land, where we’ll experience ourselves as being part of the web of nature, and write from the depths where inner and outer, land and psyche, converge.

We’ll use mindfulness, close observation, imagination, poetry, story and teachings from the Celtic Medicine Wheel and Jungian psychology to reveal more deeply our place in this web, in a collaborative project with soil, rock, animal, bird, dragonfly, plant, tree and water. One day will involve a silent walk together, and there will also be a half-day solo ‘quest’.

We invite you, whatever your level of experience, to bring your unique contribution to this adventure.
 

* For those wishing to attend both Roselle's retreats this summer, we are offering a package price of £1430 for a 20-day stay from Sat 22 Aug - Fri 11 Sep including both courses and 6 days of self-catering accommodation between events. (£1288 if booked before the end of April). Here is the link to her other event: Writing the Bright Moment

Tutor

UK poet and author Roselle Angwin leads the Fire in the Head creative and reflective writing programme, and The Wild Ways ecosoul project, a path of reconnection with self, other, story and land. She's passionate about wild places and the natural world, as well as the relationships and meeting points between inner and outer geographies. Roselle trained in Transpersonal Psychology and holds a counselling qualification. She has been described as 'a poet of the bright moment whose own sources of creative inspiration are her native Westcountry, the Scottish islands, and a highly individual blend of Celtic myth and metaphysics, psychology, shamanic and Buddhist thinking'. She leads courses and retreats on Dartmoor, in Cornwall, the Isle of Iona and abroad.

For more info visit www.fire-in-the-head.co.uk and http://thewildways.co.uk

http://roselle-angwin.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/writing-bright-moment-at-gardoussel.html

Price includes all course tuition, accommodation and meals. Single rooms will be provided to all participants depending on availability unless otherwise requested.

EXTERNAL ATTENDEES:

Our local village of St Andre de Valborgne is just over 1km away, a gentle 20 mins walk along a quiet B-road. (A lift by car is also possible for anyone prefering not to walk). Accommodation is available at the following places:

Auberge de la Vallee: http://www.restaurant-auberge-vallee-borgne.com

47€ single room - 57€ double/twin room - breakfast 6€

Hotel Bourgade: http://www.restaurant-bourgade.fr

rooms from 61€ - breakfast 7,50€

Cocon des Cevennes b&b: http://cocondescevennes.blogspot.fr

rooms at 75€ (2 people) including breakfast

If anyone has trouble booking, Sharon (see Contact) is happy to help.

Although we are not set up for camping (we have no bespoke camping facilities for example), as an exception we have decided to offer a 'wild camping' option on this retreat only. Pitch your own tent anywhere on our land (we have 45 acres of meadow and woodland) - taking your chances as most of it is not 100% flat - or on a flat grassy terrace we will clear for the purpose - and share rustic bathroom facilities (bath with shower head, wash basin: but the water's hot!) with our resident cook and massage therapist Frances who lives in a yurt. For the loo, you'll need to walk down to the main building to use the 'public' Gardoussel toilet - or pee in the woods, the choice is yours. This option costs £500 / week.

Note: TRAVEL - N.B. 2015 details to be updated, those below are for 2014

Unless you are travelling in by car, we recommend the following travel options
(NB. All train times are approximative as SNCF (French train company) timetable & sales are only available 3 months in advance):

* Flight into Paris then TGV Paris – Nimes:

4 Sep: Easyjet Gatwick – Paris CDG (dep. 12h30 – arr. 14h45) then
TGV Paris CDG – Nimes (dep. 16h58 – arr. 20h29)

11 Sep: Easyjet Paris CDG – Gatwick (dep. 15h35 – arr. 15h45) then
TGV Nimes – Paris CDG (dep. 9h24 – arr. 13h02)

* Eurostar London - Nimes via Lilles:

4 Sep: London St Pancras – Lilles Europe - Nimes
dep. 12h58 – arr. 15h30/dep. 15h54 – arr. 20h29

11 Sep. Nimes – Lilles Europe – London St Pancras
dep. 9h24 – arr. 14h24/dep. 15h30 – arr. 16h03
or
dep. 15h29 – arr. 19h57/dep. 20h30 – arr. 21h09

This means guests travelling with either option will arrive in Nimes at 20h29 on the 4th. We will help to organise transport for the group from Nimes to Gardoussel (minibus, taxi or car-share) once we know everyone's travel arrangements. A light dinner will be served at Gardoussel on arrival and the course proper will start the following morning, Sat 5th.

If you’re coming from the southwest of Britain, you might find it easier and cheaper to fly Easyjet from Bristol to Geneva, from where it’s a 4-hour train journey to Nimes.

Please let Sharon know your travel arrangements as soon as you have booked them.