"The dayseye hugging the earth in August, ha! Spring is gone down in purple, weeds stand high in the corn, the rainbeaten furrow is clotted with sorrel and crabgrass, the branch is black under the heavy mass of the leaves" — William Carlos Williams Forest School for Writers is a course designed to heighten your...
In the run-up to Halloween, we'll be providing a series of playful and practical creative writing workshops exploring character, setting and things that go bump in the night. Whether you want to heighten the suspense in your psychological thriller or confront your ghosts, this supportive tutored retreat will offer you the skills and tools to...
Book Bootcamp is a boutique two-day intensive writing course focusing on your work-in-progress. Despite doing an enormous amount of work, this book bootcamp you will leave this weekend invigorated and full of enthusiasm for your project. We will write from 10am to 5pm on both days, with a break for lunch and a short plot...
Shhh, We’re Writing is a Monday to Saturday retreat aimed at helping you focus on your novel and whatever might be the thing that’s holding it up. You will have three meals a day and all the snacks, without having to lift a finger. You can eat at your desk or at our long table...
Following the amazing success of our Forest School for Writers, we’re offering a writers’ beach school for 2023. This is an absolute must for anyone who wants to write about the sea or shoreline. We will be mostly writing outside, in a variety of extraordinary locations along the stunning Dumfries and Galloway coast. Our week...
BIG Feels: a queer writing retreat Queer emotion has often been dismissed, unacknowledged or mocked—even purposely erased and necessarily hidden. Literature is one place we can turn for ‘fellow feeling’ and recognition of our ‘big feels’. This course invites you to explore how to represent emotion in writing projects, through techniques found across forms, such...
We are delighted to be holding a second Writing into the Dark event. Last year’s was an outstanding success (see some of our reviews) and places on the 2023 course are very limited as a result of re-bookings. In the run-up to Halloween, we’ll be providing a series of playful and practical creative writing workshops...
Two full days of tuition and writing exercises aimed at beating your book into submission and sharpening the skills you need to keep it there. The retreat begins with supper on Friday night where we will get to know each other and our works-in-progress. There is as much to be gained from talking/weeping/gnashing teeth to/with/at...
The ethos for this retreat focusses on a nourishing, indulgent week that is never strict and never a punishment: that applies to our food, our writing support, and our yoga. You can choose to join any yoga session or any writing activity, or use the warmth of the house to tuck yourself away and work...
We’re repeating our Beach school for 2024 with a couple of changes and additions, but with the same ethos of fun, learning, and writing. Like last year, it is an absolute must for anyone who wants to write about the sea or shoreline. We will be mostly writing outside, in a variety of extraordinary locations...
Nature Feels: a queer writing retreat by declan wiffen If queer people have historically been pitted ‘against’ nature because of their unnatural desires, then we might ask ‘what do queers want with the natural?’ Is there something queer about nature? And what kind of feeling, relations and alliances might queers have with ecology? We’ll explore...
Whether you are taking your first steps from reader to writer, or have a manuscript to polish before sending off, this course will equip you with all the transferable skills required to get your project glowing. This is a weekend of writing exercises, writing theory, and encouragement; bolstered by delicious food and outstanding scenery. We’ll...
