The French Retreat is both our home and a retreat centre for anyone looking to find stillness, reconnect with themself or learn something new. We welcome you as we would a guest in our home, rather than a visitor to a hotel.

Your bed will be made up with cotton sheets, duvet, pillows and a throw. Soap and bath towels are provided but please bring your own pool towel. Unless otherwise arranged you do not have your bed made and towels replaced every day.

Although it can be very hot in the day with clear skies, the evenings can be chilly so bring another layer if you feel the cold or if you want to stay up late watching the stars, which are magnificent. It is a very rural and relaxed location, comfortable shoes are recommended and if you head out you will find the local restaurants are very informal.

The French Retreat was developed after many combined years teaching, attending and writing about residential workshops and retreats.

Matthew and Emma Pruen wanted to create a space that would hold the deepest emotional work. They searched for property that was both sufficiently private and open. They found this Manor house that hadn’t been lived in since the 1970s and set about converting the huge barn into a large group room with high spec en-suite accommodation.

The French Retreat is a very special workshop and retreat centre. The vast double height group room with its vaulted ceiling is simply stunning. Each bedroom has a very different feel, from simple French country twin rooms to the Lord of the Manor’s four poster bedroom. The en-suite bathrooms are sleek and modern, with traditional features retained.

The owners run their own courses at The French Retreat and also invite teachers and facilitators to use the venue for their own courses. Matthew as been a self development facilitator for the last ten years and before that ran award winning restaurants in Bristol, although the original plan was to be an artist. You can read read more about Matthew and his work at www.matthewpruen.com.

Emma’s path has been equally eclectic working in the fashion industry, followed by becoming an image coach and self-esteem counsellor, founding and running a mind, body spirit magazine and latterly as a spin doctor for the Green Party. She has just completed her first novel. Read her blog here.

Read more about Matthew’s work here or by downloading his latest newsletter below.

As the mother of a pre teen girl are you worried about the pressures and influences she is facing in today's culture as she grows?

Are you concerned about how you can help her?

Welcoming our Daughters, Welcoming Ourselves is a three day programme offering tools to help you support your daughter and improve your relationship with her. It is also an opportunity to explore your own story as a woman.

Do you remember your own experience of becoming a woman? How were you met?

Supporting our daughters as they mature may be a challenge for us if we were not honoured or respected as we entered our own womanhood.

We have lost contact with the rites of passage of traditional cultures that helped young people step into their adulthood feeling strong and like they belonged. In 'Welcoming our daughters Welcoming ourselves' we will workshop how to create meaningful rites of passage for you and your daughter as she matures.

Our programme is fun, creative and informative. We will work with arts and crafts, story telling, singing, drumming and connecting with nature with the girls. There will be sessions with skilled and compassionate facilitation for mothers without our daughters present to explore our journeys as women.

We will weave ceremony, circle, teaching and sharing. Together we will remember and celebrate our wisdom, offer a taste of the healthy feminine to our daughters and nurture ourselves.

The intention is to offer our daughters a real sense of blessing for who they are, unique and separate to us. To impart to them some of the magic and magnificence of womanhood.

The program is designed for 9 to 12 year olds and their mothers. You know your daughter best and if you feel your daughter may fall outside this age range but you are drawn to this please do get in touch.

£590 per mother and daughter pair. All accommodation, meals and snacks included. Early bird discount of 10%. To book go to http://www.retreat.fr/booking-all-courses

Begins 1pm Thursday 19th April 2016 finishing with an evening celebration on Saturday 21st April and departing whenever you wish on Sunday morning. You can book extra nights stay directly too if you wish.

Facilitated by Jill Kettle and Samsara Tanner

Jill is a mother, acupuncturist, doula, Shadow Work coach and workshop leader with many years of experience working with women. She co founded the Brighton Red Tent and created and delivers her year course 'Welcoming our Daughters at the Threshold of Womanhood, welcoming ourselves'. She is passionate about the women's mysteries and is a graduate of the School of Shamanic Womancraft. She makes and plays frame drums and loves to sing and walk in flip flops in the woods. (www.finding-self.co.uk)

Samsara Tanner is an experienced Doula, childbirth educator and rites of passage facilitator for women and girls. She created and ran a program for many years in Australia called "personal Journeys" for primary year old girls, celebrating their passage from young girl to maiden. She is a Grandmother, an elder and wise woman of great love and experience. (http://mumababysanctuary.co.uk/)

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The French Retreat

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