THINKING WITH YOUR HANDS

27 - 31 October 2025

We will take you on an exploratory journey of weaving, walking, making, moving, drawing, foraging, and eating. You’ll learn how you can create a palette of colour, materials and skills which intimately connect you to the land you are on.

This retreat is based in the time of SAMHAIN, before the stillness of deep winter sets in, when we acknowledge the darkness, by lighting fires, and recognising the presence of those who have left us. Its a time for fun, for divination, disguise, and carving turnips. 

Join us to explore how we maintain connection with the landscape and with our creativity, as the light fades and the land becomes dormant.

We will take you on an exploratory journey, walking, making, moving, drawing, foraging, and eating. You’ll learn how you can create a palette of colour, materials and skills which is intimately connected to the land you are on and the season you are in.

No experience is needed. We aim to help you to think differently, to embrace failure and to allow your self the space to breathe.

THIS IS ALL ABOUT PLAY.

Cost: £1800

Important Information

  • THINKING WITH YOUR HANDS

    SAMPLE SCHEDULE

    DAY ONE

    9:30 am: Welcome/ Herbal tea and coffee

    Demonstration of two ink-making methods: grinding with lye and boiling.

    10:00 am to 11:00 am: Foraging walk: plants for pigments and inks. Collect herbs for tea. Walking meditation.

    11:00 am to 11:30 am: Herbal tea around the fire.
    Inspiration from John O’Donoghue

    11:30 am to 12:30 pm: Making ink with foraged plants

    12:30 to 1:30 pm: Lunch

    1:30 pm to 2:00 pm: Sit/rest

    2:00 pm to 3:00 pm: Cordage. Using fibres collected and dried prior to the course. 

    3:00 pm to 3.45 pm: Gentle movement and breathing with Ylva

    3:45 pm to 4.30 pm: Binding and wrapping skills

    DAY TWO

    9:00 am: Meet to travel to willow beds

    9:30 am to 11:00 am: Learning about growing and harvesting willow. Stripping bark, splitting rods. Bring rolls of bark and pairs of split rods home. Foraging walk for plants to manipulate and use for mark-making.

    11:00 am to 11:3 0am: Tea of foraged herbs at the willow bed.

    11:30 am to 12:00 pm: Optional swim

    12:00 pm to 12:30 pm: Travel back to Isfield.

    12:30 pm to 1:30 pm: Lunch

    1:30 pm to 2:00 pm: Sit/rest

    2:00 pm to 3:30 pm: Making brushes and mark-making tools from foraged materials using the skills learnt on day one.

    3:30 pm to 4:30 pm: Sketchbooks

    DAY THREE

    9:30 am: Introduction to the Craft Banquet

    10:00 am to 11:30 am: Drawing, painting and mark-making with self-made tools and inks. Paper and fabric.

    11:30 am to 12:00 pm: Herbal tea around the fire. Poem

    12:00 pm to 12:30 pm: Decorating the tablecloth

    Free afternoon

    DAY FOUR

    9:30 am to 10:30 am: Folk walk and foraging with Sandra
    Sussex folk songs

    10:30 am to 11:15 am: Utensils. Willow bark spoons

    11:15 am to 11:45 am: Herbal tea around the fire.
    Inspiration from Mary Oliver

    11:45 am to 12:30 pm: Utensils. Making split willow tongs using materials prepared on willow bed.

    12:30 pm to 1:30 pm: Lunch

    1:30 pm to 2:00 pm: Sit/rest

    2:00 pm to 2:30 pm: Sketchbooks

    2:30 pm to 4:30 pm: Trivets, place mats.
    Placemaking for the banquet/ Decorating the table

    5.00 pm: Optional Sauna

    6:00 pm: Group Banquet

    DAY FIVE

    Optional early morning sea swim
    9:30 am to 10:15 am: Gentle movement with Ylva

    10:15 am to 11:00 am: Decorating a cotton tote bag with plant inks

    11:00 am to 11:30 am: Herbal tea around the fire

    11:30 am to 12:30 am: Sketchbooks - cropping and arranging

    12:30 pm to 1:30 pm: Lunch

    1:30 pm to 2:00 pm: Sit/rest

    2:00 pm to 2:30 pm: Demo of making Lye Solution and use of modifiers and binders

    2:30 pm to 3:00 pm: Mini exhibition and photographing work

    3.00 pm to 4:00 pm: Walking meditation. Poems under the trees.

    4.00 pm to 4:30 pm: Farewell tea around the fire

    *schedule subject to slight changes

  • No experience is required. Just a willingness to play. 

    The retreat is suitable for anyone who is seeking a creative start up or a creative shake up.

    The week will be both physical and restful. You will need to be able to walk for a couple of miles in undulating countryside.

    This retreat will focus on strategies to support creativity: self care, undoing creative blocks, developing your creative identity and connecting with nature.

  • Participants attending our "Thinking with Your Hands" retreat will leave with a renewed connection to the land and a deeper appreciation of the rhythms of the seasons. Through immersive experiences such as guided walks, weaving, making botanical inks from foraged plants, and exploring folk songs and seasonal readings, you’ll gain practical skills and a greater understanding of the process rather than just the outcome. This retreat offers more than techniques—it inspires a different way of seeing the world, finding beauty in the everyday, and cultivating a sensitivity to the natural cycles around you. With opportunities to reflect, swim, sauna, and simply be, you’ll also develop strategies to nourish your creativity and overcome blocks.Whether you join us for one retreat or all four in our series, you’ll emerge feeling balanced, inspired, and attuned to the creative potential of thinking with your hands.

    • Four and a half days guidance/ tuition with one free afternoon to explore locally.

    • All materials for making.

    • Delicious homemade lunches in Annemarie and Tom’s home.

    • A celebratory meal on the evening of the penultimate day.

    • Tea, coffee and biscuits throughout each day

    • Accommodation whilst on the course

    • Flights to/from Gatwick

    • Transport to/from Gatwick airport

  • Our studio/home is in Isfield, East Sussex, which is 1-hour south of London and 45 minutes from Gatwick International Airport. 

    We will pick up and drop off each day in Lewes. So if you don’t have a car, we recommend staying in Lewes or wishing walking distance in our village, Isfield. Some people prefer to drive or hire a car and this gives a little more choice for countryside accommodation.

    East Sussex has a huge variety of places to visit and things to do. The historic town of Lewes has many shops, restaurants, cafes and sights to see. The surrounding area also offers a great selection of creative sights if you would like to extend your visit: Charleston Farmhouse, Farley FarmDitchling Museum, Glyndebourne Opera, De La Warr Pavilion , Jerwood Gallery , Brighton Museum, Towner Gallery. We highly recommend adding some extra days to your trip to soak up some of the local culture.

  • If you cancel having paid, We'll refund 90% of your fee if we are able to fill your place. If we are not able to fill your place you’ll forfeit your fee. We will make every reasonable effort to find someone to take your place. If you book and pay but do not attend the course, no refund will be given. No refunds can be given if you do not attend. In the unlikely event that we need to cancel the course, you’ll receive a full refund. Bookings are not transferable.

    We recommend taking out travel insurance to cover the unlikely event of cancellation.

  • We can help arrange for you to stay locally – either in Isfield or the historic town of Lewes.

    Please contact us if you would like help or advice booking accommodation.

  • If you are travelling from abroad we can pick up from Gatwick International Airport for a cost of £60 or from Lewes or Uckfield train stations at no charge.

  • We invite you to put your mobile phone aside during these retreats, so you can allow yourself to be fully present. We’ve found that past participants have been really delighted to spend their days without their phone. There are no hard rules if you really need to take a call, then of course please do. There will be opportunity to take photographs at the end of each day.

WHAT PREVIOUS PARTICIPANTS HAVE SAID:

“I just cannot thank you enough for this retreat. I had to lie down immediately yesterday afterwards. I can only describe this as feeling like I’ve been scoured out like a pan. Not in a bad way at all, but like I’m ready to cook. 1000 thanks to you for your gifts and hospitality.” - Linden

“As you know, this was my 4th workshop with you!!!!! I loved them all, and always come away from time with you having learned new techniques for crafting, as expected. But also with new techniques for thinking and managing (creative) life. And that's not in the course description (nor should it be), but is just because you're such wonderful, inspiring, generous people.  Poems you read, books you suggest, authors you quote, all that is so genuine and real ... with anyone else it would just sound too esoteric and without having any place in a workshop. You however manage to bring it all together and make sense. 

The lunches were incredible!!!! And bringing the plants we worked with into the meals was such a lovely way to make a connection. 

Thank you both for a wonderful time, for your generosity and kindness, your enthusiasm and endless energy, your sharing and caring. I feel so so lucky to learn from you.” - Silke

“I loved the pieces that wouldn’t have come to mind when I usually think of an art workshop— walking, movement & breathing, SWIMMING, sitting by the fire and hearing poetry. I loved the size of the workshop— I really felt like I got to know people well and felt supported around each project.

There was such an emphasis on curiosity and just trying things out— which can be challenging for me to do— and was helpful to see demonstrated. I was telling my friend that I had expected to make art, but I had not expected to feel so cared for.” - Sterling

“I particularly enjoyed your way of presenting the material, and your holistic approach to the integration of making/creating and life... the poems, fire, walks, barefoot time, movement, herbal teas, swim, meals, sauna.  It was beautifully done, nourishing, refreshing, revitalising, and encouraged/allowed a letting go.” - Louisa

“Walking, touching, smelling, listening, observing - barefoot on dew wet long grass - eyes scanning for texture, colour, form - drawn to abundant full dandelion heads - rich, saturated in yellow - climbing buttercups - slender grasses - delicately formed leaves

Washing our faces in the morning dew - a deep grief of loss - of disconnection of/from old knowledge - knowing - of being rooted and grounded in the earth - earthly rituals and sacred rites-a loss of language - of being - with - the earth.

Walking barefoot through rain wet grass - dandelion seed heads abundant catching the afternoon sunlight, wet soggy mud underfoot - beautiful oak.

I have no words - these 5 days are beyond words - beyond thinking - but deep in my heart - with a child-like delight in exploring and playing and a natural curiosity - just to see - what happens if - I’m just curious…. and swimming in the early morning - so cold and so beautiful to the the soft rhythm of the sea washing the stones - rolling them back and forth - sucking them back into her depths the soft wind the light the salt sea smell the open space of sky and land” -Tina