"I trudge across winter fields under drizzle and a cloud-puffed sky. In the empty, static orchards, their spent apple trees still crowned in headdresses of faded leaves, the dark shape of a deer startles me. When I arrive at a bridge overlooking an ancient church, it seems familiar. I've been in this part of Somerset before, I realise, in the hot, sticky summer, searching for a place to swim while staying with a friend."
"I first did the Arrigo Programme solo retreat seven years ago: now I'm back for my third go. While psychodynamic heavyweight Fiona Arrigo engages in group and community work (including taking care of cash-strapped single mothers and creating space for women to plan a life rooted in integrity), the solos are her stock in trade. Outfits such as The Bespoke Retreat Company, The Nest in Cornwall and Wales' Coach House Retreat have emulated the solo aspect. But Arrigo is inimitable."
"In this atomised world of technology-induced alienation and chronic loneliness, it makes sense to question the validity of retreating from others, but every time I've been in this place, I needed to be. The retreat's curation is always different. The first time, I was a fragile flame crushed by family separation, parenting alone and needing to feel a sense of freedom. The second, I was worn threadbare by workaholism, perimenopause and bullying, and needed to forgive people"
A narrator walks through a quiet Somerset winter landscape, recalling past summer visits and a contrasting convivial stillness. The stay is in a cosy converted barn with a woodburner, flowers, sheepskins and meals provided by a kind attendant. The narrator returns for a third solo Arrigo Programme retreat, noting Fiona Arrigo's wider community work alongside her distinctive solo retreats. The retreats address loneliness and life crises: earlier visits met needs arising from family separation, parenting alone, workaholism, perimenopause and bullying, with each retreat differently curated to support healing and self-repair.
Read at CN Traveller
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