Are you someone who has been away on a parish weekend, perhaps been to a quiet day or two, but never experienced a residential retreat? Are you unsure how you might cope with a retreat, what you might do with your time, or whether you can cope with the silence? Then this is the retreat for you!

The aim of this semi-silent retreat weekend is to help you enter the world of silent retreats gently and with plenty of support. There will be guidance on how to use the time; periods on your own and with the other retreatants, and the opportunity to share your experience with others if you wish to do so. During your stay at Launde Abbey, you can join in with the community’s rhythm of prayer and worship; walk, paint, potter or simply rest, as the Spirit takes you.

This retreat will be led by members of the Launde Abbey Community.

More information on our leaders coming soon…

Retreat price: £350 (standard room) or £380 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £330 (standard room) or £360 (character room) if booked by 15th November 2024!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call  01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

In returning and rest, in quietness and trust,
God draws us to the silent depths of who we are in him
(Isaiah 30:15)

The essence of prayer is radically simple. As prayer deepens, it becomes less and less a matter of what we think about, what we do, and increasingly a matter of simply being, of resting within what God is doing.

But it can be difficult for us to release ourselves into its welcoming simplicity.

With help from the teachings of Julian of Norwich, Martin Laird OSA and others, we will explore the path of interior surrender, of releasing into and resting in God through our deepening stillness and shared silence.

“Prayer is not content to stay up in the branches of our minds with all the other things we think about,” writes Martin Laird, “it works its way down through the branches and trunk, into our roots where it is one with the Ground of all.”

The central focus of this experiential retreat will be silent meditation practice. We will consider such things as the subtle challenges we meet in something so simple as being still, the interior skills that develop as our practice develops, and how silence and self-forgetfulness help us to be places of peace in the world.

Surrendering our resistances, letting go of all that gives rise to the sense of separateness, we come into the open pastures of belonging where we are one with each other and all creation in the oneness of God.

“When it is truly seen,” says Julian, “no person can separate themselves from another.”

The retreat has been carefully crafted to be relevant and accessible to anyone searching for truth and peace, regardless of their faith, beliefs or previous experience of meditation.

A detailed timetable for the retreat will be sent to everyone attending. The retreat starts on Friday at 4:30 pm with an orientation talk, followed by a period of silent meditation before dinner. Short talks across the weekend will be balanced with periods of sitting meditation, walking meditation, time for private reflection and enjoyment of the beautiful grounds. The retreat will finish after lunch and a closing conversation on Sunday.

Early morning practice

Saturday and Sunday begin at 6:30 am with meditation practice. Early morning meditation is a wonderful way to greet the day together. While we very much encourage everyone to attend this session, if this is difficult for you for any reason please don’t worry. It is always enough to do what we can – or what our life allows.

One-to-one spiritual counsel meetings

One-to-one spiritual counsel meetings are offered during the times set aside in the retreat for private practice. These times are not counselling or coaching, but provide a dedicated opportunity for someone to explore a question or two about their meditation practice, or how practice relates to what they have heard during a talk or to daily life. Lasting approximately 15 minutes, meetings are deliberately short to provide focus.

———-

Being on retreat is a precious opportunity to be still, to be silent, to practice living simply and peacefully and cultivate the gift of loving awareness as we devote ourselves to the depth-dimension of faith and life.

The focus of the retreat is silent meditation practice and we will practice bringing loving awareness to all our daily activities – while sitting, while walking or eating, when we are simply enjoying a glass of water. We will practice living each moment deeply.

The practice of silence will commence when the retreat begins at 16:30 on the Friday and continue until after lunch on the Sunday.

Although the practice of silence may be new to some, most people find this a powerful and wonderful experience. Maintaining a quiet and peaceful environment – walking, moving, and doing things quietly – is important for our practice and a gift we can offer to each other.

The last session of each day will be an opportunity for conversation together, to reflect on the content of the talks and what we have experienced in our meditation throughout the day.

The retreat timetable includes periods of private practice time for sitting and walking meditation. Some people find it helpful to bring a craft activity to accompany times of private sitting meditation. If you decide to do this, the craft should be very simple and not likely to stimulate thoughts. The Desert Fathers and Mothers were famous for weaving baskets!

You may wish to bring warm, comfy clothes and a waterproof jacket/umbrella for walking meditation in the event of inclement weather. A notepad and pen will also be useful.

Below is some feedback from the ‘Resting in God’ retreat from 2024:

• • “There are innumerable things that I valued about this retreat. It was highly organised, yet there was true space for the self to sit, rest and be free, with God. I felt guided and nurtured. I came away with an almost elated sense of peace and joy, knowing that God was with me at all times, and that the journey of my life (which has struggles but also many blessings) would be a continual encounter with God. I feel that, through this retreat experience, I ‘met’ God (who was always there!). I came away feeling ‘in love’, with God, with my life, and with creation. I am so full of gratitude for this moving experience, which will stay with me forever.”

• • “The opportunity to step away from the world for 48 hours, be silent and not think about any of the things which are usually whizzing around my head over and over again was wonderful. I now see that many of these ‘stories’ I repeat over and over are not healthy. I feel I have pressed a reset button and, by the time I left, it completely changed how I felt – a feeling which has continued since. Being given permission to simply sit still and ‘be’ was absolute luxury”.

Rev’d Dr. Rowan Williams says  “The School of Contemplative Life will provide an opportunity for Christians of all traditions to discover new openings for growth in contemplative maturity.”  

Retreat Leader

Chris Whittington is the Founder of The School of Contemplative Life. He was introduced to contemplative practice during several years of formation when he lived at the Benedictine monastery of Prinknash Abbey. Chris’ monastic teachers, including Sylvester Houedard OSB, taught meditation as a universal wisdom found within all the great spiritual traditions, a pathway to peace and solidarity with people of all faiths and none. Following an introduction by the Abbot of the Prinknash community, Chris subsequently studied at the Dalai Lama’s monastery in Dharamshala, India. Chris regularly delivers talks, workshops and retreats and has introduced the practice of meditation in the Christian tradition to thousands of people in the UK and abroad.

For information about the School of Contemplative Life, please visit: www.schoolofcontemplativelife.com OR https://www.youtube.com/@schoolofcontemplativelife 

Retreat price: £350 (standard room) or £380 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £330 (standard room) or £360 (character room) if booked by 15th November 2024!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call  01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Much of life happens in-between. We wait for results, events, health news, jobs, appointments….

Why not choose to deliberately take some time out from the pressures of daily life, and join us as we gently and devotionally make time in the in-between, and discover more about how God meets us there.

We will particularly journey with Peter in-between Easter and Pentecost, joining other Bible characters along the way, and Emily will share insights from her own life and testimony.

There will be opportunities for 1-1s with Emily, either with voice or in sign language.

Communication support will be available throughout this retreat.

About Emily

Emily Owen is an award-winning author and speaker, with several books to her name.  She lost her hearing overnight aged 21, and has had numerous surgeries.  Emily knows what it is to be broken, and she knows what it is to meet God there.

Retreat price: £495 (standard room) or £540 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £465 (standard room) or £510 (character room) if booked by 24th February 2025!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call  01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

“Since I first received Valentine’s cards I’ve come to recognise the power of the heart to convey powerful and important realities – and when I discovered the Sacred Heart of Jesus I realised it is central to our Faith.  In November 2024 Canterbury Press will publish my new book, ‘Heart of my Own Heart’ and this short, silent retreat will touch on some of the themes of the book: Love of the Heart, Conversion of Life, the Foolishness of God, Virtues and Vices etc.  There will be opportunities to attend two Addresses each day, shared contemplative prayer each evening and time to speak with me – but the rest of the time will be spent in silence.”

About John-Francis

John-Francis is a priest and, for 25 years, was a First Order (Anglican) Franciscan. After being released from his Vows in 2002 when he was Rector of an east London parish he taught on the London Course in Spiritual Direction and devised and delivered a six-month course, Exploring Christian Spirituality. He offers Spiritual Direction and pastoral Supervision, leads Retreats and is an author: Enfolded in Christ: the Inner Life of a Priest (2018), The Mystery of Faith: Exploring Christian belief (2019), What Do You Seek? Wisdom from the Religious Life (2021), Divine Office and Daily Prayer (2023) and Heart of my own Heart (Autumn 2024). He is now a member of the Third Order SSF.

Retreat price: £495 (standard room) or £540 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £465 (standard room) or £510 (character room) if booked by 14th January 2025!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call  01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Take some time out to explore the world of poetry and prayer. We will be both reading poetry prayerfully, and praying through our own writing, covering some basics of structure and metaphor as we go. We will see where poetry and prayer meet in scripture, and dive into the work of some prayerful poets, especially priest-poets such as George Herbert, John Donne and Gerard Manley Hopkins, exploring their poetic prayers of passion and struggle. Whether you are already a writer and reader of poetry or have no experience of it, this retreat will give you the space to enrich your prayer life with the beautiful words and rhythms of poetry.

Amy Scott Robinson

Amy Scott Robinson is the author of Image of the Invisible and Images of Grace. A performance storyteller, poet and author, she produces resources for churches and is a frequent contributor to the Church Times. She lives in Bury St Edmunds, where her husband is the vicar of St Mary’s church, and is the commissioning editor for children’s and youth books at Kevin Mayhew.

Retreat price: £350 (standard room) or £380 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £330 (standard room) or £360 (character room) if booked by 2nd December 2024!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call  01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Have you been struggling since the death of your loved one?

Come and join with others who have also experienced life-changing loss through bereavement. The aim of this supported retreat is to help you cope with your grief. Through a creative variety of activities, including led sessions, discussions and quiet reflection, we explore the journey of grief, with a focus on finding a way forward in the changed circumstances that are the result of bereavement. It includes a special time of candle-lighting remembrance. This is a gentle retreat with a Christian perspective, sensitively led by Abi May and team, suitable for those who have lost a husband or wife, children or other close family members, or who have suffered multiple losses.

Abi May runs the ‘Living with Loss’ project, which is a member of the National Bereavement Alliance.  She is an experienced retreat leader, bereavement author and educator, as well as being a bereaved mother. Her grief support retreats and training courses have been held in locations throughout the UK as well as online since 2016. Find out more: www.livingwithloss.co.uk

Watch interviews with Abi and the Living with Loss project participants on this Songs of Praise “Faith and Grief” episode filmed at Launde Abbey, broadcast on 15 January 2023: You can view the programme here 

Some kind words from previous retreatants:

“The content of the bereavement sessions was excellent and the approach varied, interactive and all very clearly presented.”

“I thought Abi led the sessions with sensitivity and compassion.”

“This was a first-class retreat which I found extremely helpful.”

“I had no idea, really, what to expect this week. I am returning home feeling assured that I will survive and continue to take ‘small steps’ on my journey.” 

Retreat price: £495 (standard room) or £540 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £465 (standard room) or £510 (character room) if booked by 29th November 2024!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Please complete and return the ‘Retreat Questionnaire‘ as soon as possible to the retreat leader at [email protected] after you have booked your place. **CLICK TO DOWNLOAD**    

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call  01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Epiphany Retreat: In the Beauty of Holiness

The New Year nestles in two of the great Christian festivals of Christmas and Epiphany and this retreat will enjoy that experience before we are pushed on into the expectations that come with the turn of the year.

Christmas seems to be over so quickly after all the anticipation and Epiphany with its world-embracing themes can be no more than a walk-on part for the visitors from the East. In our time together we will re-visit the music, scriptures and symbolism of each season and savour their gifts of hope and inspiration for our pilgrimage of prayer and trust in God, the Word become flesh.

There is time enough to take up the call to be Christ’s people in the world. For a short time, we will seek to rest in the beauty of the holiness of the child, Saviour of the world and meet his spirit in the struggles and gifts of life today.

John Rackley

Revd John Rackley

John Rackley has been in Baptist ministry as pastor and university chaplain for 40 years and is a former President of the Baptist Union. He worked for the BBC on local and national radio. He lives in south Leicestershire and is Associate minister at Christchurch LEP Clarendon Park. At Launde he belongs to the College of Chaplains and is a tutor on the Holy Listening course. He also acts as a supervisor and director for the Leicester Diocese Spiritual Direction network. He writes for the Bible Reading Fellowship Guideline and Reflections series; most recently in the latter on the spirituality of Autumn. He is currently writing on how those who believe in God can find God most puzzling. 

Retreat price: £350 (standard room) or £380 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £330 (standard room) or £360 (character room) if booked by 1st November 2024!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call  01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]