You are invited to join Wake Up London for a special summer retreat, a chance for to rest deeply and to cultivate joy together as a community. The theme of the retreat is:

Home in self. Home in Sangha.

This retreat will be an opportunity to practice mindfulness in the Plum Village tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn (see more here https://plumvillage.org), surrounded by nature at The Quadrangle Trust, a peaceful countryside venue in Kent. (https://thequadrangle.co/)

You’ll enjoy sinking deeper into our practice, dwelling together in the present moment and sharing in community and friendship.

The Venue  

The Quadrangle is simple and spacious, bringing you into close connection with nature. Together we will enjoy its forest gardens, large open lawn and opportunities for refreshing swims in the river. The surrounding Kent countryside offers many beautiful walks for our practice and pleasure. The Big Barn will play host to most of our indoor activities and the comfortable living spaces adjoining are perfect for relaxing, sharing stories and making music in our free time.

The sleeping accommodation is varied, with large dormitories, a few twin rooms, camping spaces and a large yurt in the permaculture garden all waiting to welcome you.

We have a dear friend Sam who will be cooking vegan food for us throughout the retreat. If you have additional dietary requirements there is a place to make us aware of these on the booking form.

As this retreat is taking place in August we will be making the most of the British summertime and spending lots of time outside in the sun. Please be aware that there will be no heating in the buildings during our stay and it may be a good idea to pack extra jumpers for evenings and perhaps even a hot water bottle if you feel so inclined.

Travel

Traveling to The Quadrangle is super simple – 1 hour and 20 minutes door to door from London Blackfriars, including the short walk (20 minutes) from Shoreham (Kent) station to the venue (no taxis needed – we will go as a river). We recommend that you arrive at Shoreham (Kent) station at 4:45pm, where we will meet you for the 20 minute walk. If you are unable to meet us at this time, the last train you will be able to take in order to attend the whole retreat arrives at Shoreham (Kent) at 7.15pm. Please know that if you are unable to attend the whole retreat we may refund your ticket to allow space for those who can.

If you are coming from outside the UK, the closest airport is Gatwick Airport. From there it’s about 30 mins by car. You can also take the Eurostar into London – from there it’s just under an hour train ride to the retreat.

Departure – The retreat will finish by 3pm on Sunday 7th of August, please book trains that depart after 3:30pm. This will ensure that we are all able to attend the closing circle of the retreat together and will have ample time to walk to the station.

Tickets 

The retreat is mostly being run by volunteers from the Wake up London Sangha and will be peer facilitated. We have worked hard to make it as affordable as possible, with the money from your tickets going towards accommodation, food and admin expenses only.

Recognising that money should not be a barrier to our practice, we welcome individuals who are keen to attend but unable to afford the retreat to email us as we may be able to offer a small number of discounted places for people in need. We also invite those who have the means to consider donating a little extra to allow this to happen. Please know that you are really welcome whatever your circumstances.

Wake up London expressly welcomes members of the Sangha from the LGBTQIA+ community. We have included questions in the checkout form where you can let us know your pronouns and anything else we can do to make you feel safe and welcome during the retreat.

Lastly, we have added a discount code for members of the Sangha below the age of 25 to use at checkout. The code TWENTYFIVE will reduce your ticket price by £75! If this applies to you, you can simply type this in where it says ‘Do you have a promo code?‘ on the second page of the booking form.

For people who don’t regularly attend Wake Up London:
We’d love you to join us. Please feel free to book. However, if the retreat sells out very quickly then we may need to prioritise places for people who are regular attendees of the sangha. If this happens we will refund your ticket by 13th July at the latest.

Payment

Payment for the retreat is to be made by bank transfer (all the details will be provided at checkout) and we ask that you make your payment within 3 days of booking your ticket. Please be aware that your place on the retreat is not fully secured until we have received payment for your ticket, at which point we will email you to confirm your place.

Covid
Upon arrival at the retreat centre we will require evidence of a negative lateral flow test. We reserve the right to add further requirements in line with government guidance in the lead up to the retreat.

REGISTER

We’re really looking forward to spending a beautiful long weekend with you!

Lucy, Duncan, Noah, Charlotte and Joe 🙂

P.S. You can email us at wakeuplondonretreats@gmail.com with any questions or if you would like to enquire about a discounted place on the retreat.