O
nly an hour’s drive from London, the tiny village of
Stonegate in East Sussex could be a million miles
away from Stratford or the South Bank.
Picturesque country lanes, open farmland and the
sound of real birdsong - yes, real birdsong, not the
recorded stuff on iTunes - it’s the English countryside at its finest.
And, when the sun shines there’s arguably no more glorious sight
to behold in the world.
Just outside the village, a few miles drive from Royal Tunbridge
Wells, is Bardown Farm, a working farm but with a collection of
holiday cottages and other outbuildings surrounding it, including its
very own yoga studio.
It’s now home for many of AdventureYogi’s weekend yoga breaks,
offering sorely needed respite and rejuvenation to the weary city dweller.
The company, which has been running yoga retreats for years,
has picked a spot that’s easy on the eye and offers all that the
discerning yogi could wish for...total relaxation practically a stone’s
throw from the capital.
Trouble is weekends are so precious these days, how do you get
to do anything when all your other days are filled with work?
Even lunch breaks are a thing of the past. People make do with a
quick sandwich as they check their Facebook page before cracking
on with the job minutes later.
Actually, in my ideal world, lunch breaks would probably last a
couple of days, and yoga would be the secret ingredient to restore
our default wellness settings.
That’s a concept seemingly understood by the AdventureYogi
team who have launched a series of mid-week yoga breaks designed
to steal folks away from their desks and get them stretching out
their stress on a mat instead of feeding it more caffeine, deadlines
and social media input.Martin D Clark busts the working week wide open with
a mid-week yoga getaway in sunny Sussex
Escape the office
The mid-week retreats at Bardown Farm run from Tuesdays
through to Thursdays, with morning and evening yoga sessions
supplemented by good healthy vegetarian food. There’s a friendly,
welcoming vibe and a supportive group of people to hang out with as
you erase all those memories of the office. Enjoy long country walks
and high quality yoga instruction from the likes of Wenche Beard,
AdventureYogi’s most senior teacher. Relax over the lovingly-prepared
supper, book yourself a massage, or just snuggle up with a book in the
cosy cottages. There’s a heated pool in the summer too.
It’s the perfect way to brighten (and shorten) your week: work
on Monday, head off for your retreat on Tuesday, back home for
Thursday evening, leaving just Friday to navigate.
Now that’s my idea of a perfect working week.PLAN YOUR GETAWAY
AdventureYogi will be hosting
more mid-week yoga retreats
during 2017:
July 11-13th and 18-20th
November 14-16th and
21-23th£295pp early bird £327pp
standard, autumn/winter
£320pp early bird £354pp
standard for summer
(early bird six weeks before
on UK retreats)Visit: adventureyogi.com