Curiosity retreats – pilot weekend – March 2025
Book your place on our pilot weekend on 7th-9th March 2025 at a reduced rate now!
In early March 2025, I’m going to be testing an exciting new idea that I’d love you to be a part of. Read on below for details and how you can get involved!
What is it?
At Curiosity Retreats we aim to create experiences you will love and remember. Our breaks are a chance for you to escape everyday life and have some brilliant, relaxing and memorable experiences.
Our breaks have the stimulation of a literature festival, the relaxation of a retreat and the fun, food and good company of a weekend with friends. In other words, we want to create special breaks that we’d like to go to ourselves!
Who is it for?
If you love the idea of having weekends and holidays in beautiful places surrounded by nature with great food, like-minded people and an opportunity to get away from it all and learn new things, then this will be for you.
What you can expect
We offer a variety of amazing breaks but all of them have a few things in common, as these are the things we think make life special:
- Food – generous amounts of tasty, healthy, home cooked vegetarian food and a supply of tea and cake.
- People – a chance to meet interesting people, share ideas and make friends.
- Nature – spending time in beautiful, peaceful locations with opportunities to find peace, exercise and perspective in nature.
- Ideas – an opportunity to learn new things, satisfy your curiosity, stimulate your mind and discuss interesting ideas.
- Relaxation – time for you to relax, and freedom to get involved with as many or few activities as you’d like.
- Fun – a chance to just play and have some fun!
People
The weekend will be led by Richard Docwra, and food will be provided by Charlie Chambers, an experienced chef and restaurant owner. There will be a maximum of 12 people taking part.
Activities
We will be joined over the weekend by some fantastic speakers, from Professors to authors to craftspeople, who will give talks (with a chance for questions and discussion after each one) on a variety of interesting subjects. Topics could be anything from ‘How to get perspective’ to ‘How can we solve climate change?’ through to ‘How to run a record label’ – but one thing they will all have in common is that they will be very interesting!
We will also have the chance for a walk in nature, and you can bring your yoga gear, running shoes or any other exercise kit if you want to make use of your spare time there!
**First speaker reveal** – we’re very excited to reveal our first speaker for the weekend…
“A Journey Through the Senses”
Jamie Ward is a Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex. He is a world-expert on unusual ways of perceiving the world, particularly the fascinating condition of synaesthesia where words can have tastes or music is a kaleidoscope of colour. He’ll be joining us to introduce you to a fascinating variety of unusual sensory worlds including synaesthesia, aphantasia (an inability to think in mental images), and misophonia (strong aversions to certain sounds). He will also talk about the latest attempts to augment the senses with technology – to feel magnetism or enable the blind to ‘see with sound’.
Itinerary
The itinerary below is simply illustrative, and both the talks and timings are likely to change before the weekend itself. Come with an open mind and a curiosity to learn about anything!
Friday
From 6pm Arrivals
7pm Light Supper
8pm Welcome and introductions
8.30-10pm Talk 1
Saturday
7am Early morning activity or lie-in!
8am Breakfast then tidy up
9.30am Talk 2
11am Personal time
12.30pm Lunch
1.30pm Activity – group country walk on south downs
3.30pm Tea and cake, then personal time
4.30pm Talk 3 – Professor Jamie Ward – A Journey Through the Senses
7pm Dinner
8.30-10pm Activity – social time including music sharing, book swap and quiz
Sunday
7am Early morning activity or lie-in!
8am Breakfast then tidy up
9.30am Talk 4
11am Group country walk or personal time
12.30pm Lunch
1.30pm Clear up
2pm Wrap up
2.30-3.30pm Filming participant interviews then departure
Venue
A beautiful countryside farmhouse by the south downs near Brighton. Venue to be revealed later!
Cost
We are offering places on the pilot weekend at a specially discounted rate – 20% off the usual price!
Bunk bed, shared room – £450 Special discount – 20% off = £360
Single bed, shared room – £495 Special discount – 20% off = £396
Single room – £595 Special discount – 20% off = £476
Double room (one person) – £695 Special discount – 20% off = £556
FAQs
- Do I have to do all the activities? We’ve put on some great activities for you, but you don’t have to do any of them (except helping to clear up after meals!). It’s your weekend – relax, enjoy it!
- What do I need to bring? You’ll need to bring your own towel, plus waterproofs and walking boots – we’ll be going for a walk whatever the weather! We also encourage you to bring a couple of things to share at the weekend (although you don’t have to, of course) – a piece of music you love and why you love it (you don’t have to bring the song – we can find it on Spotify), and a book you’ve enjoyed that you’d be prepared to swap for one loved by someone else.
- Will the event be recorded? Capturing the atmosphere of our breaks is essential to enable us to tell other people about it. So, we will have a photographer and videomaker capturing parts of the event, and interviewing participants at the end on their experiences. By taking part in the pilot weekend, you are willing to take part in these interviews and give your permission for these materials to be used in our publicity.
- Will there be alcohol? – we know it can be nice to have a social drink to unwind, but we’re conscious it can also change the ‘feel’ of events as well as how people speak to each other, and can make people feel tired and less focussed the next day. So, we’ll offer a glass of beer, wine or a soft drink with the evening meals, but ask you to moderate your intake, both for you and others to make the most of the break. We will also have a brilliant non-alcoholic bar for you to buy drinks from, including low-alcohol beers, wines and soft drinks. Attendees are not permitted to bring alcohol to the event.
- What if I have food allergies? Please let us know any food allergies when you book your place and we will aim to cater for you. All our food is vegetarian – but don’t worry if you’re a meat eater – you’ll still love it!
- Will there be snacks? Tea, water, fruit and biscuits will be available all the time. There will also be the all-important cake on Saturday afternoon, as well as great meals. We’ll keep you well fed!
- Is the venue accessible? We are planning to hold the weekend in a beautiful farmhouse, which, due to its age and setup, has a couple of accessibility issues you’ll need to bear in mind when booking – first, all doors in the property are fire doors and can be quite heavy to open. Second, the stair cases are steep and the floors are uneven in places, particularly in the oldest part of the building.
- What’s your cancellation policy? As this is the pilot weekend, we’ll need payment in full at the point of booking please. If we have to cancel the event, we’ll give you as much notice as possible and will issue a full refund. If you cancel your place up to 2 weeks before the start of the event (6pm on 7th March 2025), we will refund 50% of your fee or you can pass your place on to someone else who is not already attending the weekend. After this point, no refunds or exchanges will be possible.
- It sounds great! How do I sign up? It’s easy! Just email us at rdocwra@hotmail.com with your choice of accommodation and any food allergies, and we will get back to you straight away to arrange payment. As it’s the pilot weekend, we’ll need payment in full at this stage please.
Further details
If you have any questions about any aspect of the break, please email rdocwra@hotmail.com or call 01273 964018.
Book your place now!
Email rdocwra@hotmail.com with your choice of accommodation and any food allergies, and we will get back to you straight away to arrange payment. And you’ll then be part of an amazing weekend!