Friday 22nd January 2027

Arrive any time from 1pm to be greeted with a warm welcome from Gary and Lucy. Make yourself at home with a cup of tea and a delicious slice (or two) of cake served from 2pm. Settle into the beautiful accommodation and surroundings – and maybe even take a dip in the hot tub.

Join everyone at 6pm in the living room in The Old Sweet Shop. Over a glass of fizz, Gary will chat through the plan for the rest of the weekend. Then head next door to Pilgrim Corner where a delicious welcome supper will be served by the wonderful local caterer Annie.

After dinner, there’s free time. You might want to stay and chat with your fellow Retreatees in front of one of the cosy fires, take a dip in the hot tub and star gaze, or just relax in your room.

Saturday 23rd: Exploring print and collage

For those early risers, how about a walk into Minehead or up towards Culvercliff to take in the views and breathe in plenty of fresh sea air? Or just enjoy time in the gardens at your cottage.

Continental breakfast is served in your cottage from 8.00am every day of your stay. Help yourself to freshly baked pastries, preserves, yogurts, cereals, juice, and fruit. You are free to make hot drinks – coffee, teas and hot chocolate – in the kitchen in your cottage at any time.

You’ll be collected at 9am on Saturday by taxi to go to the Art Studio in Timberscombe. Gary will welcome you at the Studio and help you choose a table space and set up your art supplies ready for a full day of art and creativity. The theme for this weekend art retreat is “The Dunster Path”. The processes and techniques explored during the two days are print and collage.

Throughout the next two days there’s teaching and continuous support from Gary, as well as one-to-one guidance as you need it. As an experienced teacher, Gary will guide those less confident but willing to practice new skills through the workshop sessions to achieve something you perhaps had never tried before and will be proud of. The art exercises will suit all levels from the beginner to those more experienced.

A simple walk along our Jurassic coastal path yields a bountiful supply of early autumn flora and drying seed heads, which can inspire imagery and colour for a beautiful art project and workshop.

Today you will begin with learning how to relax into your creativity, with some simple mark making. Taking natural found materials such as sticks, feathers, flotsam and jetsam along the tide line, you will make a series of mark making tools dipped in coloured inks to be used in a series of botanical studies. This is a fun and surprisingly fruitful creative activity which breaks with traditional approaches to painting and drawing. You will begin to hone your eye and hand coordination in readiness to be creative, developing a relaxed ‘free style’ to your art making.

Morning coffee and cakes will be served at 11am. A delicious lunch of homemade soups, salads, cheese and bread will be served at 1pm.

As you’ve begun to explore your mark making and drawing, you can now apply this to simple line prints taken from drawing or scratching marks into inked plates to lift an image. Colour and texture are explored through further printing techniques using acrylics, either direct printing from the plant forms or using found materials to impart textured prints onto papers. These papers will be kept for further use in the later outcome of a collage.

Afternoon tea will be served about 4:00pm.

Saturday’s studio session ends at 5.30pm. You’ll be whisked back to the cottages in time for a walk, to freshen up, have a dip in the hot tub or just relax.

Dinner is served in Pilgrim Corner at 7pm. This is our opportunity to come together to share a meal and get to know each other. Previous guests have made great friends during our weekends and we know you will too.

Sunday 24th: Exploring gel printing, layers, texture and collage

Continental breakfast is served in your cottage from 8.00am

Board your taxi at 9:00am to return to the Art Studio in Timberscombe. This morning we’ll begin by exploring the gel printing plate. You will each have your gel plate to use and take away with you to continue with at home. This is a fascinating printing process using a gelatine base printing plate where you create layers to build a printed surface.

With acrylic paints and a roller you can transfer drawn and printed imagery, along with textures and resist methods to create individual creative art works, or colourful and interesting papers to use later in collage. You will be encouraged to experiment within this creative process to create some unique and pleasing results.

Morning coffee and cakes will be served at 11am. Today’s lunch is quiche, salads and eastern European delicacies served from 1pm.

As you build a portfolio of papers you will use these to create a final collaged piece of work from the weekend title and theme. You will have time to return to any of the processes and techniques previously explored with Gary over the weekend, to develop further or even a combined final piece of artwork. Gary will provide the guidance and support you need to explore your ideas. Afternoon tea will be served about 4pm.

The studio day ends at 5:30pm with your return taxi to Minehead.

On Sunday we have a special farewell meal. Please join us at 7pm for a glass of fizz to celebrate our achievements in creativity and colour before sitting down to eat.

A late check out on Monday with time to explore Minehead

On our last morning, breakfast will be served from 8am as usual, but there is the option to have a lazy morning as we have a late check-out to noon. So, take one last dip in the hot tub, or walk into the town to explore the shops (the local charity shops are a real favourite with our guests!), or drive up to North Hill before you head home. Please do take some time to write in the Guest Books in each cottage.

We know it’s always sad to say goodbye, but you’ll leave energised, recharged and inspired. And don’t forget, we have more retreats planned so we hope we’ll see you again soon. If you book for the next retreat, there’s a tempting Early Bird discount – ask Gary or Lucy for more information.