Sometimes the most radical act of self-care is to step out of your own life for a few days. That is what our retreats are designed to make possible.

Each retreat takes place in one of our own cottages, always in a designated dark sky location. Eight times out of ten, you will also find yourself close to the ocean, to estuaries alive with birdlife, or to rugged coastlines where the air feels different in your lungs. The setting is intentional: places where silence is not absence, but presence.

We prepare each cottage not as a hotel but as a place to pause. You arrive as you would for an Airbnb—through a simple key-box check-in—but what you discover inside is curated for a wellness break, not just a holiday. Fresh bedding and towels are ready. A box of simple provisions greets you on arrival: pastries, coffee, herbal teas, caffeine-free blends. In the cupboard you’ll find umbrellas and ponchos, because sometimes the weather insists you feel it.

The cottage itself is fully equipped for quiet living. You can bring your own food or order healthy meal kits from HelloFresh, delivered with recipes designed to be cooked at a gentle pace. The kitchen is for nourishment, not hurry. And while the internet is available, we encourage you not to lose yourself in Netflix or the endless scroll. Instead, you might use it to join a live-streamed sunset walk with the community, or to dip into our Explore & Chill digital library of calming films and soundscapes.

For those who like a little structure, suggested itineraries are available. They might guide you along mapped ocean walks, inland woodland paths, or estuary trails rich with photographic opportunities. Some routes pass geocache locations where you can collect stamps for your logbook, anchoring your journey in tangible moments. At night, if the weather permits, the digital telescope can be set up for stargazing or astrophotography—an intimate reminder that the sky is always there to steady you.

Inside, the pace slows further. The fire is for sitting beside, not rushing past. A small library offers books chosen for reflection and gentle immersion. Wellness boxes provide puzzles, tactile tools, or creative challenges—something to occupy the hands so the mind can rest. Or you might simply choose to do nothing, to lie back and let the silence do its work.

Golden Horizons and Endless Summer: how retreat access works

Annual retreat access is one of the key benefits of Golden Horizons membership.

• Year 1: 3 days, 2 nights

• Year 2: 4 days, 3 nights

• Year 3: 5 days, 4 nights

• … building up to a maximum of 8 days, 7 nights per year for long-standing members.

Endless Summer members begin with 5 days, 4 nights each year, and retain that entitlement for life.

For all other tiers, wellness stays are available for purchase on the same terms.

When and how you can book

Here is where retreats differ most from holidays. These are not annual vacations to be planned a year in advance. They are resets—designed for the moments when you realise you need to step away now.

• The calendar opens quarterly, and bookings can be made up to 3 months in advance only.

• First-come, first-served applies—but your loyalty is rewarded. The longer you’ve been a Golden Horizons member, the higher your priority when the calendar opens.

• If you want to add extra days to your annual entitlement, you can: additional nights may be booked, but only on a short-term basis (within the current month) and only if space is available.

This system is intentional. A retreat should not become another annual chore in the diary—it should be something you can call on when life’s weight becomes too much and you need space to reset.

Before you arrive

• A short pre-stay call ensures everything is in place.

• Joining instructions guide you through check-in (3pm) and check-out (11am).

• The cottage is fully prepared for you, stocked with simple provisions, fresh bedding, towels, umbrellas, ponchos, and a fire ready to be lit.

From there, the choice is yours. You can stay within the cottage for your whole visit, or use it as a base for mapped walks, stargazing, puzzles, reading, or joining community live-streams.

Why we offer this

The retreats exist because we have lived the difference they can make. Sometimes you need more than a video, more than a short walk, more than another reminder to take ten minutes. Sometimes you need to be lifted out of your context and placed, gently, into a new one—quiet, safe, and filled with small invitations back to yourself.

That is what these retreats are:

A reset button.

A soft landing.

A way to remember that the world is wider, calmer, and kinder than the four walls you left behind.