28 September – 1 October (Monday to Thursday)
Establish Thou the Work of our Hands – Gardening and Facilities (Nether Springs)
We invite you to engage, both physically and spiritually, with both soil and soul, in the gardens at Nether Springs and/or with repairs and updates on the house. Please be aware that there will be a significant practical element to this weekend.
While this retreat is open to anyone, priority will be given to Companions, Novices, Postulants and Friends of Community.
Retreat ends after lunch on Thursday, but participants can choose to stay over on Thursday evening and join in the weekend retreat as well.
Interested in this retreat? Use this link to complete your booking form
Suggested donation: £285
2 – 4 October (Friday to Sunday)
Facilities and Gardening (Nether Springs)
Homes and gardens need tending and care. As our Mother House, we invite you to engage, both physically and spiritually, with repairs and updates on the house and/or in the gardens at Nether Springs.
Please be aware that there will be a significant practical element to this weekend.
While this retreat is open to anyone, priority will be given to Companions, Novices, Postulants and Friends of Community.
Interested in this retreat? Use this link to complete your booking form
Suggested donation: £190
5 – 8 October (Monday to Thursday)
Seeing with the Eyes of Your Heart: Contemplative Photography (Nether Springs)
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (Ephesians 1:18).
This retreat will focus on Visio Divinia – Visio divina means ‘sacred seeing’ and is essentially an application of the rhythms of lectio to a prayer of “gazing.” Gazing is looking upon something with the eyes of the heart. It is not a hard or penetrating stare but a soft receptive way of being with an image.
We will spend time in reflecting, contemplation, and prayer through the medium of photography to allow God to speak to us through the work of the Holy Spirit. Come as you are, open to what God might want to do and willing to look and listen.
The ideas and basis of these sessions, and much of the text, are taken from a book entitled Eyes of the Heart by Christine Valters Painter, an American Benedictine oblate.
Interested in this retreat? Use this link to complete your booking form
Suggested donation: £285
9 – 11 October (Friday to Sunday)
God in All Things (Nether Springs)
‘Finding God in all things’ is a quote attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola. We probably can easily agree with him when life is good and filled with joy. But what about pain, hurt, tragedy and suffering? Can God really be found there, too? And if so, how?
A retreat to explore what helps us to notice God’s presence in our life, even in those places where we least expect him, and what it means that God entered every aspect of our being human in Christ.
Interested in this retreat? Use this link to complete your booking form
Suggested donation: £190
12 – 15 October (Monday to Thursday) – Living the Autumn Life (Nether Springs)
How can we live wisely through the period of life between retiring and becoming dependent? Autumn is an evocative metaphor to explore this life season because it is realistic and poignant about both gains and losses: fruit being harvested and leaves falling. Come and share what you and others are finding on this under-explored stage of life.
George Lings, a Companion in the Northumbria Community, is leading the retreat and has written a book by the same title.
Interested in this retreat? Use this link to complete your booking form
Suggested donation: £285
16 – 18 October (Friday to Sunday)
Listening to your life, a fathomless mystery (Nether Springs)
A guided retreat inviting us to explore the treasured wisdom of Frederick Buechner’s writings and insights in Celtic Daily Prayer. This retreat will encourage an exploration of Northumbrian spirituality and its contemplative ways in tasting, seeing, feeling, and listening to the fathomless mystery that is your life.
Interested in this retreat? Use this link to complete your booking form
Suggested donation: £190
19 – 22 October (Monday to Thursday)
Individually Guided Retreat (IGR): Seeking God at the Crossroads (Nether Springs)
This is what the LORD says, ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’ (Jeremiah 6:16)
A chance to reflect on life-transitions with someone who will listen with you to God’s work at the crossroads. You may also, of course, choose to explore other themes with your retreat guide in your daily sessions.
Interested in this retreat? Use this link to complete your booking form
Suggested donation: £330
26 – 29 October (Monday to Thursday)
All-Age Creative Retreat, for individuals and families (Nether Springs)
If you are someone of any age who loves making, creating and spending whole days making something or painting then this retreat is for you. If you love creating and in doing so, think deeply about faith and God, then this retreat is for you.
Following the rhythm of Nether Springs of prayer and worship, we will reflect on the readings for the week, explore creative activities that link with the themes as we delight in God’s presence, with like-minded people in beautiful surroundings. All materials will be provided.
Samantha Tredwell, our retreat leader, is a Companion of the Northumbria Community, loves making and creating and has led retreats at Nether Springs, Cliff College, Scargill House and online.
Interested in this retreat? Use this link to complete your booking form
Suggested donation: £285
Use this link to see an overview of the full programme for 2026
Event type: Celtic Sites & Saints, Individual Guided Retreats, Life Issues, Retreats at Nether Springs, Spiritual Development