R E T R E A T S
Do you have something to say and no space and time to get it out and onto a page? Is there an unfinished novel burning a hole in your Google Docs? Decades of notebooks under the bed? An idea that just won’t stop haunting you?
Our Write Club Retreats are built by writers for writers - accessible and affordable - with each location sourced to create stress-free environments where both individual ideas and group discussion can flow freely.
All meals are provided for by our team. Yoga and mediation sessions too. Every part of our Retreats is designed to enable attendees to turn off from the distractions of everyday life and to tune into the stories they want to create.
Our annual Retreats take place in late Spring and early Autumn.
If you'd like to join our four day long Autumn Retreat for 2024, please hit the contact button
P L A C E S
We started Write Club because we felt that the price of attending writer's retreats were financially out of reach for the majority of professional writers we knew. If Bafta nominated, Emmy award winning writers couldn't afford the price of attending, who were these retreats aimed at?
In 2018 we started looking for Airbnbs and holiday rentals that we could take over for a long weekend. Properties that were in easy reach of a train station from London to Leeds, Brighton to Bristol. We thought about the activities we'd like to do if we attended a writing retreat. Yoga, meditation, wild swimming. We laid on the catering ourselves. Three meals and snacks in between. Hot drinks and coffee on repeat. A pub within close reach. Creating an environment that made writing come easily.
Write Club was born from this idea, and the reality of what can be achieved when writers come together to focus purely on their creativity.
Each of our retreats are hosted in incredible locations within nature. Most of the houses we find have bedrooms that are all en-suite. Properties with big dinning rooms and cosy kitchens. Vast windows in large living rooms. We find places that make you want to write within them. Spaces that let you breathe.
Retreating is our favourite times of the year
S P A C E S
On a Write Club retreat, we try to create environments for attendees to completely unwind and untangle themselves from the pressures of day to day life.
Every morning we host meditation sessions followed by yoga classes. After a healthy breakfast we set a writing prompt that can either form a writing exercise for the whole day or an introductory element to include within an attendee's book, script, proposal or project.
In the afternoon, weather permitting, we head out into the local wilderness to hike up hills, wild swim in waterfalls and write in nature.
We reconvene back at the house before dinner is served in the evening. Over dessert, we invite attendees to read what they wrote in response to the exercise. Usually congregated around a fire, we make space for feedback from the group if desired.
M E A L S
To ensure that our attendees can focus all their attention on creativity, we cater and cook all of the meals on our writing retreats. We have in-house chefs who travel with and stay on the retreat, creating a vegetarian menu (with consideration to all dietary intolerances) for the entirety of the stay.
Most of our chefs, including one of our founders, Louis Israel-Quinn, are writers as well, and also join the writing, reading and feedback opportunities.
Breakfasts are served from 7AM till 10AM. Lunch from 1PM and Dinner from 7:30PM.
I had the most incredible time on the Write Club retreat. I came in with few expectations, having taken myself on what I thought were writing retreats before when working on other projects.
This was something else entirely. By providing the perfect setting and company, Write Club let me uncover and put words to so much that had remained unsaid and unfelt.
Meandering across the Yorkshire Dales with wonderful, thoughtful fellow travellers (all while being fed by Louis, our brilliant in-house writer-chef) provided all the inspiration I needed to experiment with new ideas and forms. As hard as it’s been coming back to the real world, I know Write Club will be a permanent fixture in my life - thank you Matt, Suse and the rest the team!
- SIDDARTH SHRIKANTH
I attended my first Write Club Retreat in 2024 and it was phenomenal. Located in the most beautiful setting, perfect for writing, socialising and recharging. The organisers, Matt and Susanna, did a brilliant job fostering a close and creative community. I didn't know most of the people attending, but I felt immediately welcomed and made many friendships whilst there. The space was perfect for creative writing: blocks of focused writing in a beautiful mansion with epic views was combined with afternoons writing on riverbanks and ravines, swimming in local waterfalls. After dinner we'd sit around a fireplace and share words into the evening.
The other activities contributed too to make the retreat even more creative. We could start the days with meditation and yoga classes led by professional teachers, or simply wake up and start writing before breakfast. The incredible chef on the retreat, Louis, would treat us to an eclectic mix of delicious meals three times a day, allowing even more time to focus on writing.
I left the Retrat totally inspired, with many words written on projects old and new, and will definitely go again!
- JONNY BEALE
My time at the Write Club Retreat was incredibly special. It was a great opportunity to build on my writing practice, explore my 'flow' by identifying how I work best, and observe the limiting beliefs that might be getting in the way of living my creative life. This was all achieved by Matt and Suse who cultivated a truly safe and supportive environment. I learned a lot from other attendees who were also so comfortable in writing from the heart. I left with a greater determination to continue pursuing my passion.
- HANNAH BALDWIN
