The Quiet Revolution

A Rest + Read Retreat on the Welsh Coast

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This is RE-POST, as I’m away hosting “Rage on a Page” journalling workshops at The Big Retreat Festival. You might find this essay of interest, especially if crave spending an entire weekend resting and reading, with the only distraction being a panoramic sea view…

There’s something almost rebellious about this…

Announcing to your loved ones that you’re disappearing for a weekend not to climb mountains or run marathons or transform your life through some intense masterclass, but simply to read. To rest. To let the rhythmic crash of waves against the Welsh coastline become the only notification you need to attend to.

This is exactly what we’ll be doing at our upcoming Rest + Read with Ease retreat in a couple of weeks, with

Lucy Pearson

founder of The Literary Edit. We’ll be tucked away in one of my favourite beach houses on the west Wales coast. I love it because it’s the kind of place where the horizon stretches endlessly before you, where the boundary between sea and sky blurs on a misty morning, and where the only thing demanding your immediate attention is the story unfolding in your hands.

I’m collaborating with Lucy who is a writer, journalist and bibliotherapist, to create something that feels less like an escape and more like a return to ourselves, to the simple pleasure of uninterrupted reading, to the much needed rest that comes when we stop trying to optimise every waking moment of our existence.

Lucy brings something special to this weekend retreat, because as a bibliotherapist, she understands that books aren’t just entertainment, they’re medicine. They’re mirrors and windows, offering both reflection and new vistas. Lucy and I both agree that the right book at the right moment can articulate what lots of us have been unable to name, can illuminate paths we hadn’t considered, and can remind us we’re not alone in our particular flavour of human experience.

What will we actually do during this retreat?

Less than you might think, and that’s entirely the point.

There will be guided reading sessions where the only soundtrack is the distant call of seabirds and the gentle turning of pages. There will be thoughtfully curated book discussions that invite connection without demanding performance.

Plus, a bibliotherapy session book prescription: prior to the retreat, Lucy will send each guest a questionnaire, to find out more about their likes and dislikes, and what they want more of in their reading life. Each guest will then have a 45-minute session with Lucy, during which she will discuss your reading habits and give you a bespoke book prescription.

There will be beach walks with no destination in mind. There will be comfortable silences, no alarm clocks and lazy brunches. Conversations in the gardens or by the fire, feasting on locally sourced ingredients, daydreaming, and the peculiar intimacy that develops when people read together, separately, yet somehow in communication. This weekend is your permission to slow down, stay in bed and read, and dare to daydream the hours away, this is your permission to just be.

What there won’t be is rigid schedules, mandatory sharing, or subtle pressure to transform, that so often accompanies some wellbeing retreats. No one will ask you to become your best self. You’re already bringing your whole self, the tired, the curious, the part that’s forgotten how to sit without reaching for your phone, and that’s exactly who belongs here.

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time." Anne Bevan

I keep thinking about how countercultural this feels in a world that praises hustle, that equates worth with productivity, that has commodified even our rest into something that should be “restorative” so we can return to producing more efficiently.

My question to you is..

What if rest could just be rest? What if reading could just be reading?

Not to improve ourselves, but simply for the immersive joy of it.

So what about the retreat venue? The beach house itself actually feels like a character in this narrative, weathered in all the right ways, with windows that frame the sea like living art, with corners perfectly designed for curling up with a book. The window seats are super popular, so I highly recommend you grab it if you want that panoramic sea view experience all to yourself. It’s the kind of place that exists outside of time somewhat, where the pressing concerns of normal life seem to dissolve into perspective against the vastness of the ocean. It really is a slice of Welsh heaven.

If you’re someone who’s been carrying around the weight of unread books alongside the heaviness of un-granted permission to simply be still, this retreat is the exhale you’ve been waiting for. It’s the white space in a world cluttered with content.

I suspect we may discover something profound in this simple act of collective reading and resting. The Welsh coast is waiting for you. The books are ready for you. The permission has been granted. All that remains is for you to come as you are, with nothing to prove and everything to receive.

"I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library." Jane Austen

If you’re available between 60-8 June, there is one bedroom available to book. For more information about the itinerary, retreat essentials and how to secure the last room, please don’t hesitate to email me at hello@easeretreats.com

Ooh and there will be an extra special gift for one of our lucky guests - a one night stay in a bookshop, all to yourself! This will be announced at the weekend retreat.

Until the next time

Take care and stay safe xx

About me… I’m Tanya Lynch, a mother, a ridgeback owner and the founder of Ease Retreats. I love what I do, collaborating with authors and creatives, hosting retreats in beautiful venues across the UK. Most recently I became a certified bibliotherapist offering book prescriptions and launched The Bibliotherapists podcast with my co-host Toni Jones. I’m also a therapeutic journalling coach and through my programme ‘Rage on a Page’, I help midlife women channel their emotions into something more positive and creative in less than 60 days. Each Thursday I host an online journaling club ‘Journal with Ease’ and it’s free for paid subscribers to attend. If you have any questions about the benefits of therapeutic journalling, please reach out and connect. I’m usually on a beach walking the dogs, hosting retreats, writing in my journal or on Substack.