Sea, Song & Sanctuary
A women’s eco-spiritual journey on the north Cornish coast
Cornwall, England
9 to 16 September 2028
For women only, 18 and over.
Cornwall is a sacred land, where the veil is thin and the earth seems to pulse with old stories. This is a women's pilgrimage along its wild coast, gathered around three threads: the stone that is Cornwall's bones, the cold Atlantic sea, and the song that runs through both, from the mermaid's voice to the shanty. We travel out from a single house each day, west to the mermaid's country and north to Arthur's. In between there is wild swimming, the coast path and the slow work of letting a place and its legends do their quiet work on you.
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The door is always open and the fire always lit.
A local chef cooks from the sea and the soil, foraged, landed and gathered close by, so the table is as much a part of the pilgrimage as the path.
At its heart this is a heroine's journey, told the eco-spiritual and rewilding way. It is a week to rewild the soul as much as the body, where your own story is threaded through the Cornish landscape, the sea and the old tales, and the pilgrimage outward becomes a quiet journey inward.
Mary's work with Waymarkers holds this thread, gently, from the first circle to the last.
What You’ll Do
(A peek at two days of this retreat)
Day 1
Where the water falls holy
Boscastle harbour and the old harbour walls.
St Symphorian's Church and the legend of the ringing bells.
A private evening in St Nectan's Glen, ours alone after the day visitors have gone.
The Kieve, an eighteen-metre cascade through the rock, with clooties hung in the trees and a quiet ceremony of letting go.
A cold, clean dip in the pilgrim’s pool below the fall, for those who would like to.
Council and dinner in the glen, and the walk back down by lantern light.
Day 2
Songs the sea taught women
An easy half mile of coast path from Port Isaac round to Port Gaverne.
A long lunch by the water with stories of wreckers and pilchards.
An all-female shanty crew from Bude on the harbour, singing the old working songs from a woman's point of view.
Writing a chorus of our own, and singing it back at dinner.
The second fire feast on the beach, with the mermaid tales of this coast told round the fire.
Photo Credit: John Hersey
Who You’ll Meet
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Mary DeJong
Waymarkers
A teacher and guide in nature-based spirituality and sacred storytelling, Mary is the founder of Waymarkers and leads pilgrimages from the Pacific Northwest to Iona. Trained in ecotheology and the Celtic tradition, she facilitates this retreat: the opening circles, the morning blessings, and the quiet, reflective work of letting a place do its work on you.
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The Barrel Seagals
An all-female sea-shanty crew from Bude, on the wild north Cornish coast, reclaiming a tradition long sung by men. They teach you to find your voice and sing back to the sea, and lead the fireside evening of shanties and song.
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Nicole Revy
Prints by the Bay
A linocut artist whose coastal, nature-inspired prints carry the feminine and the wild in equal measure. Nicole leads our printmaking afternoon, showing you how to cut and press the Cornish coast into a linocut of your own to carry home.
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Mike O'Connor
Storyteller
Mike O’Connor grew up in a Cornish village with a fairy tree at the bottom of the garden. A storyteller, fiddle player and folklorist, he is one of Cornwall’s leading researchers into its music and traditions. A Bard of Gorsedh Kernow and recipient of an OBE, he also advised on and performed music for the BBC’s Poldark.
On our final night, Mike joins us to share tales of piskeys, giants, saints, mermaids and the sea. He is the closest thing Cornwall has today to the travelling droll tellers who once traded stories for supper and a bed. And the perfect end to a week spent walking through the landscapes that shaped them.
Where you’ll stay
Seven nights at Atlanta, Trevone Bay, taken exclusively. A pair of substantial Victorian houses standing above the beach, built when Trevone was first discovered by people who came for the sea air and stayed, and generous in the way houses of that period are: high ceilings, deep bay windows, and rooms that look straight out to Trevose Head and the lifeboat station. They have been brought up to a properly luxurious standard without losing any of that, and taking both means the whole place is ours.
Steps lead directly down to the sand. The beach is on the doorstep for morning swims and the fire nights, and the famous Round Hole blowhole is out on the headland, which is a story in itself.
We travel out from that single base each day and come home to it each evening. It sits west of the sacred sites, around thirty to forty minutes by private coach from Tintagel, Boscastle and Port Isaac, which is the trade we make for somewhere calm and beautiful with its own beach. No packing and unpacking, and no night in a different bed.
Photo Credits: Alexander J Collins
FAQs
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Booking is coming soon. Once live, pressing the Book Now button will take you into our booking area, where a deposit reserves your place and the balance falls due nearer the time. If you would rather talk first, book a call instead and we will take it from there.
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All accommodation and meals for the retreat, and all drinks except alcohol. Every session and activity, all local travel and entries once you are with us, a welcome pack, and our planning and support throughout. In short, everything from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave.
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International flights, travel to the meeting point, travel and medical insurance, alcohol, and any treatments or add-on activities offered on that particular retreat. Where a retreat offers treatment add-ons, they are booked and paid for separately and the balance falls due 90 days before you travel, alongside the rest.
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Yes, and many do. All are welcome.
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No. Every retreat has a single supplement for a room of your own. Twin sharing is there if you would prefer it, and if you are coming with a friend we will put you together.
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Fit enough for a comfortable few hours on your feet, on uneven ground, at a pace that suits the slowest person rather than the quickest. There are gentler options every single day. If you are unsure, speak to us and describe your usual week honestly. After a call we will advise on the fitness level required and which activities would suit you.
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Tell us on the questionnaire after booking and the kitchen will work around you. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, allergies, the lot. The chefs at our retreat locations are used to it and would rather know well in advance than on the night.
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Yes. Valid travel insurance is required, and must cover you for the full duration of the retreat, including emergency medical treatment, hospitalisation and evacuation.
We also strongly recommend that your policy covers delay, interruption, cancellation and lost luggage, and in particular that you take a Cancel For Any Reason policy.
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A non-refundable deposit of $1,000 per person secures your place. The balance is paid in three equal instalments, due 150, 120 and 90 days before the retreat begins, along with any add-ons you have chosen.
If you cancel 91 days or more before the retreat, you lose the deposit only, and we will convert it into a credit toward any of our retreats, valid for 12 months; anything you have paid above the deposit is refunded. Between 90 and 61 days, a quarter of the total price is non-refundable. Between 60 and 31 days, half is non-refundable. At 30 days or less, the full price is non-refundable.
And a promise: if we are able to fill your place after you cancel, we will refund everything you have paid beyond your deposit and a $250 administration fee, no matter when you cancelled.
If we ever have to cancel a retreat and cannot reschedule it, you get a full refund, within 14 days if we still hold your funds and otherwise within 30 days. The full terms are in the Retreat Agreement & Waiver you sign when you book.
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Yes, and we would encourage it. We can arrange a bespoke trip or a curated itinerary for before or after. Just tell us when you book, or any time up to a month before you travel.
Join what you want and skip what you do not. If you would rather spend an afternoon in the garden with a book than get on the minibus, that is a perfectly good day.
Join us for Sea, Song & Sanctuary
