The Coach House: Yoga and Nature Connection
Develop your mindful awareness through yoga and nature connection at The Coach House venue on the beautiful Sharpham estate.
Experienced leaders are there to support you, plus you'll enjoy periods of free time to rest and reflect on your learning, in a place far from the busy-ness of every day life.
You'll be staying in The Coach House - our retreat centre specifically aimed at connecting you with nature.
See the Leaders tab above for teachers and their styles.
This retreat is for you if you are:
- in need of some time away from day-to-day distractions and demands
- new or experienced in yoga and or mindfulness
- keen to work with mindfulness principles in your yoga practice
- looking to spend some time connecting with nature in beautiful surroundings
During this retreat you'll:
- experience yoga practice perfect for beginners and the more experienced alike
- cultivate your mindfulness through guided meditation sessions
- have opportunities to reconnect with nature, including guided walks on the stunning estate and some light mindful gardening sessions in our walled garden
- have free periods each day to relax, reflect and rejuvenate
- have the chance to explore the rich beauty of the natural word world that surrounds Sharpham, including our rewilding project, all set in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
- form a safe and supportive community with like-minded people, sharing experiences and simple daily tasks, including in the kitchen gardens and on the wider Estate
- have a single-occupancy room and your own space in which to rejuvenate, with free time to deeply rest and reconnect with yourself, far from the busy-ness of daily life
- enjoy delicious and healthy home-cooked vegetarian & vegan food
Your physical and mental health
Although meditation, yoga and mindfulness can be helpful in managing stress, depression and anxiety, our retreats might not be suitable if you are experiencing major depression or other clinically-diagnosed psychiatric illness such as bipolar disorder, psychosis or current self-harming. Click here for more information and for our booking process.
This retreat is for adults aged 18 and above.
Silence whilst on retreat
All of our retreats usually include some short periods of silence as a way of deepening into mindful awareness. If you are new to spending time in silence in the company of other people, it can feel awkward to begin with. However people usually find this to be a useful experience and we encourage you to explore the silent periods in a spirt of open-ness and curiosity. The retreat moves into silence each evening from 9pm - 9am the following day and until 2pm on day 3 (see also Schedule tab above for typical day).
Getting your hands in the earth
Coach House retreats feature morning sessions helping in our ornamental and Walled Garden in the grounds of Sharpham House, alongside our experienced garden team led by Frances.
We manage the gardens organically and the produce we grow supplies the kitchens in Sharpham House and the Coach House.
There are a mixture of tasks on our nature-mindfulness and gardening retreats, depending on the season. We invite you to bring your awareness to the land, plants and the nature surrounding you at Sharpham.
You don't need to know anything about gardening to participate - our team will support and assist you.
It is important that you are willing to participate in doing this as part of your mindfulness practice (we can find suitable tasks for people with health difficulties – let us know in advance) and that you try to commit to all the scheduled activities during the week.
NB: If you're less able to do gardening, a Sharpham House retreat may be more suitable
Facilities in The Coach House
The Grade II-listed Coach House has been sympathetically converted to create accommodation in four wings surrounding a central courtyard.
The Coach House has 18 bedrooms, 12 of which are en-suite. The 6 others share 3 bathrooms, one for each pair of rooms.
We have an accessible ground-floor bedroom with en-suite bathroom in the Western Wing of The Coach House. Please contact us to book this.
The Eastern Wing features a lounge, library, kitchen and has a contemporary timber-frame extension which serves as a dining room and meditation/meeting space. The extension has large French doors which open out on to a patio and garden with direct access out on to the south-facing lawns.
Not all of the gardens or the estate have disabled access, so do contact us to discuss your needs and what is possible.
Mindfulness in nature at Sharpham
When you experience Sharpham's inspiring and nourishing environment, we hope you'll
connect spiritually with the natural world, so you’ll:
- become aware of how we are all part of nature - not artificially separate from it
- pay attention to and appreciate the natural world surrounding us
- explore nature through your senses and your natural creativity
- tread more lightly on our finite planet, developing a respect and reverence for all living things
Click here to read our ethos and principles

What you need to know
If you decide to stay with us, we’ll send you a list of what you need to bring for this retreat in your Welcome Letter that we send out after you've booked.
You can also find out more about staying with us on our Frequently Asked Questions page, including:
- accessibility information
- why we encourage you to come on your own and not with partners or friends
- what the difference is between our retreats
Our food & your dietary needs
We have a fully stocked, mostly organic and vegetarian kitchen. The main meal is at lunch time and is prepared by our Cook supported by retreatants. We try to use produce from our gardens as much as possible which retreatants help grow.
We can accommodate gluten-free and/or vegan dietary needs. However, our kitchen is not gluten, dairy nor nut-free. We do not provide gluten-free bread, but you are welcome to bring your own.
Please make sure you include dietary restrictions and any food allergies on your Booking Form. We may need to communicate further with you about specifics. The booking form is sent as a link once you have booked and paid for a retreat.
Our water is provided from our own spring, UV treated and filtered.
A 5-star setting with the added bonus of really being grounded in nature
- a Sharpham retreatant
Typical retreat schedule
Day 1: Arrive between 3 - 5pm for Welcome Meeting at 5pm and settling in
Mornings | Afternoons |
---|---|
6.00am – wake up | 12.30pm – meditation |
6.30am – morning yoga/meditation | 1.00pm – lunch |
7.30am – household tasks | 2.00pm – free time or group walk |
8.00am – breakfast | 4.00pm – 5.30pm - mindful yoga |
9.00am – home groups (silence ends) | 6.30pm – supper |
10.00am – gardening | 7.30pm – meditation |
8.00pm – meditation and deep rest/Yoga Nidra | |
9.00pm – personal time (The Coach House moves into silence until 9.00am the next day) | |
Final day: depart by 11am
The retreat will move into silence each evening from 9pm – 9am and on one full day in each retreat.
What a life changing week I’ve just had on the Coach House yoga retreat. It’s a spiritual, joyful, peaceful treat. Highly recommended, especially for anyone with a busy life who wants to slow down.
I have just returned from a 4-day yoga/mindfulness retreat at the Coach House @ Sharpham Trust. This was the most caring and inspirational four days I have had in many years. The people at Sharpham, from Frank and Caroline the coordinators to Manager Patti to Magical Zen Yoga instructor Maite, created an environment of peace, kindness and tranquility to soothe your soul and give you space to learn and absorb so much that was offered.
The accommodation is beautiful, simple, so elegantly cosy and comfortable. The food is fresh, home-grown & amazing.
Most importantly, the beautiful surroundings and acres and acres of nature are so amazing and it is this energy that envelops you in this magical corner of Devon.
This retreat takes place in The Coach House, a historic Grade II-listed building behind Sharpham House set in a Capability Brownian landscape with stunning views over the steeply-wooded River Dart.
Click here for our How to Find Us page on this website.
Click here to view, print or download directions and a map to The Coach House
Click here view and download walking/cycling directions to The Coach House
If you have a medical condition that requires you to have an en-suite room, please contact our Programme Administrator on the number below as these rooms are limited and are bookable on a first-come first-served basis.
Just to let you know, we have poor mobile phone coverage – which we see as a virtue. While there is wi-fi in The Coach House, we encourage you to disconnect from ‘the network’ so you can fully retreat when you’re here.
We are 3 miles from Totnes – famous for its Transition Town movement
We are in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Sustainability
We take sustainability seriously.
All of the hot water and heating in The Coach House is produced by a state-of-the-art biomass woodchip boiler and we have 2 large photo-voltaic solar panel arrays on barn rooftops feeding into Sharpham energy.
Our gardens are managed organically and we only use bio-degradable cleaning products.
The Sharpham Trust is committed to ensuring that retreats at The Coach House are accessible to all - regardless if income.
All rooms are comfortable single rooms, with either an ensuite or a shared bathroom. All meals, bedding and towels are included. Rooms are randomly allocated, unless you have medical needs relating to your room allocation. If you have such a need, let us know on your booking form which will be sent to you once you have booked.
Rate | ||
---|---|---|
Standard rate | £545 | |
Paying the Standard Rate means you will be contributing towards our running costs, supporting the work of The Coach House and helping retreatants of lower incomes to access our retreats | ||
Benefactor Rate | £625 | |
If you are able to pay the Benefactor Rate, you'll be supporting others who cannot afford to benefit from a Coach House retreat on The Sharpham Estate. Your choice to pay this rate will help us with the running costs of The Coach House, enabling us to continue our charitable work connecting people to nature and fostering mindfulness and wellbeing, as well as caring for the land, wildlife and wider estate | ||
Supported Rate | £495 | |
For those unable to pay the Standard or Benefactor Rate |
Bursaries
Limited 50% bursaries offering reduced-price retreats are available for those experiencing financial hardship. Please contact the Programme Administrator at least 4 weeks in advance if you wish to apply.
Our bursary fund relies on donations. If you’d like to help another person to go on retreat here through our bursary scheme, you can give online quickly and easily by clicking here

Maite Alonso - with yoga
Maite trained in 1991 in Sivananda Yoga in India, in Shakti Yoga Dance in 2009 and in Kundalini Yoga in 2011 in the UK. Her major influences have been yoga, Buddhist meditation and chanting. She has been attending retreats (especially Zen and Insight Meditation) in spiritual centres in the UK, Europe, India, Thailand and California, since 1990.
She loves creating, nurturing, healing and forming life-giving spaces in her work as a Shakti yoga dance teacher, and in her massage work in the Totnes area.
Maite's yoga:
- incorporates slow, flowing stretches coordinated with the breath, softening and opening up the body and letting the energy flow through freely.
- focuses the mind in the subtle changes happening in body-mind moment by moment, opening and expanding into deeper states of awareness beyond the physical.
- helps rediscover and embody the joy of movement, breath and awareness.

Ruth Breznay
Ruth has been practising Hatha Yoga for over 30 years, and completed 300h & 500h teacher-training courses in Rishikesh, India, in 2014.
She has also been practising Insight Meditation since 2004, which has informed her yoga teaching: emphasising mindful movement and still awareness.
Says Ruth: "I encourage holding the postures for a while, rather than rushing through them, and using the breath as the connecting force between body, mind, and spirit. The practice is about exploring and listening to your body and mind, with an attitude of acceptance for yourself wherever you are at this moment in time".
Ruth is inspired by this quote by one of the yoga teachers she met in India during her training: “Yoga is not about touching your toes, but about touching people's hearts". Ruth strives to teach yoga in this spirit.
Here, Ruth guides an introduction to yogic breathing, that will maximise your inhalation/exhalation, boosting your oxygen intake and creating calm:
How to book easily and securely:
- online on this page
- by phoning 01803 731803
Ring us or email us on [email protected] if you've got any questions.
Please click here to see our booking and cancellations policy.
Do check our Calendar to see and book for our events - or join our mailing list by clicking here to be kept in touch about Sharpham Trust news, retreats & events.