14th November, 2025
Since I arrived a couple of months ago, I have been feeling a delirious fizzy delight at my unimaginable fortune to land in this place. It seems ridiculously privileged to get to live here; in this landscape, with these people and with the opportunity to practice together. Me at the Barn? For a year? YES PLEASE.
I first arrived at the Barn during a break in lockdowns. My original booking had been cancelled because of COVID and I had had to wait over a year to get down here. My bursting intention to be here was met by the coordinators at the time with compassion, care and thoughtfulness. I fell in love with the place immediately and it is a relationship that hasn’t altered since.
Each time I returned, The Barn felt more and more like home. Here was a place that offered me everything I could want in a retreat. The Devon countryside and Dart Valley are impossible not to be grateful for. Looking down to the river during the morning mindful movement, there rises inside me a joy that appears simultaneously to soothe my soul and open up my heart.