Forgather Summer Retreat

 
 

Rest & Reset

A soul stirring weekend of relaxation and community in a beautiful Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a stone’s throw from London.

We all need more time to unplug, slow down and de-stress. To put our phones down, take a break from the demands of busy jobs, and to prioritise joy and mental wellbeing. In June 2024 we gathered members of our community for a retreat that provided an opportunity to step away from the chaos of daily life, and create space for what really matters. Whether that was quality time with a loved one, mental space to allow creative ideas to flourish, or self care to avoid burnout.

Over the course of a weekend we enjoyed yoga, breathwork, journalling, a sound bath, campfire singing and sharing, and the most incredible immersive nature experience in the woods led by a nature connection expert. We laughed and cried, asked ourselves big life questions, and experienced amazing moments of vulnerability as we attempted to answer them.

“Thank you so much for the wonderful experience. Your incredible organisation and kindness made the entire weekend truly enjoyable. Great location, delicious meals and above all a great group of people! The yoga sessions brought a sense of peace and relaxation that was much needed. Most of all the woodland walk was a magical experience that gave me a deep connection with nature that I will forever cherish.”

Amber Vodegel, Digital Health Tech Entrepreneur

“As a retreat virgin, I didn’t know what to expect and some of the activities sounded a bit out of my comfort zone. But boy… how wrong was I? If you’re working crazy hard and need a break or thinking of a change and working out what to do next, I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend. Thank you Forgather for organising and creating such a positive space filled with wonderful people and helping us explore what really matters.”

Alex Eavis, CEO / CPO for Social Impact & Mission Driven Tech Businesses

“Thank you for hosting such a wonderful weekend retreat. The venue is amazing but the bricks and mortar came to life with your careful curation of food, activities, people. Marvellous.”

Jose Adams

“A peaceful and enriching pause from the hurly burly of life with wonderfully interesting people, excellent food, and thoughtful speaker guides. And of course managed beautifully, as you’d always expect from the Forgather team. I loved it.”

Alice Lankester

 
 

Fair Oak Farm, Mayfield, Sussex

Our home for the weekend was Fair Oak Farm, a special place in a unique and wonderful setting in the Sussex countryside. Nestled in twelve acres of country grounds and set within wonderful gardens, boutique accommodation options include beautifully converted barns, a historic Grade II Listed farmhouse, eco-lodge tree houses, and shepherd huts.

 
 
 

Hosts & Contributors

(Click name to read bio)

  • Rachel is Events Director at Forgather, where she manages and delivers live, virtual and hybrid events for clients in the tech and innovation ecosystem. Whether it’s an intimate dinner for software founders, a large-scale conference or awards ceremony, or a CEO offsite in the countryside, community and connection is the thread that runs through all our events.

    Working with so many founders and CEOs, we often see people overstretched, exhausted and facing burnout – so wellness, and tools to tackle these problems is an important element of many of our events. Wanting to explore this passion for wellbeing further, Rachel is hosting this retreat to bring together our community to find space to relax, decompress, embrace nature and find peace in simplicity.

    Rachel devotes her spare time to enjoying nature, hiking, travel and fitness. She lives in Clevedon, near Bristol with her husband and two-year-old daughter, who she hopes will learn to love camping and the great outdoors.

  • Belinda is the founder of Forgather. We’ve spent the last 14 years designing events for organisations championing business and innovation - from Balderton, Boardwave and Microsoft to The Times and Unilever.

    Much as we love working with clients, our favourite events have always been our own passion projects. Back before it was a ‘thing’, we co-hosted the Mindfulness Summit with Calm, whilst the annual Snowball ski retreat continues to forge new friendships and make a difference to a vibrant community spanning Europe.

    Engineering serendipity is a favourite phrase, so when Rachel started talking retreats, I was right behind her and have loved adding to the pot from my own experience. Whether on a yoga mat (ideally with a view of sea) or on nicely sprung dance floor, there’s nothing better than being in the ‘flow’.

  • Violet is a 550 hour trained yogt eacher, trained in Hatha, Yin, Advanced Vinyasa and teaching children. Her classes offer variations for those wanting to go deeper, or take a slightly lighter class. Whether it is a hot dynamic Vinyasa Flow or a deep Yin class, she loves to focus her classes around themes and a deep connection to the breath. She invites people to arrive on the mat, let go and surrender deep into their bodies

  • Xanthe is a lover of wild spaces and leads nature connection and outdoor education groups including bushcraft, wellbeing and leadership events. Her work includes running Ancestral Skills & Forest School groups, programme creation and facilitation for the rewilding eco retreat Embercombe, leading at events with WildWise and supporting creative practice camps for the charity Lifebeat.

    Xanthe holds various yearlong outdoor leadership training certifications including: 8 Shield’s Art of Mentoring, Forest School, animism and numerous WildWise courses, including Call of the Wild and Tending the Green Fire. She has a BA/ BSC degree in Business and Psychology, following which she worked in teaching, tutoring and mentoring. She creates safe, inclusive spaces for groups to be curious, explore, relax, rejuvenate, co-create and learn together. Xanthe additionally managed a thriving community health food store for eight years, becoming a finalist in multiple national awards.

    Xanthe is dedicated to deepening her personal relationship with the natural world, through vision quests and rites of passage and by holding tree planting days, earth ceremonies and fireside circles.

  • Charlie discovered yoga in her early 20s alongside an exploration of various ‘healing’ modalities. She began to study different forms of healing and immersed herself in daily yoga practice for several years which took her to Vrindavan, India for a life changing initial yoga teacher training within the Sivananda tradition in 2011. Since then, she has gathered a vast amount of training and practice in different systems of yoga, meditation and healing including Yin, Restorative, Flow, Hatha, Kundalini, and especially Kirtan & Mantra. Charlie is a qualified music psychotherapist (MA) and sound healer. She is especially passionate about sound and nada yoga, and has spent many years deep diving into the various practices and philosophies around mantra and sound. Her company Nadapriya yoga & therapies was born in 2011, directly after her initial Yoga Teacher Training through the Sivananda tradition, in which she was initiated with the spiritual name Nadapriya (which can be translated as she who creates the sound of the Divine).