Retreat into the Devon Countryside with Kathryn Aalto
Slip away from the ordinary and into the timeless beauty of the Devon countryside. In January, when the winter days are short and the year still new, the hills and hedgerows of Devon hold a quiet magic: mists drifting over fields, ancient oaks standing sentinel, and lanes that lead to villages where stone walls and thatched roofs carry centuries of story. It is a landscape that invites reflection, a place where the pace of life slows and creativity has room to breathe.
The Retreat Into the Devon Countryside at Ashley Court is an intimate three-day, two-night gathering and writing retreat for writers of all levels who wish to begin the year with intention—deepening their craft, broadening their perspectives, sharing their voices, and replenishing their creative spirit while expanding their writing community. Highlights include award-winning musician Jon Boden who will combine a live performance in a candlelit parlour with a keynote talk on creativity and another on research, as well as lectures, talks, and workshops by acclaimed travel and nature writers Rob Cowen and Kathryn Aalto. The retreat balances masterclasses in writing and storytelling with restorative hours to walk the grounds, journal in quiet corners, or linger in conversation by firelight.
Meals are drawn from the gardens at Ashley Court—seasonal dishes served in rooms that echo with history. Evenings close with talks that stir the imagination, shared around long tables where wine is poured and friendships begin. Between sessions, there is coffee and cake and the simple luxury of stillness: candles flickering in windows, fires warming stone hearths, and the hush of the countryside just beyond.
Come to hone your craft. Stay for the solace, the camaraderie, and the deep well of inspiration that will infuse your whole year.
For more information or to book, go to – https://kathrynaalto.com/product/writing-retreat/
Description
Kathryn Aalto
Kathryn Aalto is a New York Times bestselling author, historian, designer, speaker, and teacher of narrative nonfiction whose work often explores the intersections of story, history, and place. Her books include The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh (2015) and Writing Wild: Women Poets, Ramblers, and Mavericks Who Shape How We See the Natural World (2020), and others. She has contributed to Smithsonian, Outside, Buzzfeed, and other international publications. Her work has been widely reviewed around the world including in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.
For over twenty-five years, Kathryn has taught critical thinking and narrative nonfiction, blending rigorous technique with a personal touch. She lectures internationally, leads retreats across the US and UK, and has appeared in film and on TV. An award-winning arts administrator and former university lecturer, she has guided thousands of writers to develop their voices, refine their craft, and sustain their creative practices. Kathryn brings to her teaching a combination of literary depth, inspired guidance, and contagious enthusiasm for both the art and discipline of narrative on the page and the stage.
Kathryn (Katy) has degrees in literature from the University of California at Berkeley, a Masters in Creative Nonfiction from Western Washington University, a Masters in Garden History from the University of Bristol, and a diploma in garden design from the London College of Garden Design.
Jon Boden
Jon Boden is one of the most influential figures in modern British folk music. In 2001, he began performing traditional English songs with melodeon player John Spiers. Together, they formed the duo Spiers & Boden, which grew into Bellowhead—a ground-breaking 11-piece folk band that became the most successful traditional folk ensemble of its generation.
In his various guises Jon won eleven BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, more than any other artist, and introduced a new generation to the vibrancy of traditional music. At the height of the band’s success, Jon launched A Folk Song A Day (2010–11), an ambitious grassroots project in which he recorded and released one traditional song every day for a year. This innovative project celebrated unaccompanied song as a living, social activity and created an extraordinary digital archive of folk heritage.
In addition to his solo work and performances with his band The Remnant Kings, Jon has composed extensively for theatre, including productions at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has pioneered “Colourchord,” a system for teaching four-part harmony singing in a communal, accessible way. His solo albums—Songs From The Floodplain (2009), Afterglow (2017), and Last Mile Home (2021)—form a post-oil concept trilogy that explores humanity, resilience, and landscape through song.
Jon studied Medieval History and Literature at Durham University and Composition for Theatre at the London College of Music. He holds honorary doctorates from both Durham and the Open University for his contributions to English folk music. Jon has created a very special Spotify playlist for us to enjoy before the retreat.
Learn more about Jon here.
Rob Cowen is an award-winning writer and one of the UK’s most original and distinctive voices on nature, place, and the human experience. His work blurs the boundaries between memoir, ecology, and social history, weaving together landscape and language to explore what it means to belong—to a place, to a moment, to the living world.
His first book, Skimming Stones, won the Roger Deakin Award from the Society of Authors and established him as a leading figure in the new nature writing movement. His second, Common Ground (Penguin Random House, 2015), was widely acclaimed for its genre-defying approach to nature and narrative. It was shortlisted for the Portico, Richard Jefferies Society, and Wainwright Prizes and was later voted one of the nation’s favourite nature books of all time in a BBC poll.
His follow-up, The Heeding (E&T, 2021), a collaboration with illustrator Nick Hayes, became the best-selling debut book of poetry in the UK that year. Blending lyrical observation with an urgent environmental and social consciousness, it captured a world in flux through moments of stillness, fatherhood, and attention to the everyday. Rob’s most recent work, The North Road (April 2025), has been hailed as a “masterpiece”—“a brilliant, radical, dazzlingly inventive work of literature.” Longlisted for the Wainwright Prize, it debuted as Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 and received widespread acclaim from The Observer, The Telegraph, The Financial Times, and The New Statesman.
A writer deeply attuned to both the physical and emotional landscapes of Britain, Rob’s work invites readers to see the world anew—through the layers of memory, myth, and ecology that shape every place. He lives and writes in North Yorkshire.
