Come and join us in practices for crafting restoration
with novelist Sarah Moss and artist Felix Ford (KNITSONIC)
Dress for the weather, as we would like to go outside if possible
Please inform us of any mobility and access needs
This is an in-person event only
Set down your phone and come and join novelist Sarah Moss and sound and colour artist Felix Ford to reset your best modus operandi and explore your creativity. We will be feeding our care for all that makes us fully human and present. We will work and play with noticing, writing, crafting, conversation, and silence, giving you three days of nourishment and reflection, and the new or revived beginnings of a practice of work, art and presence.
Slowness can be uncomfortable, inconvenient, and frustratingly imposed upon us by circumstances and responsibilities. It can also bring us back to ourselves and teach us how to live. It can help us to prize our fingers away from the need to hold onto everything, trying to fix all the problems that assault our consciousness, and instead give our hands and souls creative, restorative work.
In our ‘Move Slowly and Mend Things’ retreats, we unravel the nets that trap us in counting and quantifying our worth, obsessing about productivity and fretting about scarcity. We create the space for learning together how to unpick the stories that stitch us up. We free ourselves to mend our creativity, curiosity, and kindness. We rediscover our meaningful work, and foster what no machine or algorithm can replicate: trust, embodiment, fellowship, creative risk-taking, joyful failure, and a playful sense of abundance against all odds.
Retreat Facilitators
| Sarah Moss is a novelist, memoirist, teacher and journalist. She has written nine novels, two memoirs and a range of essays, newspaper columns and scholarly writing. She has taught English Literature and Creative Writing at universities in Britain, Ireland and Europe, including being Director of the Warwick Writing Programme and running the MA and MFA programmes in Creative Writing at University College Dublin. She enjoys running, yoga, knitting and cooking and, after living in many cities and several countries, is now settled in Dublin and County Clare. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. |  |
| Felix Ford is a neurodivergent disabled artist working with knitting, sound and creative journaling to foreground the preciousness of our real, everyday lives. From recording domestic sounds for her PhD, to publishing books and online courses that show you how to turn your life into stranded colourwork knitting; from mending the patches in her clothes, to running her wildly popular online journaling course; everything Felix does celebrates the magic of ordinary life and insists that we care more about small things. Play lies at the heart of her practice. |  |
| Harriet Harris is Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon and collaborates with Sarah and Felix in finding ways to resist the grind-culture of modern life. She trains people to cultivate culture change within academia, healthcare, religious ministry and creative industries. She is a priest in the Church of England, a Licensed Time-To-Think Facilitator, a trauma-informed embodiment coach, and a leadership Coach and Trainer with One of Many® the fastest-growing network of women leaders in the UK. A former university lecturer, she has been awarded an MBE and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for her innovative work in universities. |  |
Testimonials from previous events run by Sarah, Felix and Harriet
‘[This] is also making me think how when we are teaching students, we might think we are creating spaces for active learning, but they are probably spaces that are…still fast paced and just all about do, do, do, rather than facilitating them to actually head towards …the deeper thinking we think we want to create.’
'I found the course helpful and enjoyable. Sarah's workshops on close observation and listening were excellent. Harriet's focus on self-awareness, self care and other inner work were fascinating and transformative, and as a result I feel far more confident.'
'The course was intense and immersive. It felt like a complete break from normal life ….and the workshops gave ideas and strategies for looking after yourself while writing, and being playful, observant and open-minded in the creative process.'
‘Thanks for a great course. It helped me reconnect with my reading and writing amidst very challenging times in the US where so much is money-based, transactional, and business-oriented’
‘[This] created a space that was both generous and rigorous, where thoughtful feeback and genuine enthusiasm for each other’s work made a real difference.’
For any queries please call 01865 874404 or email [email protected]
Cost £ : inclusive of the programme, accommodation and meals.