If you’d like to come on a retreat, and want there to be a focus, below are some ideas. This doesn’t mean that there has to be a focus though! You can absolutely just come for the sake of it. We can simply head into the wilds and do lovely things. Then we can do lovely things back at ‘base of operations’. But if you do want to spend some time sitting by the fire (metaphorically and literally) with certain life experiences, then I can keep you company. The options below are by no means exhaustive, so drop me a line if there are particular issues you’d like help with, whether this be relationship problems, or finding more meaning in your life for instance. I also offer special Christmas and New Year Retreats.
If you want an idea of the sort of ‘wilding’ we can do, please take a look at my Little Blue Pootles website. Your retreat will be custom made, and tailored to your needs, requirements, fitness levels and abilities. It’s all very flexible, so if at the beginning you’re like “hell yeah, I want to walk into the hills and swim beneath a waterfall!” and on the day you decide that that’s a bit much and you’d rather eat chips as we stroll along the beach, then so be it.
Wild Grief Retreats®️
For women who like me, have experienced out-of-order bereavement, when their person died young, as an adult or child; and/or traumatic bereavement caused by suicide, violence or natural disaster. It doesn’t matter how long ago your person died. If you would like to spend time with, and be taken care of, by someone who ‘knows’, come join me.
My husband Rich died at the age of 37, in 2018, and my world imploded. Add to that the secondary losses that seem to come with out of order bereavement, and life became extremely difficult to manage. Fortunately a few exceptional souls appeared at my side, and kept me company in what were sometimes very dark times. I would like to do the same for you – provide a little light, and steer you in a direction that will help you find more.
Wild Hope Retreats
For women who have experienced sexual and/or domestic violence or abuse, as an adult or child. It doesn’t matter how long ago it happened. It doesn’t matter if you never reported it to the police. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never told anyone else. Our interactions are confidential, and your privacy is extremely important to me. This is partly why I chose the name ‘Pink Pagoda’, because I wanted something that was non-triggering. I won’t be sharing pics of you on social media, and no one need know that you’ve come to spend time with me in this far corner of northern England.
I experienced all forms of abuse as a child – sexual, physical, emotional, verbal, financial, and subsequently, and not surprisingly, ended up in a few abusive relationships as an adult. I was fortunate to receive specialist counselling for childhood sexual abuse in my mid-twenties, and it saved me, in so many ways. From then on it became my mission to help other women who’ve lived through similar. And Rich, my late husband, became my biggest ally.
As well as having had my life experiences, I am also a qualified ISVA (Independent Sexual Violence Adviser), with an MA (Distinction) in Violence against Women & Children, and numerous other postgrad qualifications.
Wild & Hot Retreats
For women going through perimenopause or menopause, and who quite frankly, just need to do whatever we can to cool ourselves down! Cold seas? Just try and stop me! Seriously, the hot flashes and night sweats are just a teeny bit of what this time of hormonal flux can bring. And unfortunately this stretch of time can be a long one, starting in our late thirties if not sooner. So if you want to share your experiences, and talk all things HRT and lifestyle adaptations, then come join my witchy coven.
Wild but Wobbly Retreats
For those of us who live with certain conditions and quirks, which sometimes make life all the more challenging. I have Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and my late husband Rich had NF2 – Neurofibromatosis Type 2, so living with conditions that can cause disability, sometimes severe, became a part of life. Rich was profoundly deaf, and had partial paralysis in different parts of his body caused by severe neuropathy, so his balance wasn’t great. But we lived for the wilds as well as each other, and every spare moment was spent walking and wild swimming. If I had to help him up, down and over things, then that’s what I did. Just like he always supported me in other ways.
I am as fit and strong as I can be, but I know what it’s like to live with chronic daily pain, and to have to do things differently to others. I use walking poles in the wilds, and can’t move downhill at speed because dislocations hurt, but if you want to wild with someone who is determined to make these spaces as accessible as possible to everyone, come play with me. I’ll do my best to give you a memorable experience, without hopefully too much of the hurty!
