We all know it but are sometimes afraid to just push the button. you just need to get away and have time on your own. Resetting and redressing the balance is something we discussed recently in our blog post ‘Are Holidays Bad for your Health?‘
1. Yoga on Argyll & Bute
This centre is very remote, but perfect if you want to run away from it all. It helps to be into yoga too, of course. And water. The outdoor bathing and washing away all your worries is what makes this yoga retreat unique, with hot spring water baths located in river gorges and geodesic domes. You can also take an outdoor sauna and jump into the river. From £445pp or self cater from £57pp a night. See ecoyoga.org
2. Coasteering in Pembrokeshire
The outdoor activity centre Preseli Venture is the perfect base for hiking along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path or to join in an outdoor activity such as coasteering. nothing will help you get away from it all as much as clambering up rocks and then jumping into the seas, with the gentle encouragement of experts. And for all its outdoorsiness, Presleli’s family-run ambience offers the gentleness you need. From £59pp per night including meals.
3. A writers’ retreat in Devon
Billed as a writers’ retreat, this rambling thatched hours in Devon, owned by writer Deborah Dooley, is more a retreat for making everything alright. THey greet you with wine, fill you with food, give you a room with fluffy robes and a solitary space to write. From £75pp per night, full board (min 2 nts)
4. Walking Festivals
If you want company, but without any hint of a ‘singles weekend’, walking festivals are great. There are usually good offers on accommodation and food and you don’t have to spend time researching your walks, or worry about tackling sht hills alone. Settle to Carlisle Walking Festival, Isle of Wight Walking Festival and the Mourne International Festivall are all well-established favourites. See www.walkingfestivalsuk.com
5. Wild Swimming Breaks
If youa re doing laps in the pool, set yourself a target of a distance swim with a difference. SwimTrak has four-day swimming holidas in Majorca and down the River Thames in Oxfordshire, while SwimQuest leads short swimming breaks across three lakes: Windermere in the Lake District, Annecy in France and Lago d’Orta in Italy. Four-day swimming trips cost from £430pp (UK) to from £648 (overseas).
6. Remote Rambling
Group walking specialist HF Holidays now offers Freedom Breaks. You use one of its places to stay as a base for independent walking but get full board, an OS map and plenty of detailed information on the beset trails. You’ll feel in very safe hands, but be given plenty of head space too. From £154pp for two nights, full board.
7. Hide away in a Hopper Hut
Just an hour from London, in the traditional hop-picking region of Kent, is a small farm that has restored its old hopper huts, originally built for east London families to work the season. The cosy cabins come with wood-burning stoves, while each also has its own fire pits. Weekends from £235.
8. Go Solo in Spain
Way of Nature Mindfulness refuges provide a contrast to some of the yoga yummy-mummy retreats, where the priority is to get your nails done. Using nature as your therapy, its Spanish Pyrennees trip includes hiking, but culminates in you spending 24hrs solo in the wilds. Four days from £495pp excluding travel.
9. Yoga in Ibiza
If all-day chilling rather than all-night clubbing is more your idea of holiday therapy, then this yoga retreat just outside Ibiza Town is pure bliss. You can do a bit of yoga, head for the hills or walk to the nearby Benirras beach. Or just lounge in your Balinese-style pagoda and breathe. From £410 for a pagoda or £485 for a room in a villa, half board for a week including six hours of yoga, from www.ibizayoga.com