Grief Alchemy
Grief tending in community
9th - 13th April 2025
Join us for five unforgettable days of release, nourishment, and transformation in the healing lands of Erth Barton in Cornwall, England.
Open for booking
This profoundly life-shifting experience is centred around the exploration and integration of grief, in all its forms. Together we will explore how to cultivate a new relationship with grief, creating the space to feel it all and welcoming in transformation and alchemy.
Originating from the Latin root word ‘tener’ meaning soft and gentle; grief tending invites us to bring gentleness, compassion and kindness to our grief. Tend to your grief in circle and ceremony as a way to honour loss in community, move your body with gentle yoga and nervous system somatic practices, breathe new life and freedom into your heart with breathwork, and welcome grief as a gateway to a deeper connection to yourself and life itself.
We have designed the retreat for you to move fluidly between group workshops, embodiment practices and individual support. We intend to hold a space for you to allow your grief to be stirred, feel safe to express and release, and invite in the potential for healing and transformation.
This is a holistic experience for mind, body and heart. You will be nourished with incredibly delicious organic food and invited to soak in the healing lands of this forgotten corner of Cornwall, enhancing your connection to nature and self.
Rest, release and soften into the welcoming arms of this Grief Alchemy retreat held in the healing lands of Erth Barton, sitting on its own peninsula just across the border into Cornwall.
– Helen
“I can’t describe to you what has happened to me since and because of our retreat in Cornwall. I keep referring to is as transformation, but actually I think it’s liberation.”
– Amber
“One of the most incredible experiences I have had in a long time, if not ever. Nici and her amazing team held a space that felt as safe as they come.”
Details
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Anyone, everyone.
Anyone who is experiencing grief, or who has experienced grief. Whether because of a bereavement, relationship break up, health challenge, or any other loss or unmet longing.
For anyone who is interested in compassionately healing their grief and integrating it into all of who they are. People who are willing to let grief change them and to understand grief as the potential initiation into more authenticity and a deeper connection with life. Moving forward, rather than moving on.
This retreat will provide a safe space to be heard and understood with deep sensitivity.
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The cost of the retreat varies between £1500 and £2800 depending on which accommodation option you choose. This price includes the full retreat experience - all workshops, catering, accommodation and the integration programme.
Payment plans are available, as are a limited number of bursary places. Reach out to nici@thegriefspace.com for more information.
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Daily group grief tending workshops
Daily embodiment workshops (breathwork, gentle yoga or trauma/tension releasing exercises)
Introduction call with Nici before the retreat
A grief ritual
3 beautifully prepared seasonal and organic meals a day
1 integration group call after the retreat (17th April, 6-7.30pm BST)
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Erth is remote and yet, easily accessible by road and serviced by excellent rail links from London & the North. Located just over the border in Cornwall.
For those who wish to arrive by train a taxi will be included to and from Saltash.
Meet the team
“We only grieve for what we love; so in this way grief is evidence of our love. Grief becomes an act of love that breaks our hearts open to the vast and beautiful landscape of gratitude and aliveness.”
— Francis Weller
Our home
Erth Barton is a historical, organic, ethical, and riverside retreat.
It marries its medieval roots with a 21st century vision of offering the opportunity to live simply, wildly, immersed in the unspoilt natural landscape surrounded by wildlife.
Erth Barton’s position, is elevated on Erth hill, with views from large granite mullion windows over the River Lynher that snakes around both its sides.
The movement of the tidal river breathes in and out twice daily bringing an ever-changing landscape and light.
This place is wild.
As soon as you drive onto the peninsula, you’re entering another world.
Wild flowers, buzzards, skylarks, swallows, geese, egrets, fallow deer in the oak filled woodlands, and owls in the trees at night call across the river…..
A typical day
8am – breakfast
9.30 – Grief tending circle
12.30pm – Lunch
1.30pm – Free time or bodywork sessions
3.30pm – Embodiment workshop (TRE / Breathwork)
6.30pm – Dinner
8pm – Group integration
Accommodation and pricing
Booking process
Send us your application form
Schedule your one to one call
Book your place on the retreat with 50% deposit