Autumn’s Embrace
Writing, Storytelling & Gaelic Lore
In the Scottish Highlands
November 2024
Contact Vanessa for exact dates and to apply
Autumn in Scotland offers a visible expression of the life, death, life cycle as the vibrant energy of nature moves underground. It is the end of the growing season, the time of increasing darkness when everything begins again: the void, the womb, the blank page of possibility. It is the time of Samhain; a traditional Gaelic fire festival when the last of the harvest has been reaped and the veil between the worlds becomes thin. A perfect time to write, share stories and go within.
The setting for our retreat is just north of Fort William, located in Lochaber in the West Highlands, the outdoor capitol of Scotland. With nothing but nature in sight, you can walk out the door and wander or if you feel more adventurous, hike in the mountains nearby. Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Scotland, is visible from the windows of our lodge.
Join us, and devote time and space to your creative practice. Recover inspiration and let go of noise, voices, and ideas preventing you from hearing your own.
Join author Vanessa Chakour, Gaelic Cultural Activist Àdhamh Ó Broin, and chef Nicola Orr for a nourishing writer’s retreat. Together, we’ll dive into the roots of our own stories while exploring the rich cultural mythology of Scotland.
Overview
Our beautiful, intimate space in the Highlands has seven guest rooms, with ample space throughout the house to write and reflect without disturbance or interruption. Nicola will prepare all our healthy, nourishing, and delicious meals each day. All the food will be as local, wild and organic as possible.
Early mornings will be yours for creative exploration and wandering. Breakfast and lunch will be buffet style so you can eat when you like and stay in the zone.
Vanessa and Àdhamh will offer walks exploring local medicinal plants, Gaelic lore and ritual and every other afternoon, Vanessa will offer writing workshops and craft discussions. Since this is time and space for you, all workshops and walks are optional.
We’ll have dinner together each night, then gather around the fire for reading and storytelling. Some nights, Àdhamh will share Gaelic story and song and on others, you’ll be invited to share your own writing and recieve feedback.
When we create alone, the voices of scrutiny can get too loud in our heads. Sharing our work and reading aloud can help us move beyond them, while supporting someone else's writing through deep listening and thoughtful feedback returns that encouragement to ourselves, reminding us that our work is valuable and our stories are important.
If you haven’t worked with Vanessa but are interested in attending, please contact her to apply.
Rooms, Rates & A Note About Travel
ROOM OPTIONS (each room has a desk):
Bedroom One with two twin beds
$1850 per person if shared (booked)
Bedroom Two with double bed and ensuite bathroom
$3200 for one person or $3800 for a couple
Bedroom Three with two twin beds and basin
$1850 per person if shared (one space left in this shared room)
Bedroom Four with double bed and ensuite bathroom (booked)
Bedroom Five (booked)
Bedroom Six with two twin beds (booked)
Bedroom Seven (booked)
Travel to Fort William is an easy and beautiful train-ride from Glasgow. We’ll pick you up from the train station when you arrive in Fort William. You’re welcome to arrive as early as 12pm to settle in on the 6th. We’ll have lunch for anyone who arrives early. Dinner (around 6pm) will be our first group gathering.
Your Guides and Chef
Author Vanessa Chakour’s work is a dynamic blend of her vast personal experiences over the last 20+ years. She is the co-steward of Mount Owen Forest Sanctuary in Western Massachusetts and has been curating and facilitating rewilding retreats, workshops, and classes for over a decade. Vanessa’s recent book, Awakening Artemis, shares her journey of healing through the lens of 24 medicinal plants. Her new book, Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature explores inner and outer landscapes through the lens of wild animals and will be published by Penguin Life in 2024. Vanessa has been working with Nicola and Àdhamh for over 6 years and this is the fourth retreat they are offering at the lodge in Fort William; land not far from Vanessa’s Scottish roots.
Vanessa Chakour
Àdhamh Ó Broin hails from Cowal in Argyle and is of mixed Irish and Highland descent. He is the first person in 80 years to raise a family of fluent speakers of his local Gaelic dialect which remains on the verge of extinction. Àdhamh has absorbed a huge storehouse of lore over many years traveling the length and breadth of the Scottish Highlands, spending time with the few mainland tradition bearers who now remain. This experience has fostered a particular concern with the maintenance of the native cosmology of the Highlands and in particular with the manner in which the natural world has come to be viewed as incidental to the human experience. Although globally renowned for his work as Scottish Gaelic advisor to the Outlander film production, Àdhamh’s daily preoccupation keeps him much closer to home and the long-overdue decolonisation of Scotland’s people through reconnection with the carrying stream of indigenous culture, language, and spirituality.
Àdhamh Ó Broin
Nicola began her career as a microbiologist. However, she felt drawn to travel and seeing an ad in a local paper over a decade ago, got her first job cooking in the French Alps. This is where her journey with food began. She was then called to use her skills in nutrition, wellbeing, and holistic health around the world and has traveled extensively to study and cook for retreats. Now grounding back home in Scotland, Nicola is integrating her teachings and experience to create nourishing and delicious food that blends science, ancient wisdom and reconnects us to land. She is committed to a sustainable lifestyle through foraging and ethically sourced food. Her passion is to empower people to heal themselves by giving them simple tools toward healing through food and rekindling the hearth in all homes.