Sold Out for July

Looking ahead, our July untutored writing retreat has been sold out for sometime now and, with nine guests from all over the UK booked to attend, the excitement is mounting. July's promises to be a fantastic retreat - especially if, as predicted, summer finally arrives - with a range of fiction and non-fiction writers all seeking a place to write in peace and tranquillity. Wendy and I are looking forward to meeting new people working on new projects with fresh momentum across our extensive property.

A view from our quarry

Looking back, this past week we welcomed four wonderful writers on our June retreat and, once again, it was a fantastic week which culminated in Leanne, Sinny and Wendy all taking a trip to watch Paloma Faith, on Friday evening, at the Llangollen Pavilion just down the road. During the week we learned about Welsh Princes and their battles with the English (from the wonderful Leanne) while the delightful Jo shared her evocative memoirs of Malvern - and there was the usual bit on Shakespearean candlelight too. Talking of which, there has been a welcome development in the past fortnight: my application to submit my thesis early (because it is now complete) has been accepted by the University of Birmingham and I am aiming for a final submission date at the end of August. July's sold out retreat will likely prove very helpful to me in terms of meeting my own deadline.

June's Wonderful Retreaters

Here and now, we received an email from the lovely Clare Flynn yesterday evening: Clare joined one of our untutored retreats earlier this year and donated one of the first books to our nascent retreat writer's shelf in the lounge. Her email concerned another pair of writers - Helen and Marc - who happened to visit our guest house a fortnight ago, when we were not in retreat mode. Clare met them recently for a meal, many miles away from us in the South of England, and the subject of our William Morris decor and stunning location arose. The ears of the little town of Corwen (not to mention mine and Wendy's ears) were definitely burning! It was lovely to hear from Clare again and wonderful to hear our guests fantastic feedback - whether on retreat, or not, at A Place to Write.