Auchencairn: Part Two: Galloway Holistic Retreats, Auchencairn, Scotland

When: 12th-15th July 2019

Where: The Dragonfly & Galloway Holistic Retreats, 11 Main Street, Auchencairn, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

Check out Galloway Holistic Retreats website here.

This is part two of a series of three blog posts about our trip to Galloway Holistic Retreats, Auchencairn, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland. Part one is about The Dragonfly, the eatery connected to the centre; part three will be about our experience of flightless travel from Dublin to rural Scotland, comparing price, time, convenience, comfort and of course, emissions and general environmental impact.

Within the tiny Scottish village of Auchencairn, on the beautiful coast of Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, is Galloway Holistic Retreats a vegan retreat and B & B, newly opened in summer 2019, founded by an inspirational and wonderful lady by the name of Esther. Prior to the opening of the retreat centre in the wholly refurbished 18th century inn in Auchencairn, Esther ran retreats from a self-catering centre, working with local practitioners to provide relaxation and yoga retreats in Dumfries & Galloway.

After a lot of hard work, dedication and preparation, Galloway Holistic Retreats opened this summer, first with the opening of the cafe, The Dragonfly, and then welcoming guests into the B & B and onto residential retreats.

I was lucky enough to have visited in the summer of 2017, a taster retreat day, having heard about this through my yoga teacher in Lockerbie, which is where I was living that year. I was already impressed at the incredible vegan food served, the site and the potential that the inn could inspire.

So two years later I was excited to book in and to my surprise my partner wanted to come with me, so we decided to book in for the weekend of our anniversary.

So after a bit of travelling from Dublin, and a lovely bus ride seeing the beautiful coastal towns of Dumfries and Galloway, we were picked up by Esther and taken to Auchencairn.

Cost

£295 / €336* per person for the weekend including all qigong, yoga, food, meditation, sound bath and accommodation.

The Accommodation

We were staying in the family room, which has a queen size bed and a single bed, wardrobe, hairdryer, kettle, tea & coffee and a tv. The window looks out on to the very quiet main road, with a view across the undulating fields. There is an en suite with shower, toilet and sink, with complementary vegan, cruelty-free soap. The bed was really comfy and seemed huge, and the room was generally spacious. We were very comfortable.

The Activities

There were a range of activities, our retreat had a relaxation theme and there were various activities to help you relax and learn coping strategies for stress, which retreatants could dip in and out of.

Yoga & Qigong

Having been practising yoga since the ’70s, Susan Neal is an experienced teacher of both qigong and yoga, both practises intertwine beautifully. Susan’s grace, knowledge and skill are inspiring to both beginners and those who’ve been practising for a while. I was blessed to have this amazing lady as my yoga teacher when I lived in Lockerbie for a year, a couple of years ago. On the retreat we had yoga sessions in the morning before breakfast, after breakfast and in the afternoon would either be yoga or qigong.

The sessions would either be in the cosy marquee, outside on the grass or even once on the beach!

On the Sunday morning we took advantage of the brilliant weather and practised some qigong in nature, on a sandy beach near Balcary Bay. Practising the flowing movements with the tide and waves washing in and out, the trees gently swaying in the breeze was a wonderful feeling.

Meditation

In the evenings we had a couple of sessions of meditation or body scans, to help us relax, these were accessible to both beginners and those who are more experienced. As well as the marquee, there is a room in the centre where we did some meditation in the evening. The room was sensitively done out, minimally but with all the essentials for inducing calm and reflection.

Sound Bath

The sound bath was something that we had picked out as a highlight of something we were looking forward to. Initially sceptical, I quickly became immersed in the journey of sound that Liz, accompanied by Esther, were taking us on. A fascinating array of unusual instruments is used to take you on this soundscape, inducing relaxation and calm.

The Food

I have attended a number of retreats, most being Buddhist retreats where I would never dream of having my phone on, let alone take pictures of the food, one in Thailand, at EcoLogic, and from this, I have it in my head that food on retreat is, without fail, the best food ever. Galloway Holistic Retreats did not let us down. We were treated to lasagne, curry, quiche, desserts including vegan meringue and vegan chocolate cheesecake, breakfast was porridge with fresh fruits and other accompaniments, or on our last morning we had overnight oats, I’ve never seen my partner so enamoured with oats before.

Check my previous blog post about The Dragonfly Cafe for more on the food.

Treatments

There is an option to book a range of extra treatments; these include full body massage, Indian head massage, reflexology, Thai foot massage, reiki and chakra healing.

I had a reiki session, having had a little taster session the last time I was here, by the lovely Liz Drake, who also led the sound bath. After the session with Liz’s healing hands, I felt healed and energised.

I treated my partner to a full body massage who reported that it was very relaxing, indeed, when he returned to the group after he looked more relaxed than I’d seen him in a long time.

Treatments £35 each, very reasonably priced.

Other things to do in the area

Auchencairn is set within the picturesque coast of the Solway Firth in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland. It is a pretty village itself, which boasts a community garden looked after by volunteers, Trevor Leat’s incredible willow sculptures can sometimes be spotted around the village too. Auchencairn is an easy driving distance from Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright, Balcary Bay, Cardoness Castle and Caerlaverock Castles – two of my favourite ever castles. There are many scenic walks of varying difficulties and lengths in the immediate area, with maps provided by Galloway Holistic Retreats

                                            Auchencairn Community Garden

We can’t wait to come back to Galloway Holistic Retreats, the yoga, food and surrounding were beautiful and we really couldn’t have been made to feel more welcome by Esther, her team and the rest of the retreatants.

Thanks in addition to:

Susan Neal – as well as leading the yoga and qigong on retreats, Susan runs regular classes in Lockerbie and Dumfries.

Elizabeth Drake – another multi-talented lady, she led our sound bath, did my reiki session and has a wonderful shop in Castle Douglas, in which she offers treatments and  workshops, as well as selling a multitude of crystals, incense, candles and other beautiful esoteric paraphernalia.

Alyson Tyler, my partner’s masseuse, who also leads yoga and mindfulness workshops around the region.

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*exchange rate as on 08/07/2019

Photo credits: images of activities by Esther Stevenson