Welcome to the Wild Minds Retreat - 42 Acres in Somerset

If your mind had legs, it would’ve run off years ago. Instead, it’s been stuck inside looping, overthinking, catastrophising, basically hosting a 24-hour anxiety festival with no intermission. It needs fresh air, so I’m taking my guests out into the wilderness of Somerset to gently reintroduce it to being calm and still, something it often forgets to do naturally.

The Venue

42 Acres isn’t your average “retreat space” with scented candles and someone whispering breathe at you. This is home to carefully regenerated piece of land with hundreds of acres of actual wilderness, with it’s own ancient woodland and endless wild meadows. It’s where a beaver colony have taken up residence, along side a family of white storks and wild cats! (not that anyones seen one yet, but I’m told they live there).

It’s a regenerative estate, which basically means humans have finally stopped meddling and mother nature’s getting on with doing what she does so well without us. This place is so peaceful your mind actually starts to remember how to quieten down. Not completely (let’s not promise miracles), but enough that you notice you’ve been living with a running commentary your entire life. Nature will be giving us the chance to slow down the wild mind and reconnect with the peacefulness we all crave.

The Food

Everything you eat here is grown on the land. I know, how very wholesome. Slightly smug, even. But it turns out when you eat food that hasn’t travelled 2,000 miles or been wrapped in plastic, your body recognises it and likes it.

Dave, Head Grower and Gardener, will be there, (with the ducks) yes, they help keep the slugs of the lettuce. We’ll be coming together to dine out in the Forest Glade, we’ll eat delicious food grown on the land and we’ll all feel good together, knowing that we know the guy who grew it.

The Programme

This is where we deal with the situation going on inside out minds whilst we’re in the outside. Your mind has “theme tunes”, those repetitive thoughts that play on loop. Usually the greatest hits of anxiety, self-doubt, and “what if everything goes wrong” kind of thoughts. Through the practises I’ll teach you, we’ll start to notice them, name them, and here’s the revolutionary bit, not believe every single one, know that they aren’t always true and we aren’t always kind to ourselves.

I’m not here to fix you. If I could fix people, I’d have started with myself and retired years ago. This is about reconnecting with yourself, out in nature and getting to understand how your mind works, so you can recognise when you can take control of your wild mind, cool down the engines a bit and create a state of mind that doesn’t have us running around with anxiety.

The Neuroscience (Don’t worry, I did the homework)

I didn’t just sit under a tree and have a revelation, I went to the University of Oxford because my mind was behaving like it had no adult supervision. I studied neuroscience and I learnt that your brain is built to keep you alive, not calm. It’s constantly scanning for danger. So when your mind spins, it’s not because you’re weak, it’s because your brain is doing its job… just a bit too enthusiastically. I’ll teach you how to capture those thoughts before they get carried away.

The Wild Bit (Brace yourself)

We’re not just talking about this we’re getting into it. We’ll be learning how to rekindle our relationship with ourselves in our natural human habitat. We’ll be treated to Forest Bathing (no, not with soap and bubbles), we’ll be going to see where the beavers live, we’ll meet the white stocks, we’ll and spend some time the dragonflies and the butterflies and at some point when you least expect it your wild mind will remember how to calm it’s self as we wild swim across the four acre lake.

And somehow this being more human… out in nature, it calms the mind and we’ll all be reminded just how well it works.

Compassion (The bit we’re not great at)

Most of us talk to ourselves in a way we wouldn’t speak to a dog. Out here, in nature, something shifts. You start to see your mind for what it is, not an enemy, just a slightly overdramatic storyteller, and instead of trying to shut it up (good luck), you learn to meet it with a bit of compassion. Not gushy, not sentimental, just practical kindness. I’ll teach you how we can relearn to talk to ourselves in a way that doesn’t make you want to hide indoors, and once you’ve learnt how to do it, you’ll have a new set of tools to practice being more compassionate to yourself when your mind is in it’s usual spin cycle.

What You’ll Learn

• How to spot your mind’s “greatest hits” before they take over.

• Why your thoughts feel so real (even when they’re nonsense).

• How to calm your nervous system without moving to a cave.

• A mind fitness routine you might actually stick to.

• How to be a bit less brutal towards yourself.

The Goal

To help you realise your wild mind isn’t broken, it’s just loud.

And when you stop fighting it and start understanding it, things get… quieter. Not silent. But manageable.

Which, frankly, is all we’re aiming for.

What You’ll Leave With

You won’t leave floating three feet above the ground claiming enlightenment.

If you do, I’ll bring you back down myself.

But you will leave with:

• A clearer understanding of your wild mind (finally)

• Tools that work in real life, not just on a yoga mat

• A slightly calmer regulated nervous system

• The beginnings of a more compassionate relationship with yourself…

and probably damp hair, muddy feet, and the unsettling realisation that going a bit “wild” might actually be very good for you.

I hope you can join me at 42 Acres,

it’s going to be wild!

Ruby x