Last week was World Wellbeing Week, and luckily for me, I was invited to stay at Church Farm Estate on Monday and attend their wellness retreat the next day.

I’ve been blogging since the late 2000s, but after cutting back in 2020 due to the world turning upside down, and then fully taking a break from blogging, I hadn’t been on a press trip like this in a whiiiiiile. It felt so exciting, and it really was such a treat.

Church Farm Estate is in a village called Kington Langley, just outside Chippenham, which is only a 30 minute drive from my home in Eastville, Bristol. I arrived around midday on a warm Monday in June, owner Elizabeth greeting me with a warm and friendly smile.

 

 

Staying at Church Farm Estate

Elizabeth showed me to my accommodation for the night, The Cottage – a spacious one-bed, with really beautifully decorated interiors – simple and modern, but with a rustic twist. There’s even a full kitchen, which is great when you’re away from home but don’t want to eat out for every meal.

 

 

I then had a short tour of some of the stunning grounds, visiting the shepherd’s huts nestled amongst the trees neighbouring the pigs, donkeys and other animals, all of which are kept as pets – this is not your traditional working farm.

Everyone who stays at Church Farm Estate is welcome to wander the 10 acres of farmland, and you can see all the accommodation options here. There’s also a gorgeous café and lifestyle store on site which is great for fresh coffee and snacks.

 

Church Farm Estate’s wood-burning sauna and cold water pool

This is the part that I was most excited about, and I made a beeline for the pool as soon as I could. I had it all to myself that afternoon – what a dream. It was so relaxing.

The swimming pool isn’t heated, but it was a warm day following a heatwave, so the water was a very pleasant temperature – I can imagine that it’s much more exhilarating on a cold day.

 

 

After a lovely swim surrounded by lavender, I popped into the sauna for a few minutes. Full disclosure: I’m not great with saunas, and don’t like to spend too long in there at a time, but it was actually really lovely, and so peaceful looking across the pool to the lawn, my cottage and the main house beyond.

A few more swim and sauna rotations, a walk around the farm, and I was ready to relax at the cottage for the rest of the day, reading in the garden and resting on the comfy sofa – it turns out relaxing is surprisingly tiring.

 

The wellness retreat at Church Farm Estate

 

 

On Tuesday, after a good night’s sleep and a fresh coffee & pastry delivery in the morning, I ventured outside to meet the rest of the women who were attending the Church Farm Estate wellness retreat press day – lucky for me, 2 of them were close friends of mine.

We started with a tour of the 10 acres – I had already explored the afternoon before, but it was great to see all the animals again and learn more about the farm.

After that, we headed into the main barn, which was all set up for the Stretch & Mobility Class with Em, who’s a personal trainer and wellbeing coach based in Clifton (Bristol) and Kington Langley (Wiltshire), and she’s so lovely.

The class consisted of various stretches, working our whole body and making us feel relaxed and ready for the day. We practically floated out of the barn afterwards. If you like the sound of that, you can follow her on Instagram at @em.fit.world.

 

 

We got changed into our swimsuits and headed for some pool and sauna time, which was even lovelier this time, because I got to do it with my friends. Is there anything better than doing your favourite thing with your favourite people?

While we enjoyed that, the Church Farm Estate team brought some gorgeous fresh vegetarian dishes out onto the most gorgeous table set-up on the lawn – it was really special. The food was all incredibly delicious, made with some seriously good produce, and the company was delightful too.

 

 

With full tummies, we headed over to one of the converted barns for a Gut Health Talk with Carly from The Good Gut Clinic, where we learnt about how connected our mind and gut are, and how best to look after both.

Carly told us about studies that have shown just how much stress and anxiety can affect your gut (spoiler alert: it’s a lot), and even shared her personal experience of healing her gut health through working on her mental health.

It’s obviously a lot more complex than a couple of sentences written by me, a non-expert, but you can read more in The Good Gut Clinic’s blog post, The Brain Gut Connection.

 

 

The last activity of the day was a Breathwork Session with Jade from Sacred Respiration, which, unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy – although I believe some of the other women got a lot out of it, and many people find it a wonderful practise.

As a sensitive, anxious, and most-likely neurodivergent person, I found it a stressful way to end a very lovely and relaxing couple of days, and I could’ve done with more explanation and preparation about what the session would entail.

There was a description of the way we would be breathing, the reaction/feelings we may have, and a list of medical conditions that aren’t compatible with transformational breathwork – eg. heart conditions, pregnancy, PTSD.

After a brief introduction from Jade, we launched into a sharing circle, where we took turns introducing ourselves and saying a little about where we were at, what we were feeling, etc.

When it got to my turn, I explained that speaking in front of strangers made me extremely anxious and that I was trying to let myself be, and then I cried, not for the last time that session. My two friends found the sharing circle anxiety-inducing too.

We then started the transformational breathing – a breath into the stomach, a second breath into the lungs, and one breath out, very fast. I felt that I couldn’t keep up with the pace that Jade was asking us to breathe, and the music was loud and intense.

To me, it felt extremely similar to having a panic attack – fast breaths and heartbeat, cold extremities, shaking, crying, etc. I’m not entirely certain I didn’t have a panic attack, to be completely honest.

 

 

Throughout the ~30 minutes of this breathing, I had a lot of thoughts of feeling very overwhelmed and wanting to leave the room, but I felt like I couldn’t. Jade’s encouragement of “you’re doing really well” to us made me think that perhaps I was meant to feel this way.

It was made clear at the beginning of the 2 days that all the activities were optional, but (in part due to the kind of person I am) I felt like I should stay, especially as I had been kindly invited to this wellness retreat, I felt like I had to stay and experience it – I was working.

The end of the breathwork session was a much more relaxing and quieter session of slower, deeper breathing, which was much-needed. At the end we were invited to share how we felt, and I actually went first, explaining that I cried, that I felt exhausted, but I can’t remember what else I said.

However, I’m pretty certain I didn’t explain the full extent of the discomfort and anxiety I felt, as my usual trauma response isn’t fight or flight – sometimes it’s freeze, but most-often I have a fawn response, in which people “create safety through submission and appeasement, often at the expense of one’s authentic self”. I wanted validation that I had done it right, even though it felt so wrong and unsafe to me.

I very often distrust or minimise my feelings, believing that my reactions are not warranted, feelings are not valid, I must be wrong, etc. However, I learnt that neither of my anxious-leaning friends particularly enjoyed it either – one of which also felt very panicky and crying.

Afterwards, we wanted to have a quiet moment together to chat and support one another with a cup of tea, but unfortunately the day had run over time, and we had to leave quite abruptly, which was quite jarring given the intensity of the session we’d just had.

I’m not here to speak badly about Jade, the retreat, or breathwork itself, as I know loads of people have had great experiences with it and her, and find it to be really helpful. I just think there could’ve been more explanation of what the session would entail, and more awareness around how people with anxiety or neurodivergent conditions may react.

I’ve also spoken to both Jade and Church Farm Estate owner Elizabeth about this, and they also explained that this was a taster session for the PR day, and that normally the breathwork sessions are in the middle of the day and at least twice the length, meaning there’s more chance for explanation, building up, and unpacking afterwards. So if you book onto a Church Farm Estate wellness retreat, this is more of the experience you’d get.

 

 

All in all, the wellness retreat was amazing, and for the most part, very relaxing and nourishing. I got to spend some time with some absolutely brilliant women, and I felt thoroughly spoiled.

Head over to my Instagram Reel of the wellness retreat at Church Farm Estate if you’d like to see more of what we got up to, the beautiful pool and sauna in action, and some clips of the super adorable animals!

I will definitely be heading back to Church Farm Estate for a swim and relax with friends, as it’s such a beautiful, special place, and owner Elizabeth is such a delight – a huge thank you goes out to her for being so generous and lovely.

They’re holding various wellness retreats over the next few months, and if you want to find out more or book a space, you can do so on the Church Farm Estate Eventbrite page, and if you’d like to stay, check out their accommodation options.

And now, let’s end on a high note: doing up Amy’s shoe – I don’t know why, but I love this photo so much. It just feels so silly and so loving at the same time.