A 4 night Creative Retreat for Christian Women
· Isle of Wight ·
23 to 27 September 2027
Spirit & Shelter
You have been the shelter. For your children, your parents, your patients, your people.
For 30 years, you were the roof everybody else stood under.
And nobody ever built one for you.
" God's given me things visually, and we need to value ourselves and see ourselves in the way God sees us"
Shelley
Four nights at Kemphill Farm on the Isle of Wight. A day in the woods building a shelter with your own hands. A morning in a garden that only exists because something stands between it and the weather. And every evening, colour, gold and quiet.
Shared room from £997. Private room £1,347. Payment plan available.
Before you read another word
Let me tell you who I built this for.
Know someone who needs this retreat? Share the details with a friend who deserves a moment just for herself...
There are the shelters God builds. And there are the ones we build ourselves.
Ours are made of busyness. Of being capable. Of saying yes. Of never being the one who needs anything. Of keeping the roof up so nobody underneath it gets wet.
They look like strength.
They are exhausting to maintain.
And most of us have been maintaining ours for a very long time.
Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted.
Psalm 127:1, NLT
Over 4 days we're going to look honestly at the house you built. And then at the one you were always invited to live in.
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1, NLT
What awaits you
Not more talking. More making.
The Method
You'll learn something
Not just sit and listen. You'll be taught the Spirit-Led Sketch Method, watercolour, ink, gold work and bookbinding, properly, by someone who has taught it for years.
The Process
You'll go home holding it
Three handmade books and a gold wing painting.
Not a feeling that fades on the ferry.
Something you can put on a shelf and still have in 10 years.
The Beautiful Place
It's an actual island
No traffic, no notifications you have to answer,
no popping home to check on things.
The sea does part of the work.
The Purpose
You don't have to be sure what you believe
Some women arrive rooted.
Some arrive doubting.
Some haven't been to church in years.
All of you are welcome exactly as you are.
"This is not a holiday. It is a turning point."
Somewhere in this list
This is for you if…
- You have spent decades being the person everyone else leans on, and you're quietly running on empty
- Your last child has gone, or your marriage has ended, or the career you gave 30 years to is behind you, and you're wondering who you are now
- You want something for yourself, and a small voice tells you that's selfish
- You used to love making things at school, and you haven't picked up a brush since
- You're overstimulated, overscheduled and tired in a way that sleep doesn't fix
- You know God is near. You just can't hear Him over the noise
- You want the kind of conversation that goes deeper than small talk, with women who understand
If you read that list and something in you went quiet,
this was built for you.
Let the weight roll off your shoulders
So many of us carry our worries right here, in our necks and shoulders. On this retreat you won't just rest your heart, you'll rest your body too.
During our slower day at the farm, a qualified massage therapist will give you your own 20-minute back, neck and shoulders massage. You simply step out of the creative session when it's your turn, and step back in feeling lighter.
Everything is arranged
What's included
Your only job is to turn up.
-
4 nights at Kemphill Farm
Your own en-suite room, shared or private, across two neighbouring barns taken over entirely by us. -
All meals, Thursday dinner to Monday breakfast
Home cooked by chef, eaten around one long table, plus a Sunday cream tea. -
Every creative session, taught by Bev
The Spirit-Led Sketch Method, watercolour, ink, Inktense, gold work, collage and bookbinding. -
All your materials
Watercolour paper, paints, brushes, gold leaf, pens, Inktense pencils and matchbox kits. Nothing to buy, nothing to bring. -
A full day at the Westbrook Centre
Woodland shelter building, fire lighting, a guided ecology walk through 18 acres, dinner and prayer around the fire pit. -
Ventnor Botanic Garden and the beach
Entry included, and all transport to both day trips. -
A 20-minute back, neck and shoulders massage
With a qualified massage therapist during our slower day at the farm, in a calm, quiet room set aside just for you. Step out of the session when it's your turn, and step back in feeling lighter. -
Acoustic worship on the closing evening
Led by Bev's husband Adam, who has been playing at these gatherings for 30 years. -
Your Spirit & Shelter gift bag
A concertina journal, a watercolour journal, a notebook, a hand-lettering pen, a waterbrush, and the full illustrated instruction sheets for every book you made, so you can make them again at home.
Limited to 15 women.
The Weekend Awaits: Your Day-by-Day Experience.
Thursday 23 September · The Storm You Came From
Arrive from 4pm and settle into your room. Welcome dinner together at 6.30pm. Then a gentle first evening session where you'll sketch the house you built: the doors, the locks, the windows, the roof you've been holding up. Ink, watercolour and Inktense pencils, and no need to explain any of it to anybody. We'll finish by 10pm.
Friday 24 September · The Shadow of the Almighty
A full creative morning working with real gold, in the Klimt style, painting and collaging feathers into a wing that shelters everything beneath it.
Lunch together, then the afternoon is yours in Ryde: the shops, the seafront, or the quiet of Quarr Abbey if you'd rather.
Come back for dinner and a candlelit evening where we build one large wing together, each of us adding a feather. Then tea, lamps, and small handmade matchbox books for anyone who wants to keep going.
Saturday 25 September · Build It With Your Hands
A slow morning, then over to the Westbrook Centre.
You'll make a concertina field book from a single sheet of watercolour paper, learn a handful of simple marks, and then go into 18 acres of woodland to build a real shelter and light a fire in it.
Blessing tags hung in the branches.
Dinner at Westbrook, prayer around the fire pit as it goes dark, and the minibus home.
Sunday 26 September · What Grows When You're Sheltered
Morning devotional, then Ventnor Botanic Garden.
That garden only exists because the cliff behind it blocks the wind, which is why plants from New Zealand and South Africa flourish there and nowhere else in Britain.
We'll sketch, walk down to the beach, and come back for a cream tea. Your final piece in the afternoon, then our closing meal, Adam leading acoustic worship, and a reflection circle.
Depart Monday morning refreshed, restored, and reconnected, with your artwork, memories, and postcards in hand.
Kemphill Farm
Two neighbouring barns on a working farm, taken over entirely by us for 4 nights. Every bedroom is en-suite. One barn is set up as private rooms and one as shared, so you choose the one that suits you.
Light filled kitchens, a gallery sitting room looking out over rolling countryside, comfortable lounges to disappear into with a book, and a terrace overlooking farmland. Wildflower fields at the door and the sea 10 minutes away.
Some women say their shoulders drop the moment they step off the ferry. The Island does that. But the Island isn't the healer. It just makes room.
🚗 Ron Holland at Kemphill can arrange a ferry discount for anyone travelling by car. We'll put you in touch after you book.
Women come to this retreat burned out, spiritually dry, and quietly lost. They leave with something they didn't expect - themselves.
" Like a butterfly coming from an egg, God has developed me and has let my emotions out. It has helped me get lost in paint and colour and not overthink"
Katrina
" It has taught me that I don't need to hold onto the pain..I can let go. I felt I received a warm embrace and together we are strong"
Sian
" God's give me things visually and we need to value ourselves and see ourselves in the way God sees us"
Shelley
Watch Karen as she turns her prayer letter into rocks and collages it to her seascape background.
"It speaks of my journey...out of the brokenness, God has brought a lot of good things...amazing things for me over a period of time and shows a way forward."
Sue
Watch Beverley relax with Christian music in the background soaking up God's love & creativity
What's not included
Your travel to the Isle of Wight and from the ferry terminal to Kemphill. Ron can help with a ferry discount if you're driving. Anything you buy on your afternoon in Ryde. Personal items and souvenirs. Tips.
Everything else is arranged. Your room, your meals, your materials, your transport on both day trips, and every session. Your only job is to turn up.
Choose Your Stay
Pay in full
Shared room
£997
A twin en-suite room shared with one other woman in the Granary. Every room has its own bathroom.
Best if you'd rather not be on your own, or you're coming with a friend.
Private room
£1,347
Your own en-suite room in the Dairy, with a door you can close.
Best if you know you need somewhere quiet to retreat to. Only 5 available.
Spread the cost
Shared room
£130 a month
£250 deposit, then 6 monthly payments
Total £1,030.
Paying in full saves you £33.
Yes! Shared room, £130 a monthPrivate room
£190 a month
£250 deposit, then 6 monthly payments
Total £1,390.
Paying in full saves you £43.
Yes! Private room, £190 a monthBOOK EARLY
Hold your room for £150
Book before 31 January 2027 and you only need £150 today, instead of £250.
Nothing else changes. Same room, same price, same four days. You just pay less now, and the balance 3 months later.
Booking this early genuinely helps us. It lets us confirm the barns and the caterer months ahead, which means everything is settled long before you arrive. So it seems only fair to make the first step a smaller one.
🔹 The £150 deposit applies to pay-in-full bookings. If you'd rather spread the cost over 6 months, the deposit stays at £250.
🔹 Deposits are non-refundable, as they go straight towards holding the barns and the caterer. They are transferable, so you can pass your place to someone else at any point, free of charge.
Four days on the Island.
Four months of company.
Here is the thing about retreats. You come home full, and then the washing needs doing and the diary fills up, and by the third week you are wondering whether any of it really changed anything.
So we are not going to leave it there.
The Vision Board Half Day
Saturday 23 October 2027 · 12 noon to 3pm · on Zoom
About a month after we come home, everyone who paid in full is invited to a half day together online. We build a vision board, properly, with the whole of the four days behind us. Not a Pinterest exercise, and nothing to do with manifesting. A prayerful, practical look at what God has actually been saying to you and what you want the next year to hold.
You will have your books in front of you. You will have the wing on your wall. And you will have the same women on the screen who were in the woods with you.
Recorded, so you have it if life gets in the way on the day.
And three journals to carry you there and back
One before you come. One the week you get home. One for November, when it goes quiet.
Clarity for Your Calling
21 days · the three weeks before you come
Twenty one days of asking the question underneath all the other questions. Not "what should I do next", which is practical and has practical answers. The other one. What am I actually for, now the thing I was for has finished?
You will arrive already thinking, rather than spending the first evening warming up.
The Week Before
7 days · the week after you get home
Seven days between coming home and the vision board workshop, mapped to the four rooms of the house you will draw on your very first evening. The Roof. The Table. The Workbench. The Window.
This is the bit that stops the Island fading in the fortnight when real life closes back over the top of it.
Believing Bigger
21 days · through November
Twenty one days of gently arguing with the small thinking that settles on most of us somewhere in our fifties. The kind that does not feel like unbelief. It feels like being sensible.
For when the nights have drawn in and the whole thing feels less possible than it did in October.
Yours to keep, as printable PDFs. Print them, put them in a folder, write in them properly.
Five minutes a day. These are not homework and there is nothing to hand in.
Included free with any pay-in-full booking, shared room or private. Nothing to add at checkout.
Four days changes something.
Four months makes it stick.
Before you Go
Before you close this page, I want to ask you one thing.
A year from now, how do you want to feel?
Still exhausted? Still waiting? Still putting yourself last?
Or rested. Reconnected. Reminded of who God says you are.
The choice is yours. And it starts with one small yes.
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