Pembrokeshire’s fast-growing festival of wellbeing, food and music, The Big Retreat Wales, has celebrated a triumphant second year, doubling in size from its inaugural year.
Set on the Old Castle Site in Lawrenny above the Cleddau estuary, on what’s been described as the most beautiful festival site in the UK, attendees indulged in everything from yoga and fitness to gin tasting and cookery classes, with live music running a soundtrack to the weekend.
“it was an amazing festival ,” said co-founder Amber Rich. “The weather, the classes, the talks, music and food just hit the spot and our lovely festival goers gelled as one big happy group over the weekend,” she added. “We had fitness and wellbeing devotees hitting the classes hard, while others enjoyed a bit of calm, doing a spot of spoon carving, art or gin tasting, and all the while kids were entertained by the wonderful Majical Youth Theatre Company, learning bushcraft skills or just playing and exploring the woods with new-found friends”
The headlining band Rusty Shackle were a sensational closing act on Sunday night completing a top weekend line-up that included The Sundogs, the Tates, the Stangs and solo artists Matthew Frederick, Rosie Cale and Jodie Marie.
“Another great milestone for us has been the campaign to ban plastic from the event, with vendors selling their food and drink in compostable containers. It’s been brilliant, and we now have a big compost heap where the worms are getting busy to produce compost for next year’s flower displays!”
“We set out to create a space, time and activities for people to reconnect with family, friends and even themselves” said co-founder Diana Hinde “it was amazing to look out over the terrace to see dads, daughters, mums, kids and friends talking, laughing , enjoying the music and good company – taking those selfies, creating memories – literally “Finding Their Feel Good” – which is what we set out to achieve. “
This year’s success has brought a wave of interest for 2019.
“Our Tier One Tickets sold out in 3 days,” Diana went on to say. “ We now have a Super Early Bird release of Tier 2 Tickets which are selling fast too. Another good sign is the amount of enquiries we are getting from across the UK and France from instructors wanting to take part next year. We plan to manage our numbers carefully – we want to maintain our really friendly vibe as well as provide excellence in all our activities and classes”“We have had so much incredible support from our friends and family to get this far,” said Amber. “Alongside our wonderful attendees, we also need to say a special thanks to Celtic Holiday Parks and to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, who’ve been with us from the start. They’ve helped us showcase this special part of the world to people who’ve never been here before. And one thing they all say is that they’re definitely coming back!” she added.
Check out The Big Retreat Wales on Facebook @thebigretreatwales for more photos and reviews.
The Big Retreat Wales 2018 will take place over the Whitsun Bank Holiday (24-27th May 2019 ). Early bird tickets are available at www.thebigretreatwales.co.uk.
