If you are looking for something unique and definitely not on the tourist trail whilst also enjoying your needlework, you can rest assured you will find it on Lady Anne's Retreats. It would be almost impossible to achieve the experiences guests enjoy on our retreats as a lone traveller.
Phillipa's life long passion for needlework, her research, and her network of owners of many rare textile collections, enables her and Laura to create unrivalled retreats in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
People often ask how we pull these retreats together and the answer is simple, because we want to, we love working with the people we do, with each other and the opportunity to explore our country more.
In practical terms though, the initial stages of planning a retreat usually it goes like this - an outlandish idea plus a nugget of interest from a fellow needleworker stimulates a discussion, this blossoms into a plan, which gains pace and becomes a reality, and then before we know it Phillipa has told too many people about it for it to not happen and - it's happening! Also all of our Retreat ideas are born this way. It's just the way we roll ;)
But then starts the hard work as Phillipa and Laura put the idea into reality. Well over two years ahead, Phillipa devilishly hunts for unique textile experiences while Laura puts the framework in place. Each visit, hotel selection, and route option is perfected to within an inch of its life as well over ten iterations of each programme are discarded before they're even remotely happy.
Phillipa goes on multiple field trips to acid test each destination to make sure it's perfect, and draws on her network of incredible textile professionals, historians, custodians and curators in order to produce a superb needlework experience for the small group of students they host each time.
As members of ABTA, our guests' bookings are protected and we follow strict rules and regulations to ensure you can travel with confidence with us. Every venue and hotel we take you to, Phillipa has checked personally.
You can get a glimpse into Phillipa's regular trips around the country to check on our retreat destinations on Phillipa's Facebook page where you can also see shared memories of our All England Tour Part I, which we will host for the last time in 2022.
