United Kingdom · 3 days
The Dreaming ran three-day retreats from £450, with a pay-what-you-can space on every three-day retreat so that people of all means could come. Some visitors stayed for as little as £1 per night, and NHS workers attended for free. The most expensive room, Forest Spirits, was £900 per person. The property had eight gues…
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United Kingdom · 3 days · From GBP 450 (indicative)
The Dreaming ran three-day retreats from £450, with a pay-what-you-can space on every three-day retreat so that people of all means could come. Some visitors stayed for as little as £1 per night, and NHS workers attended for free. The most expensive room, Forest Spirits, was £900 per person.
The property had eight guest rooms. One was named The Womb, described as a celebration of womanhood designed to make you feel swaddled, with a pink shower made of tadelakt, a lime-based plaster from Marrakech, that Charlotte Church likened to a very large and unusual-shaped vagina. Elsewhere there were gardens, a Potting Shed, a Japanese Tea House and a Waterfall Shower.
The Healing Room hosted movement, yoga, sound healing and group work. Outdoors, guests wandered through the woods, plunged into cold water and sat around fires. In its closing message the retreat listed what people had done there: sung, danced, laughed, cried, rested, feasted, wandered through the woods, plunged into cold water, sat around fires and gazed up at the stars.
Power came from a hydro mill in the Elan Valley and a water source heat pump provided hot water. A food-growing project was underway, with about an acre to an acre and a half under cultivation and plans to expand to three or four acres within two or three years.
The retreat held a five-star review in Conde Nast Traveller and was named Spa of the Year in The Times and Sunday Times, where it also scored 9/10. The makeover of the house was filmed as a documentary series for the Discovery Channel.
It is no longer operating. A statement in October 2026 said the retreat would pause at Rhydoldog from December 2026, and on 13 November 2026 The Dreaming confirmed on Instagram that this was a permanent closure rather than a break.
- Three-day retreat stay at Rhydoldog House - Accommodation in one of eight guest rooms - Communal meals, mostly vegetarian and vegan - Sessions in the Healing Room: movement, yoga, sound healing, group work - Access to the gardens, Potting Shed, Japanese Tea House and Waterfall Shower - Opportunity to help plant and harvest vegetables and cook with the chefs
- Alcohol (banned on site) - Travel to Rhydoldog House - Travel insurance