Writing in Place
A writing retreat on the Camino de Santiago
Join us on-site for a soulful 10-day writing retreat
June 20 - July 1, 2025
with the possibility to add …
an optional 4 day mini pilgrimage to the Valley of Silence
July 1 - 5, 2025
Embark on a Transformative Journey: Writing in Place
Immerse yourself in the timeless beauty of a medieval stone village where the essence of time and place invites you to connect with yourself and the sacred landscape of an ancient pilgrims’ path. In this liminal space where past and present converge, the power of place becomes a profound source of inspiration and creative energy.
Designed for writers of all levels—this retreat weaves together inspiring themes, immersive visits to sacred sites, reflective writing exercises and ample time for writing to discover your unique response to the power of place. Guided by experienced facilitators, you’ll engage deeply with the land, immersing yourself in ancient petroglyphs, dolmens and ancient chapels, all set against a backdrop of stunning vistas of serene beauty. These encounters with the Camino’s natural and historical richness will ground and inspire your creative process, fostering a deeper connection to the stories of the land and the stories within you.
Free from the distractions of daily life, this retreat offers rest, renewal and a soulful space where your creativity can awaken and unfold. Whether journaling, composing poetry or letting your words flow freely, you will be encouraged to write authentically, allowing your experiences to shape and guide your work. This is not about following a formula or crafting a perfect narrative—it is about trusting the process and embracing the journey.
Your Writing Journey
Rosalind Brackenbury—an acclaimed author of novels, poetry collections, and award-winning short stories— brings her wealth of experience and teaching expertise to support you on your writing journey. Each day offers the opportunity to delve into inspiring themes, participate in guided exercises and unlock the natural flow of your own creativity. In a welcoming community of fellow creative companions, you will be given space to share your work aloud, gaining valuable feedback, sparking inspiration in one another and building meaningful connections that enrich your experience. You will also have the opportunity to have a one on one session with Rosalind should you like one.
Connecting with Place
Basia Goodwin and Bertrand Gamrowski bring their wealth of expertise and deep passion for the region, the Camino, its landscapes, and architectural treasures. Through their guidance, you will explore meaningful ways to connect with the land and its history.
Enjoy beautiful poetic presentations and opportunities to create simple sacred geometric designs inspired by labyrinths and Celtic-like patterns found in the sacred sites we visit. If you wish you can also experience painting these designs using natural earth pigments that we will collect on our visits, fostering a tactile connection to the land. Whether as a meditative break or a creative addition to your work, this practice offers a unique way to connect with the landscape and its stories..
You will be expertly guided into the land, offering more than just visits. This journey invites you to connect with the landscape and its treasures at a more experiential level. Together, we will enter sites intentionally to be fully present to the space. By blending encounters with the earth, sacred designs, the rich legends of the sites and spacious moments of stillness, you will be invited to nurture a deeper relationship with these extraordinary places to enrich your writing.
Discover 4 to 5,000-year-old petroglyphs, in their original dramatic setting offering a profound connection to the ancestors who once inhabited this land and their intimate responses to place. This unique experience also includes a visit to a remarkable dolmen with mid-season alignments, the secluded ermita of Santa Marina nestled in nature, by a river and a sacred grove as well as a Visigothic chapel dating back to the 7th-10th century, where monks once chanted and illuminated the potent Beatus manuscript .
Additionally, since the Camino is on the doorstep of the retreat centre, you’ll have the opportunity to walk parts of it as well as explore other paths in the stunning surroundings in your free time.
Meeting the land and its treasures
Enjoy
Spacious time away from home in an environment where beauty matters
Discovering the Camino and its treasures
Learning through presentations and immersive sessions that nurture your voice
Opportunities to delve into sacred designs and earth pigments
Support by experienced facilitators and a group of like minded companions.
What you’ll gain and take home
A deeper connection to a timeless landscape, inspiring you to engage with any place in a more meaningful way.
Renewed energy and focus, enabling you to approach your creative life with renewed inspiration.
Fresh perspectives that continue to resonate long after the retreat.
Insights into your creative process, helping you write with greater freedom and confidence.
Practical writing and creative practices that can enrich your artistic or reflective endeavors.
A supportive network of like-minded individuals who share your passion for exploration and creativity.
Lasting memories of immersive experiences with the land, sacred sites, and the unique power and history of the Camino, shaping the stories you’ll continue to write and live.
No prior writing experience or artistic abilities are required, only a curious and open mind.
If the following describes you, then you are a perfect fit for this retreat:
I appreciate moments of quiet & times of reflection.
I give space to others and can listen.
I value community experiences as well as my own individual journey.
Is this retreat for me?
What is a retreat?
Workshops are often skill-focused and goal-oriented, while retreats are experience-focused, offering space away from everyday life for renewal, reflection and discovery. Along the way, you will not only gain valuable skills and insights but also be invited into deeper connection—with the land, yourself and others.
This retreat creates a nourishing environment that combines introspection, creativity, and guidance to support your personal journey while celebrating the value of community. Many participants find that the relationships formed—whether with people, nature, or themselves—continue to unfold, enriching their daily lives and creative pursuits long after the experience.
The Village
You will be staying in one of the most beautiful villages in all of Spain as voted by National Geographic. A heritage site, the village dates back from Celtic times to the 16th century. Enjoy stunning views at every turn. The village is in complete harmony with its surroundings. The warm coloured stones will embrace you. They glow at sunset and the old arched wooden doors dazzle red, blue and green.
Embraced within a peaceful environment on the Camino, you will be held with care. Your home will be Flores del Camino - a charming traditional Maragato house with heart and soul ran by Basia and Bertrand. Enjoy gorgeous creative workspaces nested around a courtyard. You will be staying in one of our charming ensuite rooms at Flores, or at the nearby hotel we work in partnership with. Enjoy stunning views overlooking the village, church and rural landscape. As well as soul-nourishing sessions, enjoy delicious meals homemade with fresh ingredients. Free from your busy daily obligations, you can fully focus on yourself in a supportive, restorative space.
Where you will be staying
Optional part 2
A 4 day pilgrimage to the Valley of Silence
Walking the Way
Make the most of being here. Continue the retreat with a soulfully curated 4 day pilgrimage. It is open only to the retreat participants to ensure an intimate experience. Leaving from the doorstep of the retreat centre, you’ll step onto one of the most beautiful stretches of the Way. The walking is spacious and unhurried, allowing you to set your own pace.
Our shorter Camino offers a deeply enriching experience of this ancient pilgrims’ road. Complete in its own right, it is carefully designed into meaningful stages, culminating in the serene Valley of Silence—our sacred and alternative destination along the Camino path.
Our Camino
After three days of walking the Camino, passing the iconic Iron Cross where pilgrims leave a stone from home, we will spend a final day in retreat at the Valley of Silence. Also recognized as one of Spain’s most beautiful villages by National Geographic, this enchanting place inspires stillness, awe and wonder. You’ll stay in special accommodations within the valley, immersed in its serene beauty. At its heart, we’ll encounter a hermit’s cave and the pre-Romanesque church of Peñalba de Santiago, exhibiting petrogyphs and meaningful solsticial alignments. Rooted in rich heritage and the spirit of the land, this sacred journey offers beauty, solitude, and community—a path walked by countless pilgrims seeking transformation and spiritual connection.
Preliminary Schedule
Arrival Day ~ Fri, 20th June
Arrival between 3pm and 7pm - evening meal and welcome.
Day 1 ~ Sat, June 21st
Introduction to the schedule and themes of the retreat. Guided entry into liminal space, a time of slowing down and leaving everyday life behind. Afternoon walk around the village and surroundings and then writing exercise upon returning. Sharing our writing.
Day 2 ~ Sun, June 22nd
Morning pages. Writing sessions continued in the morning (Rosalind will offer individual one on one sessions throughout the week). Afternoon presentation on the Camino and symbols of pilgrimage.
Day 3 ~ Mon, June 23rd
Morning pages. Writing sessions continued in the morning with individual one on one sessions with Rosalind throughout the week. Afternoon presentation on the Camino, symbols of pilgrimage continued, drawing a labyrinth.
Day 4 ~ Tue, June 24th
Visit to petroglyphs (depicting labyrinth designs), and labyrinth walk. Afternoon writing.
Day 5 ~ Wed, June 25th
Morning pages. Morning session : preparing natural pigments and painting with the earth. Afternoon walk and writing on the trail and or painting with natural pigments. Storytelling in the evenings.
Day 6 ~ Thu, June 26th
Free day
Day 7 ~ Fri, June 27th
Visit to Visigothic monastery san miguel de Escalada. Afternoon walk / writing on the trail / and or painting with natural pigments. Storytelling in the evenings.
Day 8 ~ Sat, June 28th
Morning pages. Writing sessions. Afternoon walk / writing on the trail / and or painting with natural pigments. Storytelling in the evenings
Day 9 ~ Sun, June 29th
Morning pages. Writing sessions. Afternoon walk / writing on the trail / and or painting with natural pigments. Storytelling in the evenings.
Day 10 ~ Mon, June 30th
Morning pages. Writing sessions and closing our time together.
Day 11 ~ Tue, July 1st
Breakfast and departure, or…
Extend your retreat with a 4 day mini pilgrimage, along one of the most beautiful stretches of the Way to the breathtaking Valley of Silence.
Flores del Camino ~ Rabanal - Pilgrimage Day 1
(14km - average walking time 3h - 250m / 800ft up)
As you leave Flores and pass through the lovely villages of Santa Catalina and El Ganso, you’ll be accompanied by Camino symbols, the labyrinth and the goose. You will cross a threshold, from a flat landscape to a gentle climb. Your destination for the day is the charming village of Rabanal, with more than a thousand years of history linked to the Visigoths and Templars. In the evening, you will experience the pilgrims’ blessings & vespers, still chanted by the monks in the atmospheric 12th century Romanesque church.
We will walk each day in sacred silence. In the evenings, there will be opportunity for gentle community refection for those who are interested.
Day 12 ~ Wed, July 2nd
Rabanal ~ El Acebo - Pilgrimage Day 2
(17km - average walking time 3h30 - 400m / 1,300ft up then 400m / 1,300ft down)
At this meaningful point on your journey, you will reach the highest point on the Camino: Cruz del Ferro, a gentle place of letting go for pilgrims. Here, you are invited to participate in the tradition of symbolically leaving a stone from home. As you pass the mountains of León, you will discover breath-taking views over the Bierzo region. Your destination of the day is the charming mountain hamlet of El Acebo with its distinctive architectural style. The day will end at dusk as you watch the sunset over the the extensive Bierzo plain from a purposeful viewing point in the village.
Day 13 ~ Thu, July 3rd
El Acebo ~ Molinaseca - Pilgrimage Day 3
(8km - average walking time 1h45 - 550m / 1,800ft down)
You will descend the mountain to reach the charming village of Molinaseca situated by a tranquil river. After having lunch there, we will make our way by car to the nearby Peñalba de Santiago. Nested within the breathtaking Valley of Silence, Peñalba is our highly symbolic pilgrimage destination. It is known for its exquisite 10th century Mozarabic church with solstitial alignments.
Day 14 ~ Fri, July 4th
Peñalba de Santiago - The Valley of Silence - Pilgrimage Day 4
The valley gained its name because a hermit lived there in silent contemplation. At sunrise you will make the circular journey around the Valley to and from the hermit’s cave. For the rest of the day we will end our time in purposeful reflection on Jonah’s journey, your personal pilgrimage and preparations for your return home.
Departure Day ~ Sat, July 5th
Morning departure by taxi from Peñalba to Madrid
Drop off at Madrid Airport at 1pm (under normal traffic circumstances)
Your Facilitators
Rosalind Brackenbury is a novelist, poet, as well as an experienced teacher. She has taught many writing workshops – in the UK as writer in schools in SW Scotland, in the US as writer-in-residence at the College of William and Mary and at the Studios of Key West. She teaches regular classes based on “The Artist’s Way.” She wrote for “Resurgence” magazine in the UK for many years and has a particular interest in writing about the natural world and ourselves as part of it. She has walked parts of the Camino twice, in 2010 and again in 2018, and loves walking, wild swimming and dance.
Basia Goodwin is co-founder of Flores del Camino, an artist, educator, and passionate retreat facilitator. She is dedicated to crafting intentional spaces for creative and contemplative journeys and leading groups on the Camino as a rite of passage experience. An alumnus of the Kings School of Traditional Arts, she specialises in traditional arts, craft & philosophy. In her creative practice she makes & paints with natural pigments, using local Camino ochre earths and loves to share this joy with others.
Bertrand Gamrowski is co-founder of Flores del Camino, a dedicated retreat facilitator and educator specialising in sacred architecture on the Camino. He has conducted original research in this field. Bertrand finds joy in inspiring others through his knowledge and passion for the spirit, rich history and architectural treasures of the Camino and teaches sacred geometry as a contemplative, hands on practice.
What’s included
Accommodation
During your stay at Flores del Camino, all accommodation consists of ensuite bedrooms.
Food
During your stay at Flores del Camino, enjoy nourishing and healthy meals prepared onsite and served with love in either the dining area or in the courtyard under the pergola. Wine is offered at dinner.
Dietary requirements
When on-site at Flores, we cater for the following dietary requirements: vegetarian, gluten-free, carb-free, dairy-free.
Please get in touch with us if you have concerns.
Sessions
All equipment & material provided.
Outings
Site entries & transport fares for cultural activities.
Private transport between Madrid & the retreat centre
If you prefer to arrive independently to the retreat centre, see how to get here.
What’s not included
Flights
Insurances (travel, health, etc.)
Possibly one meal taken outside during visits (budget ~25€ per meal)
Book this Retreat
Join us on-site for a soulful 10-day writing retreat
June 20 - July 1, 2025
Early bird ( until Jan 31st ) 3,500€
Full price 3,750€
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Retreat and 4 day mini pilgrimage to the Valley of Silence.
June 20 - July 5, 2025
Early bird ( until Jan 31st ) 4,950€
Full price 5,200€