Half Day Poetry Retreat: The Art of Ordinary Joy

🌞 The Art of Ordinary Joy — A Half-Day Poetry Retreat

What if the most meaningful art didn’t come from grand gestures or perfect words, but from the little things we often overlook — the smell of rain on warm soil, the hum of the kettle, the sound of laughter drifting through an open window?

The Art of Ordinary Joy is a half-day poetry retreat designed to help you rediscover the beauty hidden in the everyday. It’s a celebration of presence, curiosity, and delight — an invitation to slow down and notice the small, quiet miracles that make life feel full.

We’ll gather in a tranquil countryside setting, surrounded by nature’s calm — a cosy space with a log burner, soft light, and views across the lake. With tea in hand and creativity flowing, we’ll spend the afternoon exploring poetry as a practice of noticing, celebrating, and remembering.

Through guided readings and a series of playful writing exercises, we’ll learn to turn moments of ordinary living into extraordinary art. You’ll read poems by writers who find magic in the everyday, and discover how to weave joy, humour, gratitude, and humanity into your own writing.

Together we’ll:

✨ Write odes to the overlooked — the small, imperfect things that make life rich.

✨ Explore memory and sensory detail as a way to capture joy on the page.

✨ Experiment with playful forms and creative freedom — poems that are fun to write, not just beautiful to read.

✨ Build a deeper connection to yourself and the world around you through simple observation and expression.

You don’t need to call yourself a poet to come. This retreat is for anyone who feels drawn to slow down, reconnect, and create — whether you’re new to writing or returning to it after years away.

You’ll leave with the beginnings of new poems, a fresh sense of wonder, and the reminder that joy doesn’t live in the extraordinary — it’s already right here, waiting in the ordinary moments of your day.

Come celebrate life’s everyday poetry.Because joy isn’t something we chase — it’s something we notice.