When we’re young, imaginations dancing with fairytales and fanciful dreams for the future, the idea that falling in love and living ‘happily ever after’ might take work seems as far removed from reality as the idea that our favourite teddy doesn’t love us back. And perhaps, as teenagers making our first foray into the world of romance, it is all too easy for our friends to dub a union that feels like anything less than perfect a waste of time. Yet, I viscerally remember the thunderbolt that came from learning, at the tender age of 21, that – as my grandmother put it – the best and most sustaining relationships do take work.
That’s not to say we should ignore markers like gut instinct when it comes to deciding whether to work on or walk away from a bond that feels a little frayed, just to acknowledge that the honeymoon phase is called as much for a reason: it’s a finite, almost dreamlike, period. Though in today’s world, with distractions aplenty, carving out the time to work on our relationships is harder than we might first anticipate. Enter: the couples retreats, a tonic for twosomes looking to lift themselves above the daily grind that we all become entrenched in and make some time for real quality, healing, life-affirming time together.
Here, we’ve curated a clutch of the best couples retreats to help you reconnect with your partner and fall in love all over again. Because that’s what true romance is really all about.
The Life Change People’s Therapy Retreat, Essex Coast
If group workshops and laying your feelings bare in front of others seem daunting, The Life Change People have devised a solution: do it alone. Their unique therapy retreat is based around a unique 20-hour therapy programme that moves at your pace, where you and your partner can access sessions with relationship counsellors and life coaches. By the end of your stay, your team will have created your personal Relationship Change Plan, which outlines what you will change and how, giving you a blueprint for moving forward.
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The Arrigo Programme, Somerset
With over 35 years of experience working with couples and individuals, the Arrigo Programme is an award-winning formula of rest, healing and recovery delivered on a bespoke basis to each person taking part. Though many go alone, the retreat caters to couples looking to re-engage or work through a significant life challenge. Here, you’ll stay in your self-contained accommodation in the peace of rural Somerset – and though the lodgings are not five-star, they celebrate life’s simple comforts, from fresh flowers and candles to wood-burning fires, with breakfast taken care of. The idea is that you find space to simply ‘be’ while also learning about self-care by attending to your needs.
Y42 Radical Loving Couples Retreat, Lincolnshire
This four-day retreat runs several times a year within the walls and grounds of a 400-year-old manor house by the North Sea. It is run by life coaches and breathwork teachers who specialise in helping couples to improve intimacy and re-energise their connection. Throughout the retreat, couples will tackle limiting beliefs that negatively impact their bond and define and communicate their needs as an individual and partner to their other half. Weaved in and amongst the heart-opening workshops, walks by the sea, strolls around the garden, and visits to the nearby temples are encouraged.
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Total Immersion Couples Therapy Programme, various UK locations
Whether you’re looking to get ‘unstuck’ in your relationship, outline a new way forward together, work on sex and intimacy or breathe a bit of new life into your union, this immersive programme runs all over the UK (as well as at a dedicated retreat in France) and consists of four or five consecutive days of sessions with dedicated therapists. As the programme explains, rapidly accelerating the therapy engagement really allows stuck couples to address deeper, long-standing issues that would not otherwise come to the fore in traditional weekly therapy. The retreat prides itself on helping couples who feel they have been searching for solutions for a while to accelerate through the tougher times in a timely and cost-effective way.
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Yoga Nidra Meditation Retreat For Couples, Isle of Mull
Journey to the Inner Hebridean island of Mull for five days of reconnection with nature as you bathe in the cradle of Mull’s presence, with yourself, through meditation and inner reflection workshops and with your partner. Just a five-minute walk from the harbour, the retreat location lends itself to total calm, helping you shirk off daily stresses and responsibilities and really rerooting and resetting. There is no specific intention for couples over the retreat, nor does it include therapy sessions, but the programme is designed to intentionally carve out time to reconnect and refresh yourselves away from the bustle of day-to-day life. Bodywork, breathing techniques and meditation practices are all designed to give those who join a toolkit to life that they may carry with them long after they leave the island.
Relationship Retreats, Sussex & Kent
Offering individual and small group retreats, the aim here is to support every couple in search of support, no matter their situation or budget. Led by experts with over 25 years of experience within the industry, their combined expertise has been used on TV programmes such as Married at First Sight and are often heralded across the media for their ‘no nonsense’ yet holistic, supportive approach to helping couples move forward with their relationship. The retreat has partnered with Champneys for several years, though they also offer immersive 24-hour retreats across the South East of England. And, uniquely, the support provided is ongoing, with couples able to access continued coaching and therapy post-retreat, releasing any pressure to ‘fix’ everything within a single weekend.
Deluxe room at The Falcon
BirthTactics Bump, Bubbles and Bonding Retreats, Northamptonshire
Previously hosted at The Falcon Hotel in Northamptonshire, once home to Lord and Lady Northampton, the Bumps, Bubbles, and Bonding retreats run in both the UK and Mallorca, with the sole purpose being to help expectant couples to relax, give them space to discuss all things pregnancy, labour and birth, and consider their birth preferences before their baby arrives. The retreats are a much-needed medley of spa treatments, walks, guided antenatal classes and one-to-one support to help make your journey into parenthood as smooth and well-informed as possible and allow you and your partner quality time together before your bundle of joy arrives.
