A couple of people have said to me “I’m sorry things didn’t work out with the Retreats”. That is so FAR from the truth I thought I’d explain…
After nearly 6 years and masses of refurbishment (almost all entirely done now and I miss that), I want it to continue as a writing retreat because it has the potential to do far more than the 6 to 8 sold-out Retreats I do per year at the moment. I just can’t split myself in two. Yes it can be a holiday let, although that market is less this year. But it could be so much more but I just don’t have the time. I need to write my 5th novel and get it finished – finally – it’s taken me over six years, so far… there’s a coincidence! I wonder why…
Plus more than anything, my daughter now has a three-year-old girl and a six month old boy, and the baby years will fly by far too quickly for me to see them enough. And you only get this time once, right? She lives in West Wales, too, which is four hours from where I’m based most of the time – in London. And considering my QVC work at weekends has never stopped – it pays so well and I love it so much – I would not stop doing that, not for years.
I set up everything needed for Retreats For You to be a tea room, and it HAS been, on occasion, and people have loved it. So it could become a regular destination for a Devon Cream Tea (cream first!) – all the equipment is here. If I could clone myself, it would be, we are even on the Suss-trans-cycle route, and the village square location is perfect. There’s a Lyons Tea sign in the old 1930s photo, with then-owners the Jones family, can you spot it? Back when it used to be a shop. And of course it was a pub before that through the 17&1800s. It’s always been a central focus of the village life.
If someone was keen, there is extension potential, not only in the gigantic loft that used to be servants’ quarters, but also with the barn and studio out the back.
Taking over and slipping into my shoes would be easy – there’s already a fab team that help me look after the place: gardening, handyman jobs, cleaning and housekeeping. The full network of contractors who service the fire extinguishers, boiler, wood burner & chimneys etcetera. And there’s all the social media and Web platforms that I have loved expanding and developing and contacts for some brilliant affordable IT help if needed.
But I can’t clone myself.
I love running the retreats and I love looking after people. But I love seeing my grandchildren more. I love my friends down here and it’s a great place to spend time. But that book won’t write itself if I don’t make time for it. It’s a hard decision.
So I made it.
I made the decision earlier in the year when I had a tough time with a member of the family who was really ill and I thought, you know life is too short. I also decided to cut back in certain other areas as well. I was spending my time helping associations, getting involved in events for example I have decided to resign from those as well. So, overall, something has to give.
This was the hardest decision of all. But it’s not because it hasn’t worked, it’s because it has, and it has so much potential, that I felt it’s time to pass the baton.
However I want it to go to the right person who will love it as much as I have and let me come back as a writer myself! (Bags the George room, the big one at the top of the stairs!)
So here is the opportunity for somebody to take it over as it is now, inherit all of the wonderful established Retreats For You social media, website, Newsletter database, IT experts who help me; housekeeping team; goodwill and a calendar of bookings with our ever popular tutors running sold-out workshops, and of course the famous ‘just write’ retreats, so people can come and tuck themselves away in their own cosy room, share meals with like-minded writers, and focus on themselves for a change with someone else taking care of all the chores and cooking.
The deal is this – I had an offer of £610,000 just for the house not the contents, but I don’t want to sell it just as a residential. (Although it has planning permission to be a residential). I want to sell it to someone who will carry on Retreats For You, and make it even more impressive.
What about yoga retreats a friend said to me. Craft retreats said another. Ceramics, painting, photography… The answer is yes yes yes and yes, anything is possible.
They could possibly offer B&B in between, even taking overspill guests from the pub opposite sometimes, as I did when I was here more.
Expand on the tea room? Or even take up the current opportunity to take over the village community shop, as it’s currently looking for a new home.
Who would love owning RFY?
A couple maybe, where one person likes cooking and looking after people (but only every so often,) and the other person is good at fixing things. Every time I look at the details for my lovely house, I think, “gosh I’d like to have that!” After all it’s exactly how I like it, so why wouldn’t I.
That’s why I would run the first few retreats with the new owner, and do a proper thorough handover to make sure everything is smoothly continued. And it’s pretty much all up to scratch and already in place.
The tea and coffee making in every room, a mini gym, most of the furniture, the wonderful deluxe mattresses including Sealy Posturepedic and tempur, the high thread count linen (although for holiday lets I usually use a high-quality linen service). Every room now has a desk, lamp & padded chair to sit on to write/ a special comfort cushion. Massage devices to ease those tired shoulders after slumping over a keyboard. Dressing gowns, slippers, almost everything new since I moved in.
There is £103,000 worth of fixtures and fittings. And that’s what would constitute the cost for the business (obviously you can’t get a mortgage on those so the new buyers need to have that resource.) So technically it could be bought as a residential but I definitely do not want to abandon Retreats For You, so I’m looking for someone who wants the whole kit and caboodle, purchased in that way, and I would pass on the business as well.
Since I arrived I have put in a new kitchen, new bathroom, new oil tank, overhauled the heating system, new Wi-Fi, re-done some of the thatch, converted various storage areas to be proper storage. I’ve Installed a working suite in the studio toilet. Painted everywhere inside and out. Treated various areas of rotting wood. Revamped the barn/granary bedroom and storage underneath, built in a shed where the old wood store used to be and sorted out the recycling area and the wood log store. Finished off the studio so it’s now usable, a huge space, added a massive TV; a wood burner in the lounge, brand-new sofas and chairs. Put in three-phase electricity ready for expansion. and tended the garden, removing appropriate trees, planting flowers and containers, including outside and down the side garden so it now all looks beautiful.
Re-done the utility room including new white goods. The Rayburn is still there, oil fired now, and it could work if someone wanted to use it, but it looks just great! And added two wonderful ensuite bathrooms upstairs, so sympathetically installed that they look like they’ve been here for years.
I’m very very proud of what I’ve done here, and if I could clone myself I would do all of what I’m suggesting above. But when all is said and done, family is more important. I love my life in Devon, it’s one of the best places in the world to be. To live and become part of the community. You can tell I’m torn.
But as much as I love it all, I realise someone else may be even more perfect than me.
So if you know if somebody looking for a change of life, to retire to the Southwest, would they be enchanted by the prospect of a grade two listed, Thatched, 1600s 6 bedroom, 3 reception house, plus studio and barn, courtyard & walled garden with summer house; with massive potential; in a picturesque sleepy north Devon village conservation area, with history dating back to medieval times and a wonderful village community…… But wants an income, loves writing or loves books, and loves the idea of running a few retreats every month, (or has much more adventurous ideas)…. Well, Retreats For You is waiting for them, just let them know, okay?
In essence, it HAS worked out, superbly. It’s everything I ever imagined it could be and the potential is enormous. But it could be so much more than it is, with the right new owner, and with me unable to clone myself (how annoying is that, right?!)
So I bit the bullet and made a hard decision. It will mean I can play with my grandson Jasper and granddaughter Phoebe much more often than I am able to at the moment, and know that the writing community still have one of the most unique venues ever, for tutors to do workshops, or for writers to escape to. That’s my aim anyway.
Meanwhile…
We have one place left on Rosemary Dun’s debut workshop with us, September 19, four nights, writing a commercial novel and discovering some of the keys to a successful plot…
And two places left in November on our final ‘just write’ Retreat, in the 2022 diary at the moment. More info here.
https://www.retreatsforyou.co.uk/events/
Events Archive – Retreats for You
Alison May, Developing Your Novel – Tutored Retreat (Oct 2022) 17 October 2022. Alison May returns to us, for another SOLD OUT week (as usual) for anyone with a novel in progress. More info here.
Email me here if you’d like to find out more. Or if you would like to be sent the estate agent’s details for Retreats For You, The Court, The Square, Sheepwash.
Much love and thank you all for bearing with us through lockdown and emerging out the other side. I know the vast majority will also be there through the next new phase, with a new era and a new owner. As long as it’s the right person, I promise! I will keep you informed.
Best wishes and lots of love
Debbie Flint & Team
@retreatsforyou
www.retreatsforyou.co.uk
Also a holiday let ‘Sheepwash Square House’, on Cottages.com
If urgent please WhatsApp me on (07949) 052208