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Join us for four days of stillness, where you're invited to step away from the busyness of daily life and into the crisp, peaceful beauty of the Suffolk countryside this winter.
There are times in life when what we need most is not another answer, another strategy or another thing to work on. We simply need space. Space away from the noise and demands of everyday life, space for the mind to quieten, and space to reconnect with a deeper sense of ourselves.
This November, we warmly invite you to join us for Winter Grace, a deeply nourishing four-night retreat in the peaceful Suffolk countryside. Set in a beautiful country farmhouse in the village of Sibton, this is an opportunity to step away from the pace of everyday life and settle into a gentler rhythm of meaningful conversation, quiet reflection, nourishing food, countryside walks, warmth, laughter and rest.
Surrounded by the stillness of late autumn, with a wood-fired hot tub, sauna and cosy farmhouse to return to at the end of the day, Winter Grace has been created as a place to slow down and simply be. There is nowhere else you need to be, nothing you need to achieve and no pressure to become a better version of yourself. You are invited to come exactly as you are.
At the heart of Winter Grace is an exploration of the Three Principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought, as shared by Sydney Banks. These Principles point towards a simple but profound understanding of how human experience is created from the inside out.
Most of us have spent years believing that our feelings are being created by what is happening around us: our circumstances, relationships, work, past experiences or uncertain future. We naturally try to arrange life in ways that will make us feel more secure, peaceful or happy, while also attempting to control, improve or manage our thinking.
The Three Principles invite us to look in a different direction. They point towards the role Thought plays in bringing our moment-to-moment experience to life and towards the deeper intelligence and wellbeing that remain present beneath the constant movement of the mind.
As this understanding begins to deepen, we can start to relate differently to our own thinking. Rather than needing to fix every uncomfortable thought or feeling, we may begin to see them as temporary experiences that naturally change. We can become less frightened by what passes through our minds, less consumed by overthinking and more able to trust the clarity that returns when the mind settles.
This is not about learning positive thinking, controlling your thoughts or applying another set of techniques to your life. The Three Principles are not a method to master. They are an invitation to see something about the nature of human experience for yourself.
20th–24th November 2026 | Sibton, Suffolk
I was blown away with the environment and the depth and beauty that Dave & Jenny set. It was a lovely retreat with a lot of time to reflect and nothing rushed, it was great. There were things I saw differently. I felt paid attention to, seen and heard and been with. The ease, quiet & connection you feel while on retreat happened beautifully.
Wendy Williams
Boston, USA
This was my first retreat and I’ve been wanting to do one for years, Dave and Jen were unbelievable hosts and the set up was perfect. The food was amazing the whole time and the others on the retreat were all great people, we had time to explore the Suffolk countryside and genuinely have the best time. I loved the way Dave and Jen shared, through stories and discussions we all had incredible moments. I personally deepened my understanding of everything. The whole experience, as well as the insights Ive had on the retreat and afterwards have completely changed my life in a beautiful way.
Ben Shallcross
Norfolk, UK
So much of modern life encourages us to see ourselves as projects in need of constant improvement. We are told to work on our mindset, heal our past, regulate our emotions, become more resilient, overcome our limiting beliefs and learn ever more sophisticated ways of managing ourselves.
For some people, this search becomes exhausting.
The deeper invitation of the Three Principles is the possibility that your essential wellbeing has never actually been lost. It may have become obscured by stress, fear, busy thinking or difficult circumstances, but it has not disappeared.
This is one of the reasons the understanding can be so powerful. Rather than giving people more to do, it points towards what is already present. Clarity, resilience, creativity, wisdom and peace do not have to be manufactured from scratch. They are qualities that can naturally become more visible when the mind is less caught up in its own noise.
Sometimes a fresh insight can change the way we relate to something we have struggled with for years. We may suddenly see a problem through different eyes, understand our own reactions more gently or realise that we do not have to believe every thought simply because it appears.
The change is often subtle, but the impact can be lasting because we are not simply learning how to cope differently. We are beginning to understand ourselves differently.
Winter Grace is not designed as an intensive self-development programme where every hour is filled with activities. The rhythm of the retreat will intentionally be spacious, allowing time for both meaningful conversation and quiet reflection.
Our Three Principles sessions will be relaxed and conversational, exploring subjects such as the nature of Thought, innate wellbeing, resilience, listening to our own wisdom and what becomes possible when we stop taking every thought so seriously. There will be no pressure to speak, disclose personal experiences or reach any particular conclusion.
Between sessions, there will be plenty of time to enjoy the farmhouse and surrounding countryside. You may choose to read, journal, sit quietly with a cup of tea, take a walk through the winter landscape, talk with someone by the fire or simply enjoy doing very little.
There will also be opportunities to unwind in the sauna and wood-fired hot tub, particularly welcome after a crisp November walk. These quieter moments are not separate from the retreat experience. Often, when we stop actively searching for answers, something fresh has the opportunity to arise naturally.
One of the most reassuring things we can begin to see through the Three Principles is that we do not have to create a perfectly quiet mind in order to be well.
Human beings think. Our minds become busy. We worry, imagine, remember, anticipate and occasionally get completely lost in our own thinking. None of this means anything has gone fundamentally wrong with us.
Thought naturally moves. Feelings change. Perspective returns.
We experience this all the time. Something that feels overwhelming one evening can look completely different the following morning. An answer sometimes arrives after we have stopped searching for it. A difficult emotion passes without us having to solve it. We suddenly know what to do.
The mind has a natural capacity to settle.
Winter Grace offers the time and environment to explore this more deeply, not so that you can return home with a permanently peaceful mind, but so that you may become less troubled when your mind is not peaceful.
There can be enormous freedom in discovering that every uncomfortable thought does not require action and every difficult feeling does not need to be analysed. Beneath the changing weather of our thinking, there is a deeper capacity for clarity and wisdom that remains available to us.
The slower rhythm of winter feels particularly suited to this kind of retreat. The countryside quietens, the evenings draw in and there is something naturally restorative about gathering inside a warm farmhouse while the November landscape settles outside.
You will have time to enjoy refreshing countryside walks around Sibton, allowing the natural world to offer its own reminder that life does not need to be rushed. There will be generous periods for rest and reflection, alongside shared meals and conversations that can continue naturally around the table or beside the fire.
Wholesome home-cooked dinners will be prepared each evening, with breakfast also included each morning. The intention is to make your stay as easy and nourishing as possible so that, for a few days, you can allow yourself to put down some of the responsibility and simply be looked after.
Your four-night stay includes accommodation, breakfast, home-cooked evening meals, Three Principles conversations, time for reflection and countryside walks, and full use of the wood-fired hot tub and sauna.
Founders of Freedom Thinking and experienced facilitators of the Three Principles understanding. Having facilitated hundreds of people from all round the world teaching and sharing the Three Principles understanding in their own unique way, Dave and Jenny create warm, grounded spaces in which people can slow down, feel at ease and explore a deeper understanding of themselves and their experience.
Dates: Saturday 20th & Sunday 24th November
Place: Sibton, Suffolk
Investment pricing based on two people sharing:
Twin Basic Room £700 per person
Standard Room £750 per person
Ensuite twin or double room £850 per person
Breakfast & Dinner is included.
Places are limited for this intimate four-day gathering.
You can secure your space by contacting Dave & Jenny to book via email or phone;
info@freedomthinking.co.uk
07855014777
You do not need any previous experience of the Three Principles to join us. Winter Grace is equally suitable for someone encountering this understanding for the first time and for someone who has known the Principles for many years and would simply appreciate the opportunity to deepen their grounding.
You may be drawn to the retreat because life has felt particularly busy or noisy. Perhaps you have found yourself overthinking, feeling stressed or standing at a crossroads. You may have spent years exploring personal development and reached a point where you no longer want another technique to practise or another version of yourself to become.
Equally, life may be going perfectly well and you may simply feel the pull towards a few meaningful days in beautiful surroundings with thoughtful people.
There is no particular reason you need to have.
There is nothing you need to prepare and no state of mind you need to arrive in.
Come exactly as you are.
Of course, we hope you leave Winter Grace feeling deeply rested. We hope you enjoy the farmhouse, the countryside, the food, the warmth of the sauna and the simple pleasure of sitting beneath a November sky in the wood-fired hot tub.
But the deeper possibility of this retreat is not simply that you feel peaceful while you are here.
Eventually, we all return home. The emails return, the responsibilities return and ordinary life continues.
What may remain is a fresh understanding of where your experience of peace actually comes from.
Perhaps one of the most important things you recognise is that the peace you experienced in Suffolk was not actually created by Suffolk. The countryside may have helped your mind settle. The conversations may have pointed you towards something. The quieter rhythm may have allowed you to notice what was already there.
But the source of that peace travels home with you.
Because it was never somewhere outside you to begin with.
Winter Grace is an invitation to remember that.
To step away from the noise for a few days and reconnect with the clarity, resilience and wisdom that are already part of you.
To rest without needing to earn it.
To reflect without needing to find an answer.
And to return home perhaps seeing yourself, your mind and your life a little differently.