Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to be invited on my Tai Chi clubs’ annual retreat to a place called Unstone Grange. The itinerary varies from year to year, but includes plenty of Tajiquan, some meditation and some drinking. A recipe for a good weekend!

Unstone Grange is a country house set in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside. It’s owned by a charity who maintain it and run it for organisations and clubs to hold retreats, though there have been weddings here as well. Below, you can see the view from the drive, followed by the view from the side of the house. You can see the attic dorm I was in, in the first photo, it’s the one on the left hand side.

As I hinted earlier, we slept in single sex dormitories, which are located on and above the first floor, I was located up in the attic.

The break was just what I needed, just when I needed it, Unstone Grange is an amazingly peaceful place. It’s an amazing experience for townie like myself to do outdoor Tai Chi practise surrounded by rolling countryside instead of houses. Doing some early morning Chi Kung in the clear country air was a fantastic way to start the day!

Unstone Grange has it’s own gardens where they grow their own organic herbs and vegetables, they also run courses on organic gardening. The Deer Tribe have their own area as well, you can see the TeePees in the lower photo below.

In addition, it was good to get the chance to talk about eastern philosophy and Zen Buddhism, the Zen guys in the group gave themselves away as soon as the guided meditation started!

Finally, I got the chance to experience a Reiki healing courtesy of a friend in Kaiming. I was privately a little sceptical, but it did the trick, and I was able to feel the flow of Qi into some of the worst hit areas of my head and neck. For someone who has always kept a sceptical view of such things, it was an eye opener.

Needless to say, I’ll be going back next year!