Laurel Park Retreat Centre

A purpose-built retreat venue on the Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire borders

Laurel Park Retreat Centre is an exclusive-use venue created by Emma and Andy, two hosts with more than fifteen years of experience in hospitality, fitness and yoga who have run retreats and private events in the UK and internationally. The site occupies just under three acres of mown grass and wild meadow, planted with laurels, contorted willow, birch, elder, cherry and leylandii, and is marketed to yoga and pilates teachers and to organisers of meditation, sound bath, gong bath, holistic, art and writing retreats.

The property previously operated as a campsite for many years and still appears on mapping services under the name Laurel Park Campsite. From 2026 it is run solely as an exclusive-use retreat venue for groups.

The yoga barn and teaching space

The centrepiece is a hand-built yoga shala, conceived as a simple and comfortable room for practising and teaching yoga and now opened to any form of holistic or therapeutic practice. It measures 11 by 6 metres and holds 12 to 14 mats comfortably spaced with a teacher, or 18 to 20 mats more closely arranged for sound baths and meditation. A wide range of colour-coordinated mats, bolsters, blocks, bricks, straps and blankets is included for the duration of each event.

Glamping accommodation for retreat groups

Guests are housed in several types of simple, individually furnished units, all with proper mattresses, bedding, electric stove-style heaters, fairy lights and a small kettle. None has running water; external drinking taps, toilets and showers are close by.

• Touareg safari tents: two canvas tents of 5 by 4 metres, each sleeping one or two guests, furnished with upcycled and antique pieces.
• Railway goods wagons: two renovated wagons of 5.5 by 2.5 metres, each sleeping two or three guests in one single and two bunk beds, with a mix of modern and hand-built furniture.
• Shepherd's huts: two new two-berth huts of roughly 4.8 by 2.4 metres, each with a single and a double bed and extra storage; one has a private camping loo and sink, the other sits close to the communal toilet and shower block.

Hosts may also offer guests the option of bringing their own accommodation: the site has grass pitches with campsite electric hook-up and chemical toilet disposal. The host's own quarters are a small vintage caravan named Flump, parked in a private garden behind the shala, with a double bed, a rudimentary camping toilet and a kettle; when the host does not need it, it can be used as sole-occupancy guest accommodation.

Facilities across the grounds

Beyond the barn and the sleeping units, the venue provides an indoor communal dining and lounging space, a kitchenette with fridges, microwave, kettle and toaster, and a covered outdoor gazebo with dining facilities, a large sofa area and a fire drum. A second covered outdoor chill-out zone, the "Jungle room", offers additional seating.

Wellness and quiet areas include a hot tub for up to six adults, the "Earth Den" for quiet contemplation, a massage treatment room equipped with a couch, a wild grass meadow used for therapeutic walks, a "Blindfulness" solo walking meditation experience without sight, sky-gazing hammocks and a ping pong table.

Catering and levels of host support

Catering can be arranged in full or in part, and organisers may instead bring their own catering equipment or contract a third-party caterer. The same flexibility applies to the running of the retreat: the team can take over cooking, serving and clearing up, stay in the background while the host retains full control, provide an intermediate level of help, or work alongside the host's own chefs, therapists and other providers.

Visits before booking

Prospective hosts can arrange a site tour at a mutually convenient time, a video-call walkthrough subject to rural mobile signal, or personalised videos answering specific questions about the venue.

Setting and access

The site lies among fields of sunflowers, sugar-beet, peas, wheat and barley in southern Lincolnshire, near the Cambridge and Norfolk borders, close to Spalding, King's Lynn and Peterborough. It is about 1.5 miles from the A17 and roughly half an hour's drive from those three towns, and just over two hours from north London and Birmingham. Wildlife recorded on and around the grounds includes rabbits, pigeons, hedgehogs, muntjacs, roe deer, owls, bats, woodpeckers and jays.

The founders also present the weekly podcast "Yoga Matters", in which they discuss how yoga principles and philosophy apply beyond the mat.