Within a stone’s throw of Brimham Rocks there’s a newly-created oasis of calm and quiet reflection.
The community herb and vegetable garden at the Acorn Wellness Retreat in Hartwith, has been designed to add to its holistic, healing approach and aim of improving people’s health and wellbeing with a diet of wholesome food.
As well as providing a ready supply of fresh produce used as ingredients in nutrition-rich dishes for guests, a weekly harvest of the herbs and vegetables is being shared with the neighbouring community.
A harvest for health – Acorn Wellness Retreat owner Katie Kavanagh is sharing the goodness of the garden with the neighbouring community
Acorn’s owner Katie Kavanagh, who opened the not-for-profit enterprise in 2017, told the Stray Ferret:
“We have people who come here for recovery, rest, retreat and sanctuary, often after treatment for serious illnesses such as cancer.”
She added:
“We also have a surrounding community of friends and neighbours and through sharing the items grown in the garden, we hope to be able to give something back to them.”
The new facility, created from sustainable materials by Ben Green of Springer Land & Property Services, includes a hazel bower, raised planters and seating areas.
The newly-opened garden at Acorn Wellness Retreat
To mark the opening, Acorn’s Helen O’Connor, a psychologist and forest bathing therapist, led a mindfulness session after attendees received a posy of freshly-picked herbs grown in the garden.
She asked the retreat’s friends, neighbours and her colleagues, to join with her in enjoying the peace of the new area by listening to the birdsong and attuning themselves to the natural rhythms of the countryside setting.
Ms. Kavanagh pointed out:
“We have planted a seed that will grow and thrive, while providing another means for enabling us to be at one with the natural environment and the healing qualities that this offers.”
Read More:
Reformer Pilates and yoga studio opens in old Harrogate chapel
A Pilates and yoga studio aimed at bringing “a London feel” to Harrogate has opened in an old chapel on Skipton Road.
Alicja Palutkiewicz, launched Empowered Movement Space, which specialises in Reformer Pilates, after spending years teaching in community centres, halls and gyms across district.
Ms Palutkiewicz, who is originally from Poland and has lived in Harrogate for 14 years, started instructing Pilates in 2015, before qualifying as a yoga teacher a few years later.
Read more:
- Four wellness retreats in the Harrogate district to re-energise mind, body and soul
- Seasonal Affective disorder: Ripon therapist’s tips on how to survive the dark months
She said:
“I decided to open this studio to create a relaxed environment for my students where they can come along, socialise, meet like-minded people, move their bodies and clear their mind.
“Also I wanted to be able to teach from one place, have all my equipment stored there and ready to use whenever needed.”
The studio, based at The Old Chapel, offers mat Pilates, Reformer Pilates and yoga classes, as well as private one-to-one sessions.
The new studio is based in The Old Chapel on Skipton Road, Harrogate.
Ms Palutkiewicz said:
“I am a big fan of Reformer Pilates. I have had one Reformer for numbers of years and was teaching private classes only.
“It’s an amazing piece of apparatus and having a space in a studio allows me to have four of them and make it more accessible for everyone to join and try it.
“Also, when I was looking for a Reformer class, I felt there wasn’t one in Harrogate so I had to travel to Leeds to attend one.
“The main difference between mat and Reformer is that you work with your body weight on a mat and against the spring tension on Reformer, so it is more suitable for people with injuries.”
The Reformer Pilates machines in action.
Ms Palutkiewicz said the old church in which the studio is based provided lots of space and a “really good atmosphere”.
She added:
“I hope my studio will bring a little bit of a ‘London feel’ to Harrogate, as nearly every Pilates studio in London is equipped with Reformers.”
Less than 12 years ago when Katie Kavanagh was 14 weeks pregnant, her 29-year-old husband Peter was fighting for his life with stage three bowel cancer.
For the young couple looking forward to the birth of their first child, a difficult journey lay ahead, but one which took them on the path to a new way of living.
Peter’s life was saved by the treatments and care he received at the Yorkshire Clinic in Bingley, but his recovery and return to health has come through the holistic approach that he and Katie have adopted.
Katie told the Stray Ferret:
“The Yorkshire Clinic were brilliant in the way they looked after Peter and following on from this, a fundamental part of his longer-term recovery came with changing the food he had previously been eating to a plant-based diet.”
Read more:
- Where can you buy a stamp in Ripon?
- Stage set for Ripon drama school
- Do you dream of catching a good night’s sleep?
Now with children aged 10 and 11, they have moved on from respective careers as a financial adviser and school teacher.
Peter has built a successful renewable energy company based in Knaresborough, while Katie has used the knowledge gained in supporting her husband’s recuperation to create The Acorn Wellness Retreat on the Brimham Rocks Road at Hartwith.
As part of its work, the not for profit business has links with MacMillan Cancer Support and Breast Cancer Haven.
Referrals are received from the two charities and the centre helps a number of people each year who are recovering from illness or are carers in need of respite and rejuvenation. The cost of providing the free places is covered by the revenue raised from paying clients.
A practitioner prepares to take a yoga session. (Photograph courtesy of Acorn Wellness Centre)
The retreat provides therapies that are in tune with the nature of its green and sylvan surroundings, with the natural grain of wood and a woodland theme featuring throughout its interior, complementing the grounds with its signature sycamore tree.
Since The Acorn opened in 2016, foods including vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, seeds and legumes, and containing no animal products, have been on the menu.
The other key ingredients in the holistic approach to achieving wellness are mindfulness sessions, various types of yoga, massage, sleep and relaxation therapies, supported with the use of herbal medicines, essential oils and use of rare earth stones.
Katie added:
“We have a dedicated team of practitioners who work together with the aim of creating a wheel of wellness within a calm and relaxing setting, where clients benefit from the sights and sounds of the natural environment.”
As well as helping people to recuperate after serious illness, the centre has clients who come either on their own or in groups, to relax by getting in tune with nature.
With social distancing requirements arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people receiving treatment at any one time is currently restricted to a maximum of six.