Anyone here been on an Arvon course?

[Sea-shore]

Hi all, has anyone here been on an Arvon retreat? (It’s an UK writers retreat/ writing course.)

I came runner up for a short story competition, and the prize is a heavily discounted place for a five-day course at Arvon Lumb Bank, Yorkshire.

Arvon Centres - Arvon

 

[Katie-Ellen]

No...read a lot about it. Ted Hughes's old house. Do you fancy it?

I know Hebden Bridge and Heptonstall fairly well. Dramatic, narrow valley, the Calder. It floods sometimes down in the winter in Hebden Bridge.

My week at Arvon Lumb Bank

 

[Susan]

Never done anything like that, but congratulations on the competition!

 

[Sea-shore]

Never done anything like that, but congratulations on the competition!

Thank you, Susan!

 

[Barbara]

Congrats. I agree with Katie's question: do you fancy it.

Might be beneficial. Might be a great week. Most likely will nurture your talents and inspire your muse.

 

[Leonora]

I've always fancied it, but v. expensive. I'd be tempted if you've got the chance.

 

[Emily]

Congratulations it looks blissful! I'd go for it if you could Do you need someone to stay with you and... make tea? I can bake? I'm a great walking companion: I've no sense of direction and you are sure to discover places that people rarely see. That can be very exciting!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

I've never fancied it myself, but if you do, Sea Shore, and the bill is small enough thanks to your win, (congrats!) and you need a bit of a change, Hebden Bridge is, not an easy place, but dramatic. Quite arty these days, largely thanks to, yep, Ted Hughes, and Sylvia Plath is buried at the top of the hill in Heptonstall. As you can see in the vid, this was a mill town. The mill owners boomed, making worsted for uniforms for our army fighting the French -Bonaparte -but the weavers hit hard times after Waterloo.

 

[Richard Wilkes]

Arvon have a good reputation and good tutors. I've thought about it myself but it is a bit of money to shell out. If you can get a decent discount (many congrats on the prize) then I'd go for it - could be useful. A niece of mine went on a week's course (she has a wealthy husband!) and found it very helpful. She found out that the novel she was writing was really a long way off but felt that if she hadn't have spent that concentrated time there she might have been floundering around on her own for some time. Be fascinated to know what it is like.

 

[Sea-shore]

Thanks for everyone's comments.

@Katie-Ellen Hazeldine, the video looks lovely. I hope I can get some writing done and not be too distracted with the gorgeous setting.
Yes, I saw that the house previously belonged to Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. Yoikes! That does set the tone. LOL
I’m planning to use this is retreat to get a lot of editing done, but you know what happens to the best laid plans. Also, it’s always nice to chat about writing.

Ah, @Rainbird, it would be lovely to smuggle you there. There is a very good value writing retreat in Ireland that a friend has just been back from. She says she got 18k words written and had a wonderful time.

I’ve chatted online to a few lovely writers about Arvon, and they have said all good things. I know of one bad experience but this was for an author writer who went ten years or so ago (and things have changed very much she said).

@Richard Wilkes, I agree that Arvon course are very expensive and so when I was given 75% off the 5 day course, I was already packing my bags in my head. My husband though, was: 'I thought you had won something, but they want you to pay £200 and they don’t cover travel either?' (by the way does anyone else want to have a moan at cynical spouses? He thinks writing is an expensive hobby. )

Will let you know how it all goes. Also, will try to take pictures (but no promises).

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Hope you have a lovely time, and find it useful. If you all get fed up in the house, old pub The White Lion is in the town centre, down at the bottom of the long, steep and very high hill down into Hebden Bridge. Parking spaces outside, real fires, and they do proper food.

 

[Sea-shore]

Thank you, @Katie-Ellen Hazeldine! Will try to pop in The White Lion. Love real fires and pub food!

 

[Richard Wilkes]

Have a great time. Hope it works for you. I'm jealous of the concentrated time you'll be able to spend on your writing.
As for husbands? - they're trouble. Stick to your hobby, they don't argue with you.

 

[Sea-shore]

Have a great time. Hope it works for you. I'm jealous of the concentrated time you'll be able to spend on your writing.
As for husbands? - they're trouble. Stick to your hobby, they don't argue with you.

Thanks, Richard.

 

[Carol Rose]

How exciting for you!!

 

[Matnov]

Sounds smashing although I would be wary, being the cynical old sod I am and no doubt from the same mould as your husband, of any 'prize' that still involved me having to pay money but I concede that this probably says more about me and my fondness for a pound note. Also, I suspect that such a retreat would be wasted on me. I would turn up, all full of good intentions, sit down in no doubt idyllic surroundings with everything a writer could desire on tap and then...nothing at all! Plus me and Hebden Bridge is probably not a good idea. I would soon be cracking jokes at the expense of the no doubt lovely Lesbian population that the town is famous for due to no other reason than my own bloody-mindedness that makes contrariness my default reaction to any and every new situation.

Although an idea for a potential novel has come to mind. A group of wannabe crime writers all win a two week in stay in a writers retreat in some isolated spot but soon start turning up murdered, in the style of whatever the particular protagonist in their unpublished novel specialises in. Ok, it needs some work but there might be some meat on those bones!

 

[Louise]

Hi all, has anyone here been on an Arvon retreat? (It’s an UK writers retreat/ writing course.)

I came runner up for a short story competition, and the prize is a heavily discounted place for a five-day course at Arvon Lumb Bank, Yorkshire.

Arvon Centres - Arvon

That is so brilliant - well done Anne! I have wanted to go on an Arvon course ever since I started writing so I'm green with envy. I've heard brilliant things about their courses and retreats so I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

[Emily]

Kept meaning to reply! Was it the River Mill retreat in Northern Ireland? A friend of mine went there and thought it was wonderful. I'm going to post in Cafe Life about a retreat place of sorts, not necessarily a writers retreat, but would be a great place to go for head-space and plenty of writing! (and you pay by donation)

 

[Sea-shore]

Kept meaning to reply! Was it the River Mill retreat in Northern Ireland? A friend of mine went there and thought it was wonderful. I'm going to post in Cafe Life about a retreat place of sorts, not necessarily a writers retreat, but would be a great place to go for head-space and plenty of writing! (and you pay by donation)

Oh, yes it was the River Mill retreat! And the food was very good too, I heard.

 

[Emily]

And the food was very good too

Most important

 

[RK Wallis]

Congrats on the win!!!

 

[Steve C]

I've never fancied it myself, but if you do, Sea Shore, and the bill is small enough thanks to your win, (congrats!) and you need a bit of a change, Hebden Bridge is, not an easy place, but dramatic. Quite arty these days, largely thanks to, yep, Ted Hughes, and Sylvia Plath is buried at the top of the hill in Heptonstall. As you can see in the vid, this was a mill town. The mill owners boomed, making worsted for uniforms for our army fighting the French -Bonaparte -but the weavers hit hard times after Waterloo.

Thanks for the vid. Those barges hold fond memories.

 

[Sea-shore]

Congrats on the win!!!

Thank you @RK Capps

 

[Tim James]

I've done several Arvon courses over the years and they are all very good. The staff are very hospitable, the tutors are all published novelists or poets and are not there to push their latest book, but to provide you with some very useful insights and help.
Everyone of them I have met has been extremely helpful.
The week is good fun too, there are usually about 8 to 12 "students." You all get involved in cooking the evening meals, which is great fun. Tutoring is in the mornings and the afternoons are generally your own time and one-to-one sessions with the tutors about your own work.
They are expensive but in my opinion well worth it. Each one I have done has improved my writing and given me a burst of enthusiasm.
Lumb Bank is a wonderful place to get away from it all and get down to some serious writing too.
If you can, do a course, you wont regret it.