This is our group of yogis for the weekend along with Lou Heart the owner

With Yoga Teacher Michelle Bappoo

Well just what I needed a weekend Yoga Retreat I had been looking forward to this for a long time and boy was I ready for it!

Friday Woo-Hoo time to set off for my lovely weekend I was going to Dedham not far away but far enough for the weekend only an hour away Dedham is just on the border between Essex and Suffolk a lovely little town full of local history The beautiful village of Dedham stands on the south bank of the River Stour, on the border between Essex and Suffolk. The High Street is lined with lovely examples of Georgian and timber-framed houses. This is Constable Country, home of one of England’s most beloved artists. Constable was born at nearby East Bergholt, and attended school at Dedham. The scenery in and around Dedham featured in many of his later paintings, including his famous paintings of Willy Lott’s cottage and Flatford Mill, that is just over a mile downstream from Dedham. A very nice path leads across the fields to Flatfford, (was a bit water logged when we went) now owned by the National Trust. Constable’s father owned Dedham Mill, though the mill building that we see today is now a lot more modern with coffee shops and of course is set up for the tourists industry.

I arrived at The Tallow Factory in Dedham at about 15.30.

An Old Candle Factory (Fig 001/15) dated back to 1600 situated behind a house in the centre of the High Street still has some of its walls plastered in what I believe to be sand lime and goat’s hair! Animal hair can be added to lime plasters to give the mix extra tensile strength.  It acts as a natural reinforcement and effective bonding key.

After meeting with Michelle Bappoo from (Yoga Dharma) our host and Yoga teacher for the weekend we settling in with tea cake (vegan) we had our first Yoga session where we all introduced ourselves to each other, then gentle restorative yoga this was followed by an evening meal that was amazing our catering was by Dom and Emma and was absolutely to die for, then it was a sit down for the rest of the evening for some pleasant conversation bedtime wasn’t far away as it had been a long day.

Day two. Started with fresh fruit juice tea coffee smoothies followed by Yoga Session Two, the afternoon was a fabulous walk along the river Stour along to Flatford Mill.

Saturday evening was a get together by us all for a fantastic Kirtan by Michelle another one of her many talents, this was an amazing evening of chanting and drumming we were joined by the owner of the Tallow Factory (Lou Heart) and a friend.

Sunday morning after a light breakfast it was some gentle yoga this was followed by a Meditation led by Michelle after which we had a chance to say goodbye to our new found friends and hopefully we will meet again at the next retreat.

I would like to say a big thank you to Michelle Bappoo for such a lovely weekend and to Lou for having us there and look forward to you next retreat Michelle.

I have put some photos at the bottom of this blog.

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This next review is by Wendy Millard

After doing yoga for a number of years, I was longing to attend a retreat, then to my delight, my eldest daughter informed that she had taken up yoga and her yoga teacher, Michelle, was doing a yoga retreat in Debden. How wonderful! So on 23rd February we arrived at our destination for the weekend. A quaint 500 year old property known as ‘The Tallow Factory ‘ which had been lovingly turned into a yoga retreat by its present owner Lou. On our arrival we were met by our catering hosts for the weekend, Dom and Emma, who supplied us with an abundance of fresh tea, coffee, fresh juices, homemade cake and breads, smoothies and delightful vegetarian dishes. There were 8 of us in the group and it was wonderful to meet and spend time with such lovely people. On the Friday evening we had a gentle class of yoga and introducing ourselves to other members of the group and hearing their own interesting journeys of yoga. Saturday morning however was a full on, high impact class! Which I thoroughly enjoyed. The afternoon was spent taking a walk around the local area and getting to know one another a little better. Saturday evening we all joined together for some singing and playing instruments (forgive me as I don’t know the correct name of this practice) wonderfully led by Michelle. Sunday morning, after breakfast, we had some gentle yoga and final meditation, where we then had our chance to say to our farewells to our likewise yogis. I’ve come away from the weekend feeling relaxed and thankful for the time spent with my daughter, wonderful people and a fantastic yoga teacher.

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