Retreats
Nine ways retreats go wrong
Patterns we have watched play out, and what to do instead.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Journal
Notes from Selgars
What we have learned running a coliving house, hosting retreats and looking after eight acres in mid-Devon. Written by us, from here.
Devon
Why we left London for a mill in Devon
The honest version, including the parts that were harder than expected.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
How far from London is far enough?
The trade-off between travel time and the feeling of having actually left.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
Running a residential programme: what changes when people stay over
Residential courses work differently from day programmes. The evenings are the curriculum.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
A year in the Culm Valley, season by season
What each part of the year is actually like here, for anyone deciding when to come.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
How to get the most out of a venue site visit
What to do with the ninety minutes you get on site, and what to bring away.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
How often should a remote team meet in person?
The honest answer depends on what the meeting is for. A framework rather than a number.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
Stargazing in mid-Devon
Rural Devon is dark enough that people who have only lived in cities are genuinely surprised.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
Reading a venue hire contract: the clauses that matter
The parts of the agreement worth slowing down for.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
What a nature immersion actually involves
Nature immersion is a vague phrase attached to very different things. Here is what it means when we run one.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
Cold water swimming in Devon: how to start without being silly about it
Cold water is genuinely good and genuinely dangerous. The sensible version.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
Using glamping to expand what a venue can hold
Tents let a venue take twice the people. What that actually involves for a group.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
Outdoor retreat activities that are not team-building exercises
Things to do outside that adults do not resent, and why forced fun rarely works.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Coliving
Coliving after burnout: why the countryside helps
Burnout is not fixed by a holiday. It is fixed by a different daily shape, held for long enough to take.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
The history of a Devon mill house
What an eighteenth-century mill was for, and what happens when you live in one.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
What makes a venue genuinely sustainable, rather than just green-looking
How to tell a venue doing the work from one with wildflowers on the website.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
What a team retreat actually costs in the UK
A realistic breakdown of retreat costs, and where the money goes further than you expect.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Coliving
How a coliving community actually forms
Community is not a feature you install. It is a by-product of specific, repeatable things.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
Day trips from mid-Devon worth the drive
Where to send a group with a free afternoon, and roughly how long each takes.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
How far ahead should you book a venue?
Lead times by event type, and what changes if you can be flexible on dates.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
Retreat ideas for small teams of six to twelve
Small groups can do things large ones cannot. Ideas that only work at this size.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Coliving
What coliving costs in the UK, and what the price includes
A straight look at coliving pricing: what is bundled, what is not, and how to compare it honestly with renting.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
Devon with a dog: lanes, livestock and where you can actually go
Rural Devon is excellent for dogs and has rules that matter more than they do in a city park.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
Why venue capacity numbers are almost always wrong
How to translate a headline capacity into the number of people who will actually be comfortable.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
In defence of the winter retreat
Everyone wants June. The best retreats we host are in January.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Coliving
Your first week of coliving: what to expect
The first week is not representative and that is normal. Here is roughly how it goes.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
Eating locally in mid-Devon
What is actually grown and made nearby, and how to build a menu around it.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
Self-catered venue hire: freedom, and what it costs you
Self-catering saves money and buys control. It also transfers real work. How to decide.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
Feeding a retreat: what actually works for twenty people
Retreat catering has different constraints from restaurant cooking. What holds up, what does not.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Coliving
Coliving with a dog: what to think about first
Bringing a dog into a shared house works well or badly depending on a handful of things nobody asks about in advance.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
What lives here: wildlife on a Devon estate
What you actually see and hear across a year in the Culm Valley.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
Hosting a conference somewhere that is not a conference centre
Why organisations working on climate, food and land increasingly meet on a farm rather than in a hotel.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
Should you facilitate your own retreat?
Bringing in a facilitator costs money. Doing it yourself costs something else. How to decide.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Coliving
How to choose a coliving space: eleven questions worth asking
Most coliving websites show you the same photographs. These are the questions that actually separate them.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
What regeneration actually looks like on eight acres
Regenerative is an easy word to use. Here is the specific, unglamorous version of it.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
What to look for in a barn venue
Barns photograph beautifully and vary enormously. The things that decide whether yours works.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
The retreat venue checklist: 24 things to ask before you book
The questions that separate venues that photograph well from venues that work.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Coliving
Why the countryside changes what coliving feels like
Urban coliving competes with the city outside the door. Rural coliving has to be the whole thing — which turns out to be its advantage.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
Devon in winter is better than Devon in August
An argument for the off season, from people who live here all year.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
Choosing a countryside wedding venue you can actually shape
Some venues sell you a package. Others hand you a place. The difference decides what your day feels like.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
Planning a wellness retreat: the operational side nobody writes about
Facilitators talk about content. The things that actually sink a wellness retreat are logistical.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Coliving
Coliving for remote workers: solving the part nobody mentions
Remote work solved commuting and location. It did not solve the eight hours of silence. Coliving is one answer.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
Walks around the Culm Valley
Four walks from an hour to most of a day, and what you see on each.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
Hiring a venue in Devon: what to know before you book
Devon is a big county with very different sub-regions. A practical orientation for anyone booking from outside it.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
A three-day team offsite agenda you can steal
A concrete agenda for a three-day company offsite, with the reasoning behind each block so you can adapt it.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Coliving
Coliving vs a flatshare: what actually changes
Both mean living with other people. The difference is in intent, rhythm and who is responsible for the atmosphere.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Devon
Getting to mid-Devon from London without a car
Tiverton Parkway is two hours from Paddington. What happens after that is the part nobody explains.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Venue hire
Exclusive use venue hire: what it means and why it matters
Exclusive use is the single biggest variable in how a venue feels. What it includes, what it does not, and what to check.
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
Retreats
How to plan a team retreat that people talk about afterwards
A practical sequence for planning a company offsite: what to decide first, what to leave loose, and the mistakes that quietly ruin them.
Team Selgars · · 2 min read
Coliving
What is coliving, really?
Coliving is not a flatshare with better branding. Here is what it actually means day to day, who it suits, and what it asks of you.
Team Selgars · · 2 min read