The Creative Pause Retreat
Gascony, South West France -
20 - 25th April 2027
From making to meaning - what is it you want to bring into the world?
What to ExpectFive nights in a rural hamlet in South West France, in sixteen acres of woods, meadows and flowering gardens.
Slow mornings. Long lunches. Afternoons spent making things together. And enough quiet, for once, to hear what you actually think.
This is a week for the part of you that has something to say and hasn't been saying it.
You show up. Everything else is taken care of.
What you can look forward to
✦ Five nights at Amassa, in a private or shared room with ensuite.
✦ Five slow mornings of gentle yoga - nourishment and movement, not effort
✦ Four communal creative afternoons
✦ A private 30-minute coaching session with Hannah
✦ All meals, prepared on site with produce from the local market
✦ A morning at the village market
✦ All materials, and something you've made to take home
✦ Two studios, two swimming pools, a sauna, and sixteen acres to explore
✦ A small group - no more than thirteen plus me and the yoga instructor.
✦ Every detail thought about, so you don't have to think about any of them
Not included: flights or transfers. Amassa is happy to arrange transfers from the local airport.
The PlaceAmassa
Four old stone houses in a rural hamlet in Gascony, an hour from Toulouse. Sixteen acres of woods, rewilded meadows and flowering gardens, with views over hilltop villages to the horizon.
Two studios in the converted barn, with underfloor heating and a wall of glass onto the trees. Two swimming pools. A wood-fired sauna looking over the valley. A flower and kitchen garden, a greenhouse, chickens, and a woodland walk.
It is very quiet. In April the blossom is out, the deer come close, and there's almost no light pollution - the stars are extraordinary.
Everything is cooked on site by Amassa's chef, using produce from the local markets.
The shape of the days
The schedule is a guide, not a rulebook. We'll adjust as the group settles.
Mornings begin slowly. Yoga in the studio - gentle, all levels, just to wake up your body. Then breakfast together, and a question to carry into the day.
Late mornings are yours, or ours. A walk through the meadows. The village market. The pool. Nothing that has to produce anything.
Afternoons are when we make things - together, at a long table, in a room full of paper and paint. Each day asks a little more of you than the last.
Evenings are long dinners where everyone brings something to the table: a thought, a question, something they noticed.
The week builds. It starts gently, becomes braver in the middle, and ends with all of us making something to take home.
Mornings with Jo
Each morning begins with movement led by my dear friend Josephine — a Shamanic Kundalini Yoga teacher, and someone I met, fittingly, at a retreat.
It's freer than most yoga. Kundalini works with breath, movement, meditation and mantra rather than getting into shapes, and Jo weaves in shamanic wisdom and chakra work alongside it. Every class has a different theme, moving between gentle and dynamic, with moments of stillness and plenty of space to go a little deeper. There's a thoughtfully curated playlist and, in Jo's words, a sprinkle of magic.
The idea is to awaken the things we're here to work with anyway — creativity, intuition, confidence, clarity, connection. It's less about the body than about loosening whatever's stuck before we go and make something.
If you've never done it: almost nobody arrives having done it before. There's no shape to get right and nothing to be good at, you can sit out any part of it, and you don't need to believe anything in particular. Most people find it a bit strange for one morning and then look forward to it.
Your Host
I'm the founder of A Creative Pause.
Before this, I spent a decade running social media for Liberty London and offering luxury brand consultancy - making things beautiful for other people, and slowly losing track of what I made for myself. It took me a long time to notice that had happened, and longer to do anything about it.
A Creative Pause began as my way back. It became a business: workshops, communal painting, coaching, and a lot of women telling me the same thing in slightly different words.
Why this retreat
Because the thing I hear most often is some version of I used to be creative.
Not I want to learn to paint. Maybe something more like: there was a version of me who made things easily, and I don't know where she went, but I feel a bit silly even bringing it up. Does it matter? Yes it matters.
I've run a lot of workshops now, and the best moments in them are never about technique. They're what happens when a woman who hasn't made anything in ten years puts a mark on a shared piece of paper and everything starts to loosen, and the shoulders drop, and perhaps something gets aired. But a workshop is a couple of hours, and then everyone goes back to their week.
And then this beautiful opportunity emerged at Amassa - 5 nights away and a blank canvas to design my dream retreat. So that’s what I’m creating for you. I included gentle yoga because I find it’s an incredible tool to connect to ourselves and our bodies. I’ve included lots of free time but with structure and purpose, so that the retreat takes you on a journey. The communal creative gatherings in the afternoon will be all about play and presence, the joy of creating as a group. Evenings together for dinner to reflect on the day, a bit of stargazing.
By the end of the week you’ll remember that of course you’re still creative, but crucially my aim is that I create the conditions to help you explore what you actually want to say with that creativity - and in what form, because it might not be the one you expected. I’m excited to dream this into reality for you.
Hannah Taylor-Matthews
Choose your room
Nine rooms across four old stone houses, all with their own bathroom. Three are already booked. Prices are per person - choose private, or shared. Some rooms are more appropriate for sharing if you know the person you’re sharing with - it’s clear in the description. By booking your chosen room you reserve your spot at the retreat, and the price includes the full retreat experience as stated above.
A gorgeous suite with open plan lounge and bedroom area. French doors directly onto gardens and own south facing terrace. Separate toilet and shower room.
Please note this price is based on sharing basis and the price is per person. This self contained house is perfect for friends sharing, but also spacious enough for strangers (soon to be friends!)
Cosy room with single window to east. Ensuite shower and toilet. Best suited for solo occupancy or sharing with friends. Please don’t select sharing unless you are booking with a friend.
Quince house is the largest of the houses backing onto a full length south facing terrace, gardens and small pool with magnificent views beyond. The lounge is also the communal space for the whole retreat, however the walls are thick so sound does not travel.
This gorgeous room is set apart from the others in Fig House, with its own door from the terrace outside. It has triple windows onto the woods / west facing and an ensuite shower and toilet.
Please note that if you are sharing the price is per person.
A gorgeous room with French double doors with heavy linen curtains (no shutters or blackout curtains) to the terrace, and private garden area. Beautiful black and white tiled floor. Ensuite shower and toilet.
With wooden painted floors and its original lounge area (beams, tiles, stone sink and fireplace preserved) this house has two bedrooms, its own secluded south facing gardens and massage area for all retreat guests under the covered terrace and great views over the valley beyond.
Large deluxe room with free standing bath, and separate shower and toilet. Dual aspect windows south and west, and own front door.
Fig House is a beautiful, recently renovated house with underfloor heating throughout. It has its own west facing terrace and is located nearest to the yoga studio, farthest from Quince House which has the dining and communal space. The spacious and bright open plan lounge is shared with all Fig rooms with fitted kitchen, dishwasher, hob, oven and sink, and large sliding doors to the terrace.
Beautiful room with west facing window and roof window to star gaze from bed! This room has a few steps to access it. The private shower and toilet for this room is right next door with separate access.
Fig House is a beautiful, recently renovated house with underfloor heating throughout. It has its own west facing terrace and is located nearest to the yoga studio, farthest from Quince House which has the dining and communal space. The spacious and bright open plan lounge is shared with all Fig rooms with fitted kitchen, dishwasher, hob, oven and sink, and large sliding doors to the terrace.
Beautiful room with dual aspect south and east windows. Ensuite shower and toilet. Double or twin with very small space between beds, so only suitable for solo occupancy or friends. Please don’t select sharing unless you are booking with a friend.
Quince house is the largest of the houses backing onto a full length south facing terrace, gardens and small pool with magnificent views beyond. The lounge is also the communal space for the whole retreat, however the walls are thick so sound does not travel.
A cosy room with painted floor boards and window facing west over the woods. Ensuite shower and toilet. Please note the price is based on sharing only, and is the price per person.
With wooden painted floors and its original lounge area (beams, tiles, stone sink and fireplace preserved) this house has two bedrooms, its own secluded south facing gardens and massage area for all retreat guests under the covered terrace and great views over the valley beyond.
Beautiful room with French double doors directly onto terrace, with garden and pool beyond. Ensuite shower and toilet. This room is suitable for people with disabilities. As the room opens into the communal lounge space, there is a possibility of limited sound from the lounge.
Best suited for solo occupancy or sharing with friends. Please don’t select sharing unless you are booking with a friend.
Quince house is the largest of the houses backing onto a full length south facing terrace, gardens and small pool with magnificent views beyond. The lounge is also the communal space for the whole retreat, however the walls are thick and limit sound travelling.
Questions-
Seeing as flights are under £150 from London at the moment, I’m offering that same amount off any bookings made by 16th August. Which by my maths makes your travel free!
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Fly into Toulouse, it’s about an hour from Amassa. There are lots of flights from Heathrow and Stansted. Transfers from Toulouse can be shared to save costs - expected cost €25—50 each way.
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Most people will be. It's one of the best things about a week like this — you arrive as a stranger and leave with people you'll be texting in a year's time.
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No. Genuinely no. Several of the people coming will not have made anything since school. That's the point.
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That's exactly what the private rooms are for. Choose single occupancy when selecting your room.
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Yes — book the share option and let us know who you're sharing with. If you'd like to share but don't have anyone in mind, there is the option to do that with Pine House, and Fig 3. Quince rooms are too cosy to share with a stranger.
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All meals are prepared on site using produce from the local market. Tell us about any dietary requirements when you book and they'll be planned for properly.
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Spring. Mild days, cool evenings, blossom everywhere, and the occasional shower. Bring layers, something waterproof and shoes you can walk in. Both studios have underfloor heating, so nothing depends on it staying dry.
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Flights, your transfer from Toulouse, travel insurance (which we strongly recommend), and anything you buy at the market.
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Deposit is non-refundable unless we don’t get the minimum requirement of bookings in which case all payments will be refunded. Payment plans available.
Not sure yet?
If you'd like to talk it through first, book twenty minutes with me. No pitch — just a conversation about whether this is the right week for you.