The 10 Writing Retreats To Gatekeep (But Won’t)

The coffee machine clicks off behind me. Outside, a gull cuts across the horizon and the air smells faintly of seaweed and another guest’s toast. My notebook remains open from last night... a half-finished sentence waiting for me to catch up to.

For the travel-hungry scribe, the coffee-clutching diarist or the emotionally-frazzled novelist just one metaphor away from a meltdown; these writing retreats might just save your draft (and too, your sanity).

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Some writers need a cave. Others need a room with a view, coffee you yourself didn't brew and a setting so inspiring it is written into your scenes very inviting. My own best work has been split between midnight sessions at a lowly desk and days spent in places that coax the words out. Notebook full. Plot clear. Coffee poured by someone else.

In the spirit of literary greats, the likes of Marguerite Duras in Hanoi and Fleming in Jamaica, here are the retreats I’ve written from. Day-dreamed about between chapters.

Coastal Writing Retreats Sparking Creativity

Salty air has a way of clearing your head and making edits a breeze. Coastal retreats are ideal for this. Those romance lits, espionage in small towns, coastal coming-of-age stories and possibly a little wine-fuelled mischief.

The Terrace Rooms & Wine – Ventnor, Isle of Wight

Window nook - The Terrace Rooms & Wine

Perched above the curve of the Ventnor seafront, The Terrace Rooms & Wine is part boutique hotel, part wine library.

Six bedrooms make it homely. A wine fridge in every one and those aren't for decoration. Sea-facing writing nooks where you’ll swear the gulls are critiquing your Oxford commas.

But afternoons are for critiquing, that of the vino kind at five. By the third glass, you’ll have near convinced yourself you’re a fantastic writer. By the fourth, its no longer up for questioning.

The Gallivant – East Sussex, UK

Camber Sands', wild sand dunes will force you rethink your novel’s setting. The seafood at the restaurant, that'll get its own storyline.

Rooms here come with deck chairs in private gardens and too, makes for some leisurely writing. It may get a little sandy but all together rewarding.

Mountain & Countryside Escapes for Writers

The mountain air may be thin but you'll have clarity on your characters. Ideal for atmospheric thrillers, Nordic memoirs or that novel about an introvert with a most woeful past.

The Lodge – Verbier, Switzerland

Nine rooms in an alpine hideaway you'll readily call home. The views over and across this mountain resort village will do well to flesh out your storyline. But sitting across from the roaring fire in your Master Suite will see you willingly edit and re-edit that manuscript.

In summer, trade in the company of your skis and skiing companions for solitude. And hikes? Plot-mapping sessions.

Juvet Landscape Hotel – Valldal, Norway

The view out from a Landscape Room. Photo courtesy Juvet Landscape Hotel

Glass walls dissolve the boundary between your Landscape Room and Nordic wilderness. Outside, moss-thick forest floors roll into the Valldal River. In the early hours, before light fully beams through, mist curls over the ground. And the only sound is the rustle of leaves and maybe your pen against paper.

The Writer’s Lodge, a 70sqm sanctuary tucked into the hillside, comes with its own kitchen for midnight snacks. But the real feast is the view: birch trees holding still as if helping you concentrate.

Late mornings stretch into mid-afternoons over coffee you willingly make. While reindeer trails and hidden footpaths tempt you into 'research walks' you can turn into short stories. Here, you won’t just connect with nature, you'll make it central to the plot.

Indulgent Writing Retreats for the Pleasure-Driven Author

Word count optional. Wine pairings encouraged. Ideal for historical fiction, literary fiction or any story lingering on the brain.

Lympstone Manor – Devon, UK

Lympstone Manor's setting is an entire plot. Any of it's twenty-one rooms and suites a prize and story character. But feel free to steal glances, crush on the suite with twin double-ended copper baths. Entertain doing away with your shrinking siren for a ground floor room. They come with an outdoor hot tub, fire pit and a glass of something bubbly as standard. You’ll pause mid-chapter to admire the estuary, then happily rewrite your protagonist’s backstory.

Lympstone Manor will get you writing with wild abandon. Better still if staying in one of their six sensational shepherd huts in the woods. Swaying hurricane lamps and a lust-filled write up comes to mind.

You’ll be treated to next-level service. Tasting menus will make you rethink your snack drawer back home. And between sips and sweeping views, writing will come easy here.

Chewton Glen – Hampshire, UK

Treehouses, hot tub suites and croquet lawn rooms, all beside the New Forest National Park. From Lord Gilpin’s spacious wood-decked balcony you'll embrace the surrounding landscape and weave him into your plot.

Try your hand Austen-style or ramble to the nearby coast for ocean-side drama.

Round Hill Hotel & Villas – Montego Bay, Jamaica

Veranda of Pineapple Room at Round Hill Hotel & Villas

Far from the tourist trail, this gem sits securely within 100 acres of gated lush Montego Bay greenery.

Pineapple Rooms with louvered doors open to the sea air. There's Blue Mountain coffee at dawn and an overly convincing rum punch at sunset. Afternoons, those are for writing. In between cocktails at the Ralph Lauren styled bar and conversations with linen-shirted strangers after dinner.

Not yet ready to share your story's concept? Instead, listen to your heart's content to the conversations at dinner at one of their Michelin-starred chef's pop-up .

Writers beware: just as 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back,' you may start giving your main characters happier times. Or, perhaps not.

European Writing Retreats with Historic Charm

Settings calling for a little more elaborate adjectives. Positano blues and Mallorcan light, come to mind.

Finca Serena – Mallorca, Spain

Between olive groves and lemon trees, you’ll write in a Garden Suite with French doors opening onto your own patch of earth. Long afternoons of local white wine and a desk view are creatives of rhythmic sentences.

Le Sirenuse – Positano, Italy

The window of your Sea View Junior Suite frames the Amalfi coast like a film still from The Talented Mr Ripley. That view from your Le Sirenuse balcony should come with an added charge. Early summer mornings mean languid writing over espressos. Late nights and cliffside lights nudge you into love scenes or maybe it's tragedies. Either way it'll be very good.

Secluded Writing Hideaways for Deep Focus

Just you, a notebook and maybe a suspiciously insightful waiter.

Heckfield Place – Hampshire, UK

A Lake Room flooded with early light; gardens to walk when your protagonist makes bad decisions and falcons who may yet inspire a twist of a plot. You’ll be free to write one impeccable chapter and be happy to call it a day.

Amangiri – Utah, USA

Mesa Suites with private sky terraces, a desert stretching endlessly ahead. Mornings are for sunrise writing; evenings for firepit conversations under a sky so wide, you can't ignore. Amangiri has all the space to make your writer's block dissipate.

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The last page of my notebook flutters in the afternoon breeze.

Outside, the light has shifted, stretching shadows across the desk. The table, that's being set for dinner. I close my notebook, knowing this chapter could only have been written here.

Where Will Your Next Sentence Be Written?

Sometimes the right location is inspiration. Sometimes a view and a well-timed pastry is the real catalyst.

So which retreat is matching in your WIP’s emotional arc?

• Sweeping and romantic with mild trauma? Positano.

• Moody, mysterious, maybe a crime or two? Norway.

• Slow burn by the sea with heavy longing? Ventnor.

• Main character heals through nature and fine food? Mallorca.

  
  

Drop your choice in the comments or DM me your WIP’s vibe, and I’ll prescribe the perfect setting. Behind every torturing draft is a writer who deserves a writing retreat. And too, someone else making dinner.

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Ready to escape to the writing retreat at the top of your list? Contact me here. I am an Independent Travel Agent operating under ABTA and ATOL protection.