Kalewater Cottage Creative Retreat

For centuries the landscapes and people of the Scottish Borders have inspired writers to reimagine the world and their place within it. Join award-winning poet Stewart Sanderson at Kalewater Cottage for this workshop exploring different approaches to writing about the Borders. The workshop will engage both poetry and prose on the Scottish Borders and is open to all types of writer. Stewart Sanderson ( stewartsandersonpoetry.com ) is a writer based in Glasgow. Author of two poetry pamphlets, Fios (2015) and An Offering (2018), his first full-length collection, The Sleep Road , was published by Tapsalteerie in 2021. A follow-up, Weathershaker , will be published, also by Tapsalteerie, in 2025. Date: Saturday 14th June 2025 Time: 14:00 - 17:00 Venue: Kalewater Cottage Creative Retreat Cost: £45, including refreshments. Please speak to us if you would like to add an overnight stay: packages available! Please email us at kalewatercottage@gmail.com to sign up and for further details. We’re ...

Join Sumayya Usmani, award-winning author, food writer and mentor for a delicious and hands-on food writing and flavour memory workshop, including tasting.  In this workshop, Sumayya will help you explore the intrinsic link between the bodily senses and memory, examining how our memories of food can enhance and deepen descriptive writing of any genre. The creative prompts will impact your writing towards a food memoir, a cookbook, or a journal of food memories, and influence your expressive writing more generally.  Sumayya is an experienced writing and cookery teacher. In addition to exploring the narrative elements of writing food memories, the workshop will teach you how to master the art of recipe writing as a form of life-writing, by using your intuition to translate memories into written recipes. There will be an element of narrative writing with techniques to mine memories, followed by the principles of recipe writing, culminating with a hands-on demonstration in the k...

What does it mean to engage poetically* and personally with a local watercourse at a time of increasing prevalence of both drought and flood? Kalewater Cottage Creative Retreat, named for the river that flows past the bottom of the garden, is the perfect place to spend a spring afternoon thinking about, listening to and fully experiencing our immediate environment. We’ll glance at some recent poems about water, spend some time beside the river, and do some short bespoke writing exercises on topics that might include: water and health; rivers and spirituality; burns and geology, history, the future . . .  You’ll leave refreshed, with at least some drafts and ideas for further writing, constructive feedback, and a ‘walking score’ to apply and adapt beside - or in -  your own local, or favourite, river or burn. A short, slow walk will be included - please bring suitable footwear and a waterproof. All levels of experience and confidence in creative writing, poetry, environmental w...

Borders Book Festival 13th-16th June 2024 Combine this brilliant book festival ( bordersbookfestival.org ) with a break in the beautiful Scottish Borders. Gather some friends together, grab your festival tickets, and relax at Kalewater Cottage Creative Retreat, a short 40min drive from Melrose. You might even be inspired to write your own prize-winning tome! We are offering a festival discount for a flexible 3 bedroom group booking of four nights from Weds 12th June (arrival 4pm) until Sunday 16th morning (departure 10am). The normal booking price is £130 a night for a group booking (total £520), but we’re offering a special discount of £115 per night (total £460). Have a look at our website  for rooms and contact us for more details and ideas. We look forward to celebrating the festival with you.

Two-part creative writing workshop  Kalewater Cottage Creative Retreat / Lempitlaw Observatory 30th September - 1st October 2023 In this unique two-part workshop, we’ll engage with how writers have written about and imagined the cosmos, before getting the chance to see this for ourselves at Lempitlaw Observatory, a private long-range telescope on the edge of Northumberland Dark Sky Park. With expert stargazing guidance from Gordon McKay, we’ll see stars dying, being born, watch planets circling, and swim through the milky way. Through writing prompts, we’ll take what we’ve seen to paper and write with this influx of ideas, mythology, and science meeting through creative imagination. This is a two-part writing workshop from 30th September to 1st October, that involves staying overnight at Kalewater Cottage Creative Retreat, and includes a light evening meal and continental breakfast. Where : Kalewater Cottage Creative Retreat and Lempitlaw Observatory, located on the border of ...

Meet the Family: A Prose and Poetry workshop with Jim Carruth I n this workshop, we shall explore the challenges of writing about family members and loved ones. In doing so we will look at approaches that can be taken to bring these individuals to life on the page. We will also help navigate the often tricky emotional landscape of familial relationships taking time to consider difficult times and uncomfortable truths. The workshop will use a range of poetry and prose to highlight all the key aspects discussed and will be open to all writers. The workshop is limited to 10 places.     About the facilitator Jim Carruth is a multi award-winning poet. His publications include the verse novella Killochries (2015) and the poetry collections - Black Car t (2017), Bale Fire (2019), and Far Field (2023). He is the poet laureate of Glasgow and is currently writer in residence at the Future Forest Company. Date: Sunday 2nd July Time: 14:00 - 16:00 Venue: Kalewater Cottage Creati...