Creative wellness retreat on the Outer Hebrides – June 2026

This year’s creative wellness retreat on the Outer Hebrides invited everyone to explore self-expression through both words and art. Whether painting freely in the studio or out on the beach, or journalling, each person was guided closer to what they wanted to express. To support that, we wove in moments of stillness and connection within nature: wild swimming, sauna and surfing, weather and availability permitting. These experiences are designed to ground you, energise you, and bring you into deeper alignment with your creative flow.

We usually try to book a sauna session with Saltbox Sauna, because it is the most wonderful way to experience outdoor swimming on the Hebrides. The water is cold, it reenergises and renews, giving everyone a definite immersion into the island, but with a lovely warm, comforting and healthy sauna session to warm up in afterwards. There’s something about that contrast, the cold sea and the heat of the sauna, that seems to switch something on in people and usually everyone emerges with a huge smile and a relaxed body.

 The group visited A.S.Apothecary in the South of Harris, where we learnt about how Amanada harnesses the plants that she grows for well-being and skin care. Everything about the apothecary is a beautiful experience and in true keeping with the idea of nature as a healer.

We had a viewing of Mary Morrison’s beautiful paintings in her solo show at Hulabhaig, as well as a walk around the sculpture gardens and a look at Andy’s collection of Island Contemporary Art, which showcases and supports artists from the islands. We visited the incredible Cliff Studio to hear from David Knight and Margaret Utterly. The studio sits in the most incredible location by the beach in Uig and is a working studio for abstract painter David Knight and the landscape paintings, drawings and ceramics of Margaret Utterly. Spending time in studios like this, surrounded by the work of others, tends to open something up in the group and inspire them in one way or the other. .

Not forgetting a lovely couple of visits to Talla Na Mara for coffee and a look at the Shaped by the Sea exhibition.

And we spent plenty of time simply in nature during this retreat, time to breathe and be on the beaches and on my croft in Geocrab. These are special times without the pressure to create, but to just see how things open up. A real chance to land on the island, and then begin to feel the time, space and inspiration that it allows. Some of the best conversations of the week happened on those unstructured afternoons, walking the shoreline or sitting quietly with a sketchbook that never got opened.

If this sounds like something you would like for yourself, the Words, Art & Wellness Retreat – a Creative wellness retreat on the Outer Hebrides returns to Harris from June 4th to 10th, 2027, and is now open for booking.. A restorative creative retreat on the Isle of Harris in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, designed for photographers, artists, writers and creatives seeking quiet inspiration, connection to nature and time to reconnect with their own creative voice.