It is always this time of year that I begin to hanker to be back on the Camino. The sun is shining (and it most certainly is at the moment!!!) the days are long and it’s perfect weather for long evenings spent talking with new found friends as the sun sets.
Welcome to Monastic Retreats
Welcome to Monastic Retreats – a quiet companion for those drawn to the gentle paths of monastic and contemplative life.
In a world shaped by urgency and noise, many are discovering the quiet necessity of retreat, not as escape, but as return. Through our directory of monasteries and retreats across the UK, you’ll find communities who quietly open their doors to those seeking silence, presence, and a different way of being.
Each place listed here holds a particular rhythm, shaped by the seasons, by liturgy, and by the long witness of lives given to prayer. Whether you are drawn to the ancient stones of an abbey or the simplicity of a hermitage by the sea, we hope this website helps you find a space that meets you where you are.
Monastic Retreats is not simply a resource—it is an invitation. To pause. To listen. To step quietly across a threshold and discover, perhaps again, that the stillness you seek has been seeking you.
Spiritual Practices
The Jesus Prayer
The Jesus Prayer is a simple prayer
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”The tradition of the Jesus Prayer goes back to the “prayer of the mind,” recommended by the ancient monks of the Egyptian desert.
Lectio Divina
The Examen