Autumn Solo Days 2018.

Our new dates for Autumn 2018.

Book early.

October  13th  10am - 4pm.

October  27th  10am - 4pm.

Available to anyone who wants to enjoy a stilling of the mind. 

Lime tree farm and Yorkshire are always beautiful in Autumn.
As the nights draw in and we lose daylight this is a great time to visit the nature reserve for the peace and tranquillity of a solo day.

This mini retreat is to practice mindfulness and meditation through light conservation tasks and would be ideal for anyone from any background.
Our mission statement at ABC is to provide a space for anybody from any background to experience meditation and mindfulness on our Solo day courses.

Both Autumn and nature in this AONB (area of natural beauty) situated in North Yorkshire bring an abundance of natural smells, feelings and an array of colour in which to enrich the senses and raise your spirit.

Our facilitators and volunteers have experienced homelessness and chemical dependency whilst others have ranges of expertise basic skills training to that of trainers to the international banking industry.

This serves to give us a better experience of being able to understand your needs and that of others, to be able to co produce an environment, to slow down the most erratic and complex minds with your co-operation and participation for peace of mind and deep reflection.

Your participation would aid our attempts to be self sustaining both now and in the future and this would help to aid those on the margins of society to attend in the future. 

This valuable time out from the stresses and strains of life is so rewarding, for those wanting peace and this practical work on your own consciousness with other like minded people, from diverse backgrounds, will improve your empirical knowledge of being in the now and may enhance your life and the lives of others as a result.

We look forward to meeting you and your friends.

The cost is £47.50 per person

 with a fabulous lunch included.

Book now to avoid disappointment.

Thank you everyone...

We would like to thank all participants and volunteers, trainers, John and Beryl the bird ringers and Norman our raw food expert for the dedication in helping us learn about nature.

ABC Solo Days and Time and Space retreats summer dates have come to an end for this summer period.
This was a beautiful time, filled with tears of joy and magical moments as can be read about on our website.

The programme now changes to Winter Solo Days in the Autumn from October and this is for the hardier of participants, who want to experience inner peace and true reflection in nature without going to far into the wild.
So here's to the colours of Nature, stargazing at the observatory.
Along with this is our Winter solstice in late December.

Special thanks to the webmaster for spending time and Space to create our audio visual representations to you our audience world wide and hope that you can help spread the word to others about what we do. 

Our ABC company is a not for profit community interest company,and continues to be our ethos as we are to apply for grant funding to be sustainable in the future.  
We are to start to fund raise to be able to build a tree house at the site. 

It would be great to see you on a Winter Solo Day.

Above all we would like to thank Pete and Irene for this opportunity to practice true mindfulness and meditation through conservation at Lime tree farm...

...and the Bees.

Solo Day.

After morning meditation we tidied up the orchard and removed the pruned branches to the corner of the garden to prepare for a bonfire for the owners.

Tidying the orchard.

Pruning the orchard.

We then fed the birds and the badgers at the bird hide and practiced some deep reflective breathing, to get beyond the personality, as this is a favourite meditation and can be very beneficial over time if practiced.

Bountiful fruit.

Delicious apples.

Nature makes us feel happier and more relaxed...

Our use of the allotment has helped with our project by having time and space. A place to reflect on our mental health and wellbeing by providing us with a space in which to relax, switch our minds off and recuperate. It has enabled us to return to the normal running of day-to-day life as professionals working with the challenges of being in the workplace it has allowed me to return to work energised, and encourages us to study horticulture in the near future by building on the small projects that a beginner can do, for example,window boxes etc.

Come and have a seat and Relax.

For many of us, being out in nature makes us feel happier and more relaxed and various papers have been written about this. We at ABC believe in this natural environment especially at our chosen site Lime tree Farm where the owners Pete and Irene have created such an untouched space. 

Early morning company.

The research into this relationship between the Great outdoors shows evidence that access to natural space positively impacts human well-being ,some studies suggest contact with nature might benefit people suffering from mental health conditions such as dementia or depression and at ABC we have been trialling this and found this to be true.
  

In the sky or on the ground,our Programme helps all.

However, questions which require further investigation include how biodiversity and human wellbeing are connected – would exposure to more biodiversity give us a greater wellbeing benefit to people in Recovery and also that of the people who are connected to this group of people?

This could be family members, carers and professionals who have the client group in treatment?

What components of biodiversity have the greatest wellbeing benefit?

What are the implications for the conservation sector of the growing emphasis on nature for wellbeing?

At ABC we are working in a privilege space in order to gain the maximum benefits to our wellbeing and the wellbeing of participants of all our Solo Days, Time and Space retreats, and individual workshops.

Please take time to explore our site and it would be great to see you here.

Easy when you know how.

Looking after whats underground too.

Our pictures help you get a feel of this magnificent space. A place to truly heal and take stock of what is truly important in your life through having Time and Space.

Letting go with Love.

A beautiful place.

Time and Space retreat.

We tended to the allotment,
weeding, planting strawberries and making rope out of Sisal under the guidance of Norman (who is also our raw food expert!).

Our varied group of volunteers then  followed owners Pete and Irene to see the farm's three barn owls chicks.... At a very special moment; the chicks are almost ready to leave the nest. In fact by the time I'm writing this they may have flown. 

If you have never been to our retreats to practice mindfulness, learning meditation techniques through conservation, it is relatively easy to do in the peace and tranquillity of nature. This conservation work is so rewarding for the soul and a place to heal.

We camped out and relaxed in the evening.
Camp fires, good conservation, barbeque food and stargazing. We saw Mars visible low in the midnight sky.

Next morning was about having breakfast, clearing camp and only leavening footprints (which is, of course, our ethos).Everyone reported having slept well and we rested up, completed our "vow of silence" and left to go our separate ways.

From seeing a red kite to a swooping buzzard this is such a magical environment for true reflection. 

Solo days are a great introduction for a short taster course in mindfulness and meditation. However a full "Time and Space retreat" gives everyone time for this special place to work its real magic.

So book early to avoid disappointment; we'd love to see you.

John the bird ringer...

A 5.30 am start for enthusiastic nature-lovers (still feels a bit early though after a great night getting to know each other round the campfire).

John the bird ringer, who has been doing this for near 30 years, takes it in his stride and looks for a good place to set his nets. For a lure he uses mp3 players producing particular bird’s calls. We all look into his netting to work out what species are around on the nature reserve.

The first bird is a Wren.

As the Irish song goes.

"The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,

St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze,

Although he was little his honour was great"

Then a Willow Warbler and Chaff Chaff. ("Some times hard to distinguish" says John "as cross-breeding leads to hybrid breeds").

Blue, grey and coal tits are here along with a blackbird and many other common species. The Gold crest is a favourite as we marvel at the colourful crown of Britains smallest bird; watching John and his patient, expert work is completely meditative to watch. The birds are painstakingly measured and weighed for British ornithology..... It's a real lesson in taking time and care.

When the BTO Ringing Scheme was established over 100 years ago, the primary focus was the study of bird movements. Bird ringing is used in studies of the populations of different species of birds. Data collected is used for migration information and the study of fledglings produced and the subsequent survival of both youngsters and their parents.

The joy of releasing the birds back into the wild is a thrill in itself but this is essential work for conservationists and Nature reserves like Lime tree farm; the information helps target attempts to reverse declines (if numbers are dropping due to starvation over winter for example).