Within a stone’s throw of Brimham Rocks there’s a newly-created oasis of calm and quiet reflection.
The community herb and vegetable garden at the Acorn Wellness Retreat in Hartwith, has been designed to add to its holistic, healing approach and aim of improving people’s health and wellbeing with a diet of wholesome food.
As well as providing a ready supply of fresh produce used as ingredients in nutrition-rich dishes for guests, a weekly harvest of the herbs and vegetables is being shared with the neighbouring community.
A harvest for health – Acorn Wellness Retreat owner Katie Kavanagh is sharing the goodness of the garden with the neighbouring community
Acorn’s owner Katie Kavanagh, who opened the not-for-profit enterprise in 2017, told the Stray Ferret:
“We have people who come here for recovery, rest, retreat and sanctuary, often after treatment for serious illnesses such as cancer.”
She added:
“We also have a surrounding community of friends and neighbours and through sharing the items grown in the garden, we hope to be able to give something back to them.”
The new facility, created from sustainable materials by Ben Green of Springer Land & Property Services, includes a hazel bower, raised planters and seating areas.
The newly-opened garden at Acorn Wellness Retreat
To mark the opening, Acorn’s Helen O’Connor, a psychologist and forest bathing therapist, led a mindfulness session after attendees received a posy of freshly-picked herbs grown in the garden.
She asked the retreat’s friends, neighbours and her colleagues, to join with her in enjoying the peace of the new area by listening to the birdsong and attuning themselves to the natural rhythms of the countryside setting.
Ms. Kavanagh pointed out:
“We have planted a seed that will grow and thrive, while providing another means for enabling us to be at one with the natural environment and the healing qualities that this offers.”
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Less than 12 years ago when Katie Kavanagh was 14 weeks pregnant, her 29-year-old husband Peter was fighting for his life with stage three bowel cancer.
For the young couple looking forward to the birth of their first child, a difficult journey lay ahead, but one which took them on the path to a new way of living.
Peter’s life was saved by the treatments and care he received at the Yorkshire Clinic in Bingley, but his recovery and return to health has come through the holistic approach that he and Katie have adopted.
Katie told the Stray Ferret:
“The Yorkshire Clinic were brilliant in the way they looked after Peter and following on from this, a fundamental part of his longer-term recovery came with changing the food he had previously been eating to a plant-based diet.”
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Now with children aged 10 and 11, they have moved on from respective careers as a financial adviser and school teacher.
Peter has built a successful renewable energy company based in Knaresborough, while Katie has used the knowledge gained in supporting her husband’s recuperation to create The Acorn Wellness Retreat on the Brimham Rocks Road at Hartwith.
As part of its work, the not for profit business has links with MacMillan Cancer Support and Breast Cancer Haven.
Referrals are received from the two charities and the centre helps a number of people each year who are recovering from illness or are carers in need of respite and rejuvenation. The cost of providing the free places is covered by the revenue raised from paying clients.
A practitioner prepares to take a yoga session. (Photograph courtesy of Acorn Wellness Centre)
The retreat provides therapies that are in tune with the nature of its green and sylvan surroundings, with the natural grain of wood and a woodland theme featuring throughout its interior, complementing the grounds with its signature sycamore tree.
Since The Acorn opened in 2016, foods including vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, seeds and legumes, and containing no animal products, have been on the menu.
The other key ingredients in the holistic approach to achieving wellness are mindfulness sessions, various types of yoga, massage, sleep and relaxation therapies, supported with the use of herbal medicines, essential oils and use of rare earth stones.
Katie added:
“We have a dedicated team of practitioners who work together with the aim of creating a wheel of wellness within a calm and relaxing setting, where clients benefit from the sights and sounds of the natural environment.”
As well as helping people to recuperate after serious illness, the centre has clients who come either on their own or in groups, to relax by getting in tune with nature.
With social distancing requirements arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people receiving treatment at any one time is currently restricted to a maximum of six.