Good Retreat Guide Is A Blessing

IF inner peace is your dream, then maybe cut out the holiday hotspots this year and retreat... to a retreat. And if you need a  definitive spiritual guide then we’d recommend The Good Retreat Guide, now in its sixth edition and listing over 500 places, crossing all beliefs, to meditate, contemplate or just properly relax in Britain and across the world.

It’s edited by former monk Stafford Whiteaker. From monasteries to holistic holidays, from tai chi to earth walking and eco-spirituality, from the most spartan and demanding of regimes to gentler paths to enlightenment, it’s all there. Whatever you seek, it’s usually going to turn out less expensive than more hedonistic holidays, too.

Manchester’s Buddhist Centre in the Northern Quarter gets a mention along with many small scale ecumenical retreats. Whiteaker’s editorial team label some places as “Highly Recommended” and, if it’s your first time, we’d suggest those tips are a good way in. Some destinations are quite spectacular . Check out, for example, the Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre (pictured) at Cornishead Priory, a listed Gothic mansion outside Ulverston in Cumbria. Here a World Peace Temple has been constructed in the kitchen garden and twice a year the 100-strong resident community is swelled by peace festival-goers.

The Good Retreat Guide (Hay House, £12.99). The website is fascinating too: www.thegoodretreatguide.com