Our Story

Praktyka is the brainchild of Ania Warzkowicz and Henry Trew, who moved to this magical corner of North Devon in 2018.

In the last few years we have built a home, started a family and launched this project.

Our aim is to create a memorable place for you to stay and be inspired - whether travelling on your own, as a couple or as a family.

We run art and well-being workshops for visitors to enjoy. Some of these will be led by resident artist Ania, while others will be collaborations with artists, makers and friends in our network.

These workshops will evolve into creative retreats that combine all the best bits of Praktyka.

A blended programme of workshops including painting, sketching, photography, jewellery, yoga, meditation, hiking, surfing, wild swimming and much more.

We believe in the idea of environmental economist Ernst Schumacher, that

‘Small is beautiful.’

Every decision we make is steered by our environmental values to tread as lightly as we can on the planet. We do not want to have hundreds of tents packed into a field.

So far, we have transformed our small farm into a little nature reserve of wildflower meadows, over 150 new trees, secret gardens and lots of space to relax and do nothing.

Praktyka

Polish for Practice

(Noun) The application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories relating to it.
(Verb) Perform (an activity) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or regularly in order to acquire, improve or maintain proficiency in it.

Our Philosophy

‘Praktyka’ means ‘practice’ in Polish, a word that has become very important for us as the project has evolved.

In an increasingly busy and technological world it’s hard to carve out time for quiet, stillness and focused work. It’s something we struggle with in our everyday life and at the heart of why we launched Praktyka.

Creative work involves turning up every day to make progress, to make mistakes and develop ideas.

We want a place that will provide time, space and community for you to practice.

As we move forward with the project, our purpose will be to share this with the wider community of North Devon, hosting artist residencies to support emerging and established local talent. And we will run workshops with schools, colleges and community groups such as the W.I.

Art and creativity are important for everyone. You don’t have to be a trained painter, graphic designer or illustrator to be a creative person.

There is no right way or wrong way, only as many different ways as there are people.

We love everything about this wonderful letter by Kurt Vonnegut and take his wisdom as our our inspiration.

Our simple mission is to help people practice whatever creative thing it is that excites them.

“To experience becoming and make your soul grow.”

“To experience becoming and make your soul grow.”

— Kurt Vonnegut

How we got here

The ‘Praktyka project’ is a dream that has been swirling around over the last ten years.

Ania is an artist, photographer and jewellery designer. Her work has been featured in galleries and publications throughout Europe including The Times, Wallpaper, The Guardian and many more.

Henry is a geographer who worked in the environmental sector before transitioning to work for charities and social enterprises. He founded and ran a small music festival, ‘Cock and Bull Festival,’ for a number of years to raise funds for the charity Jamie's Farm, near Bath. He also set up a youth social enterprise project at Bootstrap in Dalston, London, which creates pathways for young people to find work in the creative economy.

As happens with all ideas and dreams, there comes a moment when you can see the door opening, and it becomes a case of now or never.

In autumn 2018 we decided to go for it - quit our jobs, pack up our home and move to the countryside. The only problem was, we didn’t know where to go.

So, we decided not to rush into settling anywhere and set out on an adventure to broaden our horizons, meet new people and look for a place to eventually call home.

We went all the way to New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Spain, Portugal, Poland and France to stay at creative retreats and alternative types of accommodation, meeting a whole host of incredible people along the way and having all sorts of experiences.

We found ourselves inspired by those places which you might visit once, but which stay with you for life.

Taking a curry cooking lesson with our host airbnb family in Sri lanka was a heartwarming and joyful night.

Learning about yoga, meditation and the cosmos at Casa Cudrau retreat centre in the Pyrenees was probably the most significant point in our trip.

These adventures had a deep impact on us. We owe thanks to all the kind friends we met along the way who stretched our imaginations, and gave us the courage to turn our ideas into action.

Having travelled around the world we fell in love with somewhere closer to home, what is now our small farm near the sea in North Devon. We moved here in late 2018 with our cat, and our boy Ziggy arrived soon after. We really love this place and truly believe that the natural wonders of the south west are every bit as stunning as the wilds of New Zealand or Portugal.

We are learning to adapt to our new life as gardeners, entrepreneurs, designers, parents, planners, landscape architects etc…

Early on we started working with the amazing ‘Rural Office for Architecture’ to design a site strategy for this place, something that would give us space to live alongside running Praktyka. This process has evolved as we spend more time here and have come to understand the landscape, the site and the projects’ needs.

Realising the dream has been challenging but it takes time to put strong foundations in place and nothing happens overnight.

We will be sharing more details about our design process, sustainability and wider philosophy through posts on this site over the coming weeks and months.

We invite you to join us on the journey.