Introduction

Walking • Foraging • Printmaking • Painting • Jewellery Making • Sauna

Join us at Praktyka for a restorative long weekend by the North Devon coast, where slow walking, creative making, and time outdoors come together.

This retreat offers space to step away from daily demands and reconnect with landscape, materials, and your own creative rhythm.

Over three days we’ll walk the coast, draw and paint outdoors, forage thoughtfully, and translate our experiences into prints and handmade objects in the studio. No previous experience is needed, this retreat is open to all levels and led in a supportive, encouraging way.

This is a fully catered, plant-based, small group experience.

How to Book?

Please contact Henry at Praktyka to book your place on the retreat or ask any questions:

Email: henry@praktyka.co.uk

Your Hosts: Jemma Gunning, Ania Wawrzkowicz & Praktyka.

Praktyka is an idyllic eco-retreat setup by artists Ania Wawrzkowicz and Henry Trew eight years ago. Designed with heart and soul, each space is unique and considered with private gardens, hammocks and hand picked furniture. 

Jemma Gunning is a Bristol-based artist and printmaker whose practice explores landscape, walking, and the marks left by time, industry, and human intervention. Working primarily through drawing and printmaking, her work is rooted in direct engagement with place, often shaped through walking, observation, and slow processes of looking and recording.

Jemma is particularly drawn to environments in a state of flux, from mountainous terrain and quarries to derelict urban sites. These landscapes become spaces to reflect on fragility, impermanence, and change, themes that run throughout her work. Her print practice embraces experimentation, using process as a way of thinking through materials and environment rather than aiming for fixed outcomes.

Alongside her studio practice, Jemma is an experienced educator and facilitator. She has worked extensively in higher education and community settings, leading workshops that foreground process, curiosity, and shared learning. Her teaching approach is inclusive and open-ended, encouraging participants to explore materials at their own pace and develop confidence through making.

Ania Wawrzkowicz is an artist, jeweller and co-founder of Praktyka.

“I'm happiest out in nature. Observing. Slowing down. Spacing out on textures, rocks, found treasures. My work emerges from this dream space.”

“My jewellery comes from the observations of the natural world, from the largest expanses down to the smallest particle. I use traditional lost wax carving and casting techniques in combination with in place casting of precious stones. Each piece is one of a kind and has the unique tactile quality of a handmade object. I'm drawn to the meditative process of jewellery making. Work emerges from a contemplative space and making each piece is a process of discovery.”

Friday — Arrival, Fire & Welcome

Arrive in the afternoon and take time to settle into the space. As evening approaches, we’ll gather around the fire to welcome one another, share intentions, and introduce the flow of the weekend ahead.

The evening continues with a hearty, nourishing plant-based dinner, designed to restore after travel and ease us into retreat mode.

After dinner, there’s time to relax, connect, or unwind in the optional sauna

Saturday — Walk, Forage, Draw, Print

After breakfast, we head to the coast to immerse ourselves in the landscape.

Morning at the Coast

We’ll spend the morning walking slowly along the shoreline, drawing, observing, and foraging with care. Jemma will lead a series of gentle drawing techniques and prompts designed to loosen the hand, quiet the inner critic, and help the creative juices flow. These exercises focus on noticing rather than perfection, capturing plant forms, textures, rhythms, and the feeling of place

Lunch Outdoors

A packed lunch will be enjoyed on the beach, with time to rest, reflect, and absorb the surroundings. After lunch, there’s the option for a sea dip, offering a refreshing and grounding pause before we return inland.

Afternoon Printmaking

Back in the studio, we’ll transform our gathered inspiration into botanical prints, working directly with plants collected on our walk. Expect inky hands, experimentation, and the pleasure of seeing natural forms translated through print.

Evening

Dinner is served, followed by free time to rest, continue working in the studio, or enjoy the optional sauna.

Sunday — Walk • Paint • Print

Our day begins once again at the coast.

Morning Painting Outdoors

We’ll walk, observe, and paint outside using watercolours, responding to light, sea, sky, and weather. These paintings act as expressive studies rather than finished pieces, capturing atmosphere, mood, and movement.

Lunch at the Coast

Lunch is enjoyed outdoors with an optional sea swim before returning to the studio.

Afternoon Monotype Printing

Using the morning’s paintings as inspiration, we’ll create expressive monotype prints, focusing on layering, tone, and intuitive mark-making. This session encourages looseness and experimentation, allowing the landscape to re-emerge through print.

Evening

Dinner and free time to reflect, share work, or rest. Optional sauna

Monday — Make • Reflect • Depart

Our final morning brings the weekend together through a slower, hands-on making session.

Morning: Jewellery Making with Ania

Working with Ania, participants will create simple, thoughtful pieces of jewellery inspired by their drawings and the natural materials gathered during our coastal walks. This session offers a tactile way to carry the landscape forward transforming memory, place, and material into something wearable and personal.

Lunch & Farewell

We’ll share a relaxed final lunch together, reflecting on the weekend, the work created, and the connections made.

Departure

After lunch, it’s time to pack up and depart, taking home prints, paintings, jewellery, and a renewed sense of creative connection.

What’s Included :

• 3 nights accommodation

• All plant-based meals, snacks, teas and coffee

• Daily guided coastal walks

• Drawing and painting outdoors

• Botanical printmaking and monotype workshops

• Jewellery making session with Ania

• All art materials provided

• Optional sauna and sea swimming

How to Book?

Please contact Henry at Praktyka to book your place on the retreat, spaces are limited.

Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions

Email: henry@praktyka.co.uk

Accommodation & Prices.:

We will be a small group of 9 or 10 like minded souls.

All guests will be staying at Praktyka across our three spaces the barn, the dome and the cabin.

(Please browse the pages on this website and don’t hesitate to get in touch with any questions or requests)

The Barn (£655 per person)

The barn is a beautifully considered holiday cottage with two twin bedrooms, bathroom and a large open plan living room.

Each bedroom will be setup with two single beds.

The Dome ( £555 per person)

The dome is a spectacular geodesic dome with panoramic view stretching out over the hills to Exmoor. It comes with a wood burner and electric heating if needed.

The dome will be set up ‘dorm style’ with four single beds.

The Cabin (£855 solo or £655 two people sharing)

Our cabin was designed by award winning architects Rural Office to inspire calm and creativity. It has one large kingsize bed.

Prices include all meals, art materials and jewellery workshop.

The Praktyka sauna can be booked seperately.

More info: Print Making with Jemma

“I’m Jemma Gunning, an artist and printmaker based in Bristol. My work explores themes of decay, change, and the passage of time within natural and built environments. Using traditional drawing and printmaking techniques, I capture the quiet beauty in places shaped by human and environmental forces. Alongside my practice, I teach and run workshops, sharing my love of printmaking with others.”

More info: Jewellery Workshop with Ania

Ania will teach you the ancient art of ‘lost wax carving’ - over three hours you will carve your own unique ring that will then be cast into silver.

“My mission as an artist is to share my knowledge and passion for jewellery making and to inspire others. In an increasingly demanding world, it’s hard to carve out time for stillness and focused work.

The jewellery workshops I run offer the space to do this, providing an insight into my world and a chance to learn something new in a fun, relaxed atmosphere No experience is required. Each workshop is designed to be welcoming and enjoyable for complete beginners.

I’ll be there to give you all the guidance you need to leave with something you love.”

What to Bring ?

• Comfortable walking shoes suitable for coastal paths

• Weather-appropriate clothing (layers, waterproofs, sun protection)

• Swimwear and towel (for sea dips and sauna)

• A small rucksack for walks

• A sketchbook you enjoy working in (all other materials are provided)

• Personal medication

• Any additional snacks or specific food items you might like.

• Torch / Headtorch

Everything else — including art materials, meals, and equipment — is provided.

Can I bring my partner?

We only have space for those who want to participate in the retreat. You are welcome to stay longer before or after the retreat by booking the individual spaces at Praktyka.

Can I bring my pet?

Unfortunately we are not able to accommodate pets.

How difficult will the hiking be?

The walks will not be challenging and designed to be accessible for all.

What will the weather be like?

Who knows? We will be out and about whatever the weather :)

What will the food be like?

• A delicious organic vegetarian plant based menu with all the flavours.

• Including nutritional salads, roasted root vegetables, miso soups and freshly baked treats. 

Location & Transport?

• Praktyka Google Map.

  Praktyka is located in a remote part of the world that is simplest to reach by car. 

  You are responsible for arranging your own travel to and from Praktyka.

  We are 20 mins walk from Buckland Brewer village which has a pub, small shop and irregular bus service. 

  Train - Catch a train to Exeter St Davids and then a bus to Great Torrington. We can then collect you from there for the short drive. 

  It’s 15mins drive to our nearest beach at Bucks Mills, Peppercoombe or Westward Ho