Desperate for a break from the kids/work/life but not sure if you’ve got the budget? I’ve just found the most bucolic, peaceful retreat option at Selgars Mill in mid-Devon, offering an incredibly good-value health and wellbeing retreat this 1 – 3 April, starting at just £250pp for the whole weekend.

And that includes delicious home-cooked veggie food, yoga and breath work sessions, group health coaching and a steamy sesh in a mobile sauna. Sounds good value, right? It is!

THE LOWDOWN

The weekend is led by Lara, the centre manager and face of Selgar’s Mill. She’s a qualified health coach and is really lovely, warm and easy to talk to.

She’s put together a team of local wellbeing professionals and sessions, designed to whisk the weight off your shoulders for a couple of days and empower you to work out the best way to help your health and wellbeing going forward.

I like her psychology – she’s a fan of small tweaks, little ripples to effect a big positive wave, such as ‘drink two extra glasses of water a day’ or ‘go to bed an hour earlier’, or ‘leave your phone downstairs when you head up to Snodland’. It all sounds very achievable, ideal when you’re only there because we all have far much to do and think about anyway.

WHAT’S IN STORE?

FRIDAY 5pm – Park up and join Lara and the other attendees (12 in total including single, couples, friends together or mums/daughters, fathers/sons – blokes very much welcome!).

You’ll tuck into a delicious veggie meal (g-f, and all intolerances catered for), then have an optional coaching sesh with Lara and be given a welcome pack full of goodies.

You’ll also have just enjoyed a session in Joni’s mobile sauna, where you can steam away your troubles, looking out on the River Culme with the sounds of woodpeckers and kingfishers swooping down the water – I mean, how could you not sleep peacefully after that?!

SAT 7am – You are welcome to lie-in or join Lara for a guided walk along Tiverton Canal. Or bring a bike, trainers or walking boots – there are loads of options for healthy outdoorsy stuff on hand.

After a hearty healthy brekkie of fruit, granola, bread if you want it, you’ll meet yoga instructor Meg for a stretchy session (I’ve done yoga with Meg and she is as far as you can get from intimidating) who’s very inclusive even if you’ve not done it before.

Then Sara from Breathways – also a genius for teaching techniques to sleep better and give anxiety the heave-ho.

SAT pm – After lunch, time is your own – Lara doesn’t want to ‘over-retreat’ you – have a snooze, a walk, read a book or whatever you fancy. And once you’ve blissed out, it’s time for a 45-minute massage with natural wellness therapists, Jen and Ali, in the cottage.

Post-dinner, it’s off to the firepit in the gardens, where you’re welcome to bring a blanket and a cuppa or BYO tipple (it’s not supplied but not judgey either) and where you’re encourage to write something down you want to offload and au revoir it on the bonfire. And don’t worry, Lara promises it’s not hippy-dippy at all, just a tangible way of letting go of something – or someone – that’s been holding you back.

SUNDAY – After another night of blissful snoozing, there’s a final group health coaching session where you’ll hopefully come away with some action points. You won’t be asked to share anything personal with the rest of the group, Lara is on hand to listen, reflect back and steer you towards solutions that suit you.

Then, it’s lunch – which can be wrapped up to takeaway if you need to dash off, and off home to congratulate yourself on how amazingly how glowy and topped up you look in that mirror.

THE LOCATION

A new to Muddy venue, Selgars Mill at Uffculme, conveniently located just a few minutes off Junction 27 of the M5, though you’d never know it, set in 8 acres of gardens, wild woods, field and bubbling streams with loads of tweeting birds and wildlife. You could really zone out and top up here.

To add to the charm factor, until the 70s it was a working flour mill and you can still see the old wheel – and watch the water whooshing underneath the building.

It’s the home of Stir to Action, a forward-thinking organisation which helps train people and businesses to be more democratic, everything from becoming a co-op to offering Workaway Weeks, where if you’re bored of working from home, you can hot-desk alongside other marvellous, clever people like yourself.

It’s all laid out on ethical, planet-friendly principles, from the biomass barn which heats your water, to the zero waste cleaning products in the kitchen. Very sustainable and good for the conscience.

It feels pretty rustic and off-grid, so you could hide phone if you want to – or if that’s too hardcore, you can scan a bar code to get online.

SCOFF AND QUAFF

It’s all delicious, vegetarian and home-made by a local catering company and intolerances are catered for. Nosh is served in a large, communal kitchen with a fire and break-away areas with a wooden balcony overlooking the vegetable gardens.

PILLOW TALK

You’ll be getting your head down in the old flour mill itself, on the second and third floor, comprising a range of doubles, single rooms and twins with shared bathrooms.

It’s fairly basic but in a charming way with big wooden doors, and loads of light and leafy views flooding the rooms. Vibe-wise, a bit like Nkuku (probably because lots of the fittings are from the fair-trade South Hams store) and showing an appreciation of natural materials.

Sound like your kinda topper-upper?

Selgars Mill Awakening Retreat is on Fri 1 – Sun 3 April, a shared twin room is £285 pp; a shared triple room is £250pp; double room is £550 per couple; double room £475pp for single occupancy. And don’t delay! There are just 12 places available and they’re flying out faster than you can say, “Thanks I do look gorgeously well, don’t I – I’ve just come back from a spring health retreat.”

Selgars Mill, Uffculme, Devon EX15 3DA.