The Modern LeadHer Way

[095] Escape the Office To Pat & Jane Bryan's Spanish Sanctuary

• Emma Clayton • Season 4 • Episode 95

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Pat and Jane Bryan are our Time Out x Spain hosts in September! As this weeks guests, they share how they transformed their Spanish property into a retreat venue focused on creating a home-like experience for guests. Their journey from UK training professionals to retreat hosts in Partaloa, Southern Spain includes unexpected challenges like COVID lockdowns that ultimately helped them create a more refined retreat experience.

In this episode we cover how they:
• Are dedicated to making guests feel at home in their 10-bedroom property with private bathrooms
• Handle all logistics including transfers, catering, and problem-solving behind the scenes
• Provide home-cooked meals reflecting local Andalusian cuisine with Moorish influences and pride themselves on accommodating all dietary requirements
• Offer a range of treatments in their dedicated spa, including Ayurvedic therapies
• Create personalised experiences from yoga sessions to sound baths
• Located in quiet, traditional Spanish countryside with mountain views and walking trails
• Perfect for smaller groups of 5-8 people to foster genuine connection
• Balance between structured activities and spacious free time for reflection

Visit their website at: https://www.casatorretablanca.com/

Thinking about joining us for the retreat September 24th-28th? Book a discovery call through the link below to learn more about this transformative experience for ambitious career women in corporate or business alike: https://mlhconnect.youcanbook.me/


Join the next Time Out Retreat in Spain: https://www.emmaclaytonxo.com/courses/time-out-spain

Start your Human Design Journey Today for FREE: https://www.emmaclaytonxo.com/courses/hd-initiation

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Speaker 1:

This is the Modern Leader Way the podcast for corporate career women who want to feel good on their way to the top. I'm Emma Clayton and I'll be sharing with you tangible advice to help you stop sacrificing your soul in the name of success and experience more balance, confidence and fulfilment, both in and out of work. Hello and welcome back to the modern leader way, where this week I am joined by the wonderful couple who are the hosts of our retreat in spain pat and jane bryan. Welcome, hi. So I really wanted to have these guys on um just to talk about, you know, their place in spain the one that we're actually going to be hosting the retreat at and what their role is, but also a bit about their background, their story, because they've got a great story about how they've ended up in Spain and doing this work.

Speaker 1:

So last week I spoke on the podcast about my visit to see you guys and how I was so grateful for your hospitality. So thank you again for having me and for just yeah, just welcoming me into your home, and I think that's the first thing. Right, like you are, this is a almost like purpose-built place that you've got, that's got the 10 bedrooms, like everyone can have their own room. Everyone can have their own bathroom. They've got their own privacy, but you very much want people to feel like they're at home yeah.

Speaker 2:

So that's my first thing when I do, when we do the welcome with the homemade sangria which apparently is better than the Spanish sangria with my special twist I always say to people what I want you to do is to feel like this is your home. And on day one and day two they're a little bit, but by day three we're all okay. And then I always ask at the end did I manage to achieve what my goal was, which is to make you feel so comfortable? This is your home and everybody has said yes. So yeah, we want everybody to accept.

Speaker 1:

Yeah yeah, and that looks like you know, if someone's up late at night and they can't sleep and they want to make themselves a cup of tea, they can do that, right, and that kind of thing. So, yeah, I love that. So why don't you tell us a little bit about your role when you know, obviously I'm hosting a retreat from the, or I'm facilitating the retreat in terms of I'm facilitating the sessions We've set up between us, what the itinerary is going to be. We've, like, arranged or you've arranged for a yoga instructor, if that's what we want to do, that kind of thing of thing that tell us, like what we see of you on the actual retreat itself and what we can expect from you, like how you make your roles kind of.

Speaker 3:

So I think we like to see ourselves as your in-house retreat team, so we're here to make sure everything runs smoothly. Uh, you know, if there was any problems with the airport transfers, if there was any problems with, uh, you know, one of, say, the yoga teacher was running late, or something like that we're here to make sure that that doesn't impact you. Um, we would rather come to you with a solution rather than a problem.

Speaker 2:

So we'll say this has happened, but we've sorted it out and it's going to happen like this um, I mean two weeks, three weeks ago, we had a retreat here when the whole of spain went down. They were on a writing retreat using their computers, so just like so, obviously we thought it was just a bit of a temporary blackout. We went up to the village and it's like no, it's a cyber attack. That's what we thought it was at the time. So it's like christ, what do we do? We have got no electricity, we have got no water. We that was their last that you know that that day was all the food we had. I hope the shops are open tomorrow. Of course, we didn't have electricity or anything the next day. So it's like just go to the market hopefully it's on grab all the food.

Speaker 2:

And of course, they didn't see all the panic that was going on in the background. Oh, my god, we got no more. They didn't see that they. We just said right, this has happened. Very calmly it wasn't calm inside very calmly, this has happened, this is the solution. And they were very thankful and very appreciative because I met the pa of the woman that was running it and she said she, she said you handled it amazing. Yeah, one person knew. Obviously, they knew there was no electricity, but no one knew how much you two were panicking inside. We definitely were, that was probably an extreme example.

Speaker 3:

We wouldn't want to go through that every week. I thought they might still be here now actually to tell the truth.

Speaker 1:

But yeah.

Speaker 3:

I suppose that's a perfect. It is a perfect example, actually, that we are here to go the extra mile to make sure that your retreat not only your retreat, but your guest retreat is as um stress-free as possible. Um, one of the things we pride ourselves on is um catering for all dietary requirements, so people don't have to worry that they're going to get here and have nothing to eat, or they're going to eat a plate of chips every day, because that's all they can eat.

Speaker 2:

Uh, we did have one guest here she just before she came here, she went on a five star holiday. She was really severe celiac. All she could have every day was a plate of chips. Yeah, that's what I said she was very nervous about coming here because of her dietary issues, but she said I think it was on day two. She said I've never been anywhere, never that has catered for me as much as you guys have catered for me. And she put it on the celiac um website as well that was good.

Speaker 3:

Um, I think that's just an example. We we want it to be. We want you to come here and be relaxed enough that you can enjoy the process.

Speaker 1:

It's a bit.

Speaker 3:

I suppose, in a way, it's a bit like getting married, isn't it? It can be a terribly stressful day if you don't have someone that you have confidence in in the background. Yeah, I've never used that analogy before there you go background. Yeah, um. I've never used that analogy before. It's um. It is just about yeah, if you're relaxed and your guests are relaxed, it makes the whole process just so much more fun.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely, and I think for me that was like a big selling point. When I spoke to you guys originally at the big festoon, I was like, okay, so there's me thinking I'm gonna have to like book an Airbnb somewhere, source caterers in a foreign country, cleaners, all that kind of thing, but actually you take care of all of it. So that was like a big selling point for me. And then the fact that you guys are just like amazing and warm and welcoming and all the things, um, is an added bonus. So thank you.

Speaker 2:

I love that again how about September?

Speaker 1:

I think we've got slot in the diary for you amazing so September 24th to 28th, um, yeah, really looking forward to it, but why don't we? I love the examples of all the retreats that you've hosted, actually, so feel free to weave them in. Like don't, don't be shy about that, but yeah, why don't we? Like, I'm really interested in pulling out your like individual and your stories as a couple. Right, and the fact that you've ended up in Spain, uh, just before.

Speaker 1:

COVID so why don't you like wind it right back, tell us about how you've ended up doing this now, like what's the story?

Speaker 2:

I don't know who wants to go first I'll start with the fact that um boris johnson got in and I could not live in the uk anymore.

Speaker 3:

David to pat um, yeah, I mean, I think we are um getting on a bit in years and we need to give one last spin of the dice or spin of the wheel, throw of the dice. One last adventure uh, we had we always used to like that program bargain hunting brits in benidorm and we had this idea of me and jane and our mobility scooters pottering along the seafront.

Speaker 2:

In benidorm we'd fail because we don't drink, so that would have been a bit of an issue.

Speaker 3:

But it was a bit of a pipe dream. You know, self-employed people don't have a set date for retirement, so we had both. Well, we were both trainers. When we were in the UK, jane was working in the beauty and holistic and aesthetic world, was working in the beauty and holistic and aesthetic world. I was mostly originally working with barbers, teaching them cutthroat razor shaving, which was a niche market. From that we develop our own technique for dermaplaning, which is a hugely popular beauty treatment, which is I was, I'm not going to say a part of it is removing the vellus hair from the face, but it is actually a skin treatment, um, and that gave us, after an immense amount of work for three or four years, a nice little nest egg, didn't that? Um? And we come to the conclusion that maybe we could start looking for a place in Spain to run as a training academy rather than a retreat or a retirement.

Speaker 2:

Retreat was never on the horizon.

Speaker 3:

So people would come to us rather than us spending endless hours behind the wheel of a car going up and down the country, and we started looking. Late september 2019. Uh, the second time we came over, we found this magnificent house that we now call home. Um, we made a rather cheeky offer jane made, I made a very cheeky.

Speaker 3:

I was going to just throw cash at them to give us the keys, um, but you know it, everything went very quickly and we uh ended up moving in on the second of january when we came here, we both looked at each other and said this isn't a training academy, this is a retreat.

Speaker 2:

Being cocky, that you've never run a retreat, but it must be so easy to do so. So, yeah, so we put the offer in. It was finally accepted. Well, within four days I flew back out. We flew back over to Spain. We signed everything, because in Spain, once you sign the contract, if they pulled out because it was a very cheeky offer, if they pulled out, they would have to pay us double the deposit back. So that was my thinking. And then, as we're signing it with this um Spanish man, that was translated into English. The contract no English I've ever heard of before, I might add. They said when do you want to move in? For some reason, I have no idea why I said 2nd of January. So this was now November the 14th, 15th, something like that. Yeah, 2nd of January.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, yeah, and then the 3 third of january, we sat here and thought, right, what do we do now?

Speaker 2:

better have a plan. And then, uh, we were fully booked the first year, um, which was amazing. And then, um, something called the big c happened, didn't it, covid? And then, before we'd even run one retreat, we closed for two years because Spain was very strict. And, um, yeah, spain was very strict, we weren't allowed to open, which was good in hindsight.

Speaker 2:

I always think the universe gives you what you need, not sometimes what you want. And if we had opened up in March, what was the end of March, that first retreat? No way in hell would we've been ready. No way in hell, because when we moved in, it was very much like a blackpool b&b and it was just that. That was the thing I didn't like about the house.

Speaker 2:

It was a blackpool b&b and as we'd gone to see it, I'd hired an apartment. It's 60th birthday, so you've got a lovely house for 60th. Um, I hired an apartment in out of canton. As I walked in the apartment, I then had the vision. So then I was all for the house. So it was still blackpool b&b isish to a degree, wasn't it at that point? Um, but yeah, during lockdown we had so much work done probably more work than because we were. Everyone was bored. Probably more work than we should have had done. Um, yeah, and then we opened up, but it was almost like, although we've probably booked that first year after two years, we were starting from scratch again, like everybody in the world, weren't they? So?

Speaker 3:

But that's how we got here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that. And do you still have people come to you for training like that original purpose that you had for it?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I mean at the end of June, 23rd of June, I think. I've got some ladies coming over, some men as well. I've got some ladies coming over and I'm teaching them a facial sculpting. So it's teaching them gua sha facial cupping and natural face massage. So, yeah, so I still do the training retreats, um, but we're so busy with everything else that's going on I don't have a lot of time to dedicate, as you know, to marketing it.

Speaker 1:

So, um, yeah, and like let's not forget that you've also got like a dedicated spa. Yes, so, and you guys actually do the treatments as well, right? Yes? We do yeah, you can book in. Tell us a little bit about the treatments. What's your favorite, what's people?

Speaker 2:

it's very weird because all my life not all my life I've been I very much if I get a channel and I'm channeled to do a lot of stuff in my life that I have no idea why I'm doing it, but I sit and think, well, it must be a reason. So I love we've gone to India a lot. I love Ayurvedic treatments. I went on an Ayurvedic path where I was in Winchester. People weren't interested in that, they were interested in skin and skin solutions, so that went on the back pipe. Then I was guided to do hypnotherapy but sort of that. I was very successful in the UK but here not successful.

Speaker 2:

Lots of things I've done in my life. It now will make sense as to why I was guided that way. So I love doing my Ayurvedic treatments in the spa. So like we do, you know, the proper traditional Indian head massage, the proper Indian massages, all the proper Indian facials, lots of abdomen treatments because our second brain, where we hold all our emotion, is in our stomach as well and just a release that you people get like oh god, I didn't think you could feel like that, um. So I love my um ayurvedic treatments. I still do like skin, like aesthetic skin treatments for the locals, but it's not really what people want in the spa when they come here. And then you do all the massage.

Speaker 3:

Uh, yes, so I've been. Uh, I suppose it's remedial massage, I'd say. I mean, I've trained in sports massage and deep tissue, but it's more um, for the damage that we do to ourselves rather than injury based. You know, being hunched over computers all day long, or steering wheels yeah, actually I'm going to bring my posture, I'm going to slouch again, um, so that's, yeah, that's my uh little niche within the uh spa is the uh, we call it the pat special. It's 30 odd years of knowledge distilled into, um, a wonderful back, neck and shoulder massage. Actually, even if he says so himself.

Speaker 2:

No, he does get praise for his back neck and yeah, yeah. And interestingly, people always assume I'm the cook in the household. But pat is the cook. He does all the cooking. Sometimes he wears his chef hat and his chef's apron, if you're lucky, I'll wear the apron, oh, not the hat we'll have to get him using I have a metaphorical chef's, but not an actual one.

Speaker 3:

It's one of the hats on my hair, isn't it?

Speaker 1:

and I have sampled the food and you put on some of your best recipes for me when I was there so yeah I can vouch for the food, the quality of the food, and the thought that goes into it we try and keep it.

Speaker 3:

I suppose a lot of it is relevant to the area we live in. You know we live in Spain. We live in Andalusia. Tapas is very famous, so they say Andalusia is the birthplace of tapas. I think probably every region in Spain claims that actually. But we do tapas one night, we do.

Speaker 3:

This area was ruled by the Moors for hundreds of years, so there is still a Moorish influence in a lot of the cooking here in fact, we're just about to go into our moors and christians festival, which is something that every you just can't explain it.

Speaker 2:

You just can't, you just have to see it it is amazing.

Speaker 3:

It's a huge party, yeah, um I say the festival.

Speaker 1:

He talks about the party um and yeah, and there's some fun nights like the pizza night and things like that, which are always crowd pleases but what I loved about what you sort of demonstrated was like the the paella, for example, was vegan paella and then you did the meat on the side, so it's like it caters again for all those times.

Speaker 2:

Yeah we don't want anyone to feel, even those, like celiac, and we don't want them to feel excluded. The only thing we do do is, obviously, with the celiac, you've got to be really, really careful with spoons and cutlery and cross-contamination. So we do have to put their food on a separate table, but they're eating the same style of food as everybody else, but it's just obviously very different terms of ingredients. So it's not like you're just having whatever today and everyone else is having an amazing food. Oh yeah, we do try and cater for all of that, don't we?

Speaker 1:

yeah, yeah, no, I love that and I think it's very that was another kind of selling point for me was it's um, in line with what I want to do with taking people out of their busy kind of schedules, like the chaos of life. That tread, yeah, talk about let them get off, let them take that pause and that real deep breath and we're gonna. We are gonna go deep in the sessions, there's no doubt about it. But the fact that we're eating this fresh, homemade food that's very local to the area, the fact that you guys can take care of them with these holistic treatments, it's all kind of part of the parcel. So, yeah, I love that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah yeah, no, I think that is. It is part and parcel of what we offer. Um, and I think for the type of retreat you're doing, like you said, it's going to be lots of deep, deep work going on there. Um, you do sometimes need not to have those other distractions in your life, whether it's being in a noisy town, or I mean the noise you says gets down here is when the goats are out in the rambler and they're bleating a little bit.

Speaker 2:

No, the horses were the. Yeah, the horses were out. There's a guy down the road who's got. How many horses he got, I don't know, because they keep having babies, uh, so yeah. So the horses got. When we first came here, we kept taking the horses back, thinking they'd escaped. It's just like. No, they're just feeding. Yeah, so we had the horses out yesterday and we often have the pony and track going up the rambler, because obviously they do a lot of pony and track um racing around here. Still, it's all very where we are. It's still very traditional Spain, isn't it?

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, I mean, I'm just looking out here, there's no one, there's no one down the round block. I can see all the mountains all around me and just quietness, as you know, you saw it, you heard, well, you heard the quietness and wherever you know. There are so many places here where, if you are going deep and people just need to escape, you know there's many, many places they can go and be on their own if they want to.

Speaker 1:

There's so many nooks and crannies. There's a little Moroccan snog.

Speaker 2:

There's like oh yeah, I loved that as well, you didn't see the whole Moroccan area in its full glory, did you? I don't think we had it out then, did we?

Speaker 3:

No, because it had been wet.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it had been wet, um, but now, since we landed, coming back from ee, we landed at 30 degrees. I left wearing sweatshirts and I've come back to 30 degrees, so um very nice.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so it's here now and I believe that the weather down south is like 360 days generally.

Speaker 2:

It's like nice or something that like that we're supposed to have 20 rainy days a year, aren't we?

Speaker 3:

yeah, I think they yeah, something like that. Yeah, we're supposed to be.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we're supposed to be in the sunniest area of spain. We're in the the least, uh, polluted area as well, so a lot of star gazing um you've got the observatory just up the road.

Speaker 1:

We can see it on the mountain.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, yeah, um, so yeah. Well, we think it's the ideal place to be yeah, no, absolutely I.

Speaker 1:

I'm with you and we're coming in september, so tell us a few of your like favorite stories around like the retreats that you've hosted there. Are there any like standouts in terms of like the experience the guests have, kind of?

Speaker 2:

mirrored back to you in their feedback, don't we? I mean, we have? Um, it goes from one extreme where there's one group that comes every year what would you say? Because can't give too much away. But we thought that the retreat was around what she does in life. It wasn't at all. It's about women getting rid of all their inhibitions, going naked in the pool and a lot of drinking on that one. And then we have the more serious ones, which was the writing retreat. She's coming back again next year. That's where anyone in whatever stage they are in there, it could just be an idea. They could be halfway through their book, whatever. Uh, so she is a world-class author. Um, she teaches people how to write and then she brings out a um coach. I suppose she is she's?

Speaker 2:

a mindset coach. They get that. Uh, we've had yoga retreats. We've had one. She's coming back next year. What was she? She was not yoga. And michelle pilates oh my god, I was just looking at everything you. She was working them from about seven o'clock in the morning. I mean real hard graft, um I mean some of the stuff you went they were doing stomach crunches never happened to hold, literally. Just uh, I said, oh my god, you're brutal. Um, I was just going. No, no, I couldn't do that. Um, we've had the big american group come out.

Speaker 3:

Um, that was all yoga and yeah, it's um, I think what you were saying earlier, emma, about you know, picking your retreat venue and the fact that we cater for you. We had a Dutch hiking guy who came out twice and he decided, to save money, that they would do the catering themselves.

Speaker 2:

We got invited out with it. They said do you want to come over? If we did it, because we were staying in the spa, because obviously we've got our own separate accommodate do you want to come over for dinner one day? One night it was just like oh yeah, okay, all of the things I don't like. A big pile of boiled potato, I mean boiled potatoes, no thank. And then this stew of unknown origin and I had to say I just sat and watched him and I said, yeah, I'm not hungry, thank you, but anyways, but no, he was.

Speaker 3:

He said everyone's agreed that they were going to have a rota and everyone will take it in turns to cook and clear up and do the washing up. And poor old sod, he was in the kitchen till about midnight after the first night, every night because everyone else just cleared off and left him too and he'd done a fully inclusive.

Speaker 2:

So he bought all the drink. Well, we bought all the drink for him and all the food for him. Um, he paid, obviously, but on the second retreat they drank him dry on the first night and we did say to him don't include drinking that. But yeah, he decided not to listen. So the second retreat he did then say can you, can you cater a couple of nights? And then, if we were going to continue working with him again, he wanted to cater all the time but he wanted such a low rate which said, no, we can't quite do it that.

Speaker 3:

No, he was. It was very entertaining actually, yeah, and it is uh, endlessly fascinating just seeing people get to that stage where they come. And you know, travel day, the arrival day is always perhaps a little bit not fraught, but it's very tiring travelling, even if you're just sat in an airport, sat on a plane, sat in a minibus, but seeing people then relax into the house, our house, our home, and into your wonderful retreat and the transformations that people get during that time, it's a very rewarding thing to do, I think, to do what we do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and also that drive up the hill right and then the first house as you drive down the drive.

Speaker 2:

Because when we were looking, we didn't see that many. We saw about 12 houses, didn't we? And when we got to this area, he was what was he? Cuban, venezuelan, argentinian? We got there in the end and he said what are you looking for? I said curb appeal, but spanish didn't understand what I meant. So he kept saying is this curb appeal? And she's like no, no, we, we have seen some horrific houses. That's all I'm going to say. But we were driving along the road and I didn't have high hopes. And then we come off the road, down down the driveway, and I went curb appeal because it was just like going into a castle.

Speaker 3:

It is uh, it is very dramatic that bit. Yeah, like you say, when you turn off because you can't see the house and you turn into the driver and suddenly it's there so I mean, we've got people.

Speaker 2:

You know, there's a village across the rambler. Well, houses across the rambler. We just got a new client, so she said who are you? Then, if you're in pataloa, said, oh, where are you? She read tomorrow, said oh, you can wave to me. So she said are you in that big, big, big white house? And she, yeah, that's our house. So she said, oh, what do you do there? And I don't know what the village think we do, but it's definitely not what we do.

Speaker 3:

That's what I'm going to say that's the rumour mill yeah they probably think far more of us than they actually should.

Speaker 2:

Yeah everybody in the village says oh, we know Pat and Jane. It's just like we don't know anyone. We keep ourselves quite isolated, I suppose, don't we?

Speaker 3:

yeah, I mean it's probably about coving, yeah, business yeah I mean, the idea is new, new life.

Speaker 2:

we're in spain, we're going to go to all the fiestas, we're going to learn spanish so quickly, but two years of lockdown, it just didn't happen, you know. So, um, we do need to make more of an effort and getting out, yes, there you go.

Speaker 1:

You heard it, I've declared it.

Speaker 1:

Declared it here yeah, oh, brilliant. So I just love the fact as well. When I was sort of talking about my plans of like I want morning sessions and then like real spaciousness in the afternoon, you were like, yeah, that's the way to do it, because a lot of people try and cram too much in. Pat took me on a dog walk one morning and was like, oh, we could do like sunrise over there and we'll do a hike one morning to watch the sunrise. It's that kind of thing that I want to do because I love nature, I love being outdoors.

Speaker 1:

I want to promote that in terms of like get these women out of their offices and out into nature, out into the fresh air. Um, we've got yoga instructor that comes and does yoga on the roof terrace as the sun's risen above the mountains. So all of those things are kind of like locked in. And then we've got the food, which is wonderful, and then we work in the morning sessions around that. Obviously we've got all the opportunities over the meals to have more conversation and deepening and connection just with each other, because I think that's the one thing I'm picking up on. And at Expert Empires last week as well, with the whole conversation around. You know, ai and the way technology is going is people human beings are still craving that human to human connection. Right and I think that's what I want to create as well is the environment where people just come away, they get their spaciousness, they get the pause that they need, they get to really reconnect themselves, but they're actually also connecting with other that are also going through this kind of transformation as well.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, we found that, yeah, once you get that group and they really connect, they want to stay connected forever. Then, because of experience and they're shared so much, whilst the facilitators facilitated that reveal or whatever the epiphany that they've achieved so because obviously we sit on the sidelines of everything, so we see everything it's working really well. Yeah, everyone's getting on um, and obviously you're going to keep it quite small as well, because we know that the bigger the group, the more sort of cliques and things you get, and that's not. We could actually accommodate 20 people here and we have had big groups, but we both sat there and thought, a, we're knackered, but b, but just the atmosphere was a bit, it just didn't. They didn't gel as a group. So, and I was telling someone today, actually my coach and I said people may think it was a stupid decision because we are cutting off our nose in terms of revenue we could make, but I'm more about making sure everyone's comfortable and everyone is having that experience. So, yeah, isn't it?

Speaker 1:

yeah, so we've said, ideally five would be a lovely number for me to bring out, but we can go up to eight, right?

Speaker 2:

so yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Obviously, everybody has their own room um. So the beds you know how big are the beds?

Speaker 1:

they're huge and comfortable. Oh, my god, the sheets as well. I don't think I mentioned this to you. How are the sheets so soft?

Speaker 2:

I was like these are like the filthiest sheets.

Speaker 1:

I actually arrived at your place, didn't I? And I had a siesta and I was like I don't know if I can get out of this bed.

Speaker 2:

You arrived and you're like is she all right? She's like been in her room for ages.

Speaker 1:

But that's the thing, right. Anything goes in a room for ages.

Speaker 2:

But that's, that's the thing, right? Anything goes like it's all yeah, um, yeah, so yeah, I mean the, the writers retreat a guy, right, he one guy. And how many women? Five, six women. And he was fine the first day was it.

Speaker 2:

The second day he went downhill yeah, yeah yeah, second day he went downhill I think the cat had taken everyone out for a walk and he came down to have a drink and he said um, we know he wasn't well. And I said, oh, do you want me to call the doctor? And he said no, no, no, I think I might have COVID. And I went oh right, ok, so what plan are we going to have then? And he said well, I think that's what you feel. I've got tests. If you want to do a test, it's up to you. He said no, no, no, he didn't have COVID, but we just kept going up every hour to make sure he wasn't dead.

Speaker 2:

He was just sleeping very heavily. So, yeah, that was a bit. Yeah, I felt sorry for him because he was the only man as well. He was upstairs in the room on the terrace, so he was just sitting out in the morning before everyone got up and doing all the um, sunsets and stuff like that. For me, I mean, we had the photographer's retreat back in February. They brought out some models, got amazing pictures, and Pat was taking them out really early in the morning to see the sunrise, wasn't it? So that's one thing you could go out and have your breakfast looking at the sunrise so very pretty.

Speaker 1:

I'm down for that kind of thing. So yeah. I love that and and I think yeah, just to reflect back to you that I think that's for me. I feel like I'm in such a safe pair of hands, because it is a lot to hold this space for people. Like my first retreat. I had my sister helping me and I had nine people and it was a lot. You know a lot in one day, um and.

Speaker 1:

I one person stayed that first one, um, and I think it took me about three weeks to recover energetically, because it takes a lot to hold that space.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love it but it takes a lot and I think the thought of doing it something for four nights feels overwhelming without knowing, yeah, there's that safe pair of hands that are actually looking out for me as well. So I know that you know, if I don't have the energy to be at a dinner, for example, you're going to be there still serving I'll sit down with them and eat exactly.

Speaker 2:

Obviously we're doing the. I think we're doing yoga nidra, aren't we? Uh, one evening, yeah, um are we doing sound healing. I can't remember, remember, yeah, sound healing, and then one of the other activities depending on the weather, but in September it should be lovely is the outdoor cinema where Pat and I are the usherettes, usher and usherette with the ice cream and the popcorn. The biggest thing that night when we do the open air cinema is the argument as to which film they're going to watch.

Speaker 1:

I don't know what's a favourite.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's always Ridesmaids, because I'm an avid Rikser.

Speaker 3:

Which makes me blush terribly because of the conversation that's right at the start of the film I don't know Excuse himself.

Speaker 1:

I think it would have to be something a little bit more musical, like either the Greatest Showman or Dirty Dancing's got to be up there with a favourite.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think a good thing along is the perfect thing we've even got the karaoke machine, if you feel like that oh my god, I can just hear that bouncing off the ballet as well we had a lot of birthday parties with one retreat, so they kept having parties every evening and they would like rotate where it was going to be. We had to get up really early the next day for some reason I can't remember why and the party was at the pool. Well, our bedroom, when we're in the spa, to that, and again, oh my god, we're not going to get any sleep. But you didn't hear a thing, literally did not hear a thing. So the great thing is, if somebody's tired and they want to go to bed, they can just. We're just so right, okay, that's not where the party is tonight. The party's here tonight, but yeah, because it's such a big house, yeah, no one hears it really yeah, yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1:

What have we not covered anything? Uh, the pool, the jacuzzi, yeah, I haven't covered that yeah I had, I had a dip and it was refreshing and lovely.

Speaker 2:

So I've been in the I woke up yesterday with what I thought was a sprained ankle. I couldn't walk on it. I had no idea what I'd done with it. Sat in the jacuzzi yesterday at lunchtime. Ankle all all right now. Yeah. So it was a bit hot, though I think it was 37 degrees. Though I think it was 37 degrees when it was. Was it the day before it was? It felt that way anyway.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So the jacuzzi, the pool.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we've talked about the seating areas and things like that and miles and miles of walks just literally on our doorstep. So if people want to go off and have a little stroll on their own, it's very hard to get lost on the Rambler because it's the only flat bit.

Speaker 2:

I mean the walk into the village. We went through the village with you, so people can walk into the village. It's like a 10 minute walk, I mean, it is literally only there, but you have to walk around and that's really pretty very oldie Spain. And then, if people want to see more of a Spanish line, we can take people into the next nearest town, which is Alba. We went through there, didn't we with you? Yeah, we went to Tapasa.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Tapasa. Yeah, and that's very pretty at night when it's not so hot. Nice ice cream parlour in the middle of the square, which is beautiful, with all the um square fountains and things going um everything then, haven't we?

Speaker 3:

so I think we've given people a pretty good overview of what we offer here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think the only thing we haven't actually mentioned is the name of the house, which is how people can find you on social media.

Speaker 2:

Yes, so yes, casa casa terto Blanca retreat venue, but just put Casa Toretto Blanca and we're in Partaloa, which is P-A-R-T-A-L-O-A, l-o-a. And when people want to know where we are, we say right, okay, we're in southern Spain, but if you think of where Mathea Airport is and then where Almeria is, we're halfway there in between, amazing.

Speaker 1:

Oh, thanks so much for coming on, guys, um, I think it just adds a flavor for what we got coming up. So, yeah, if anyone is interested in the retreat, I am running a couple of discovery calls every week. So you, I will make sure that that link is in the show notes, as well as the link to the retreat uh landing page and, uh, the casa tereta blanca's uh direct website if you want to check them out as well. So thank you both for yes, there is sorry.

Speaker 3:

Just one last thing. There is, uh, a guide, a self-guided um virtual tour on the website so that people can explore all of our networks and there's also a couple of videos on youtube.

Speaker 2:

If you put casa tereta blanca, we've got one that's about five minutes shows you all the places and one that's about one and a half minutes.

Speaker 1:

The other thing we haven't mentioned is the animals. Oh yes, Where's?

Speaker 2:

the dogs. Okay, so we do have two dogs. One is our English dog that we brought over with us. She's 13.

Speaker 3:

Pretty much.

Speaker 2:

Big girl. And then, just before lockdown, we'd seen Zorro Zorro is Spanish for wolf in the market. They don't sell them in the market, sorry, they don't sell them in the market, but they're there to get money for that, because every retired woman and man in Spain has to rescue puppies and cats and whatever. And so we'd seen Zorro in just before lockdown and then we'd gone into lockdown and then I was like, oh my god, we don't know how long we've been in lockdown. He's then gonna not be able to be homed. So we phoned them up and we said can we have him? So you weren't allowed out at all, um, unless you're going to the vets, the doctors, the pharmacy or the shops. So you have to go to get Zorro. And then he came home.

Speaker 2:

So we've got sorry, he is the mad um Spanish dog. Um, they both very calm. Once they get to know you, they're very calm, like within about a second. And then we do have four cats two of our cats are our own, which are Mr Henry and Lady Luna, and then we got, um, well, we got adopted. We got adopted by two ginger cats called um george and princess.

Speaker 1:

Oh my god george was a fan of mine yes, george was a fan of yours yes, yeah, he loved you so yeah, so they, they are here.

Speaker 2:

But if people have an allergy, then obviously we can make accommodation for that too. Yeah, I mean they don't go.

Speaker 2:

They're not allowed in any of the bedrooms, so the bedrooms are for free yeah, so they stay in our part of the house when we have a retreat which is connected to the house, but not in the house, so they would be wandering around the gardens obviously, um, but you know, I mean they might have barked for a little bit when you first arrived, emma, but then, oh yeah, apart from sorrow the next day, he does forget that he knows you, so he might go. Oh no, I know you oh, it was like I.

Speaker 1:

I'm an animal lover, so it was lovely to have them around, and actually, uh, george made me like cats even more anyway, so thank you guys, um thanks for tuning in, um to my listeners and um, as always, take care and we'll see you next week thank you everybody bye, thank you.

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Emma Clayton

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