Do you find yourself holding on to old photographs, letters, tickets - scraps that tempt a story? Have you ever kept an album, diary or scrapbook? How can we craft a whole from this jumble of parts? 

In this weekend workshop, we’ll take fragmentary collections as starting points for narrative. Together, we’ll explore how keepsakes, notes and memories can inspire - and frustrate - attempts to tell a story; how everyday objects mediate private and public worlds; and techniques for writing into and around the gaps in our everyday archives. 

Through group readings and reflection, practical exercises and one-to-one mentoring in the tranquil surroundings of Starcroft Farm Cabins, we will gather to write ourselves from fragments. 

This exploratory workshop will be guided by friends Marianne Brooker and Alexis Wolf. We welcome participants already working on a project, or those of us feeling the first stirrings of an idea or desire to write. No previous experience is necessary - just curiosity. A short reading list will be circulated in advance. 

We invite interested participants to get in touch with questions or access needs ahead of booking. 

About your workshop hosts

Marianne Brooker is a writer and campaigner living in Bristol. Her PhD thesis explored eighteenth-century poetry collections, encyclopaedias, colour charts and museum archives as sites of fugitive knowledge. Her first book, Intervals, describes living with her mother at the end of her life. Intervals won the 2022 Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize and was longlisted for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. 

Alexis Wolf lives in Battle, East Sussex. She teaches English at Canterbury Christ Church University. Her first book, Transnational Women’s Writing: Beyond Borders and Boundaries, uses archives to reconstruct forgotten women’s lives. Her chapbook of swimming essays, Body of Water, was published by Two Plum Press in 2022.

About your accommodation

This weekend retreat will take place at Starcroft Farm Cabins. The three luxury cabins are inspired by women’s history and full of intriguing vintage objects to inspire your own storytelling.

Each cabin is a unique creative space, equipped with a shower and flushing toilet, cooking facilities and two writing desks. Plus a stargazing window above the bed!

Cost

£475 for single occupancy, and £550 for two people sharing*

*Each cabin sleeps 2 in a double bed.

A 30% deposit is required to secure your place, with the balance due 6 weeks before the start of the retreat.

How to book

Email us at hello@starcroftfarm.co.uk. Cabins are assigned on a first come, first served basis.