Welcome to Llannerchwen!

If you yearn for a haven in which to become still, reflect, contemplate and pray;

If you are searching for a space that will hold and guide you towards the sacred depths within;

If you long to come home to your sacred place of belonging in the wider web of creation;

Llannerchwen invites you to come and stay a while.

Set amid the beautiful wilds of the Brecon Beacons...

...this sacred place offers:

  • Space to step back from the demands, distractions and pace of modern living;
  • Time to slow down, to breathe, to pause, to become still, to listen more deeply

Come and let Llannerchwen speak to you of the divine amidst the beauty and mystery of creation.

What are the gifts of a time of retreat?

In the quiet time of a retreat, we are able to become more aware of our feelings, moods and inner reactions, which then help us to become more attuned to our deepest desires and to what God most deeply desires for us.

The doorways into this place of deep listening are solitude and stillness. At Llannerchwen, cradled in stunning Welsh countryside, we step into an oasis of stillness, enabling us to receive and draw on the gifts that arise in sacred solitude. This allows us to respect both the ‘sacred space’ of our interior lives and the ‘sacred space’ of creation, enabling us to discover what God might be saying to us, individually and collectively, in our own time and at our own pace.

What facilities are on offer?

There are 6 self-contained living spaces for retreatants – three stand-alone hermitages and three cabins, each with its own separate entrance. All retreatants are self-catering. For a detailed description of our accommodation and facilities for retreatants, click here.

In addition to retreatant accommodation, we also have:

  • 1 communal indoor meeting space (with tea/coffee making facilities)
  • 1 fully enclosed outdoor gathering space
  • A small simple chapel and an art room.
  • A Poustinia
  • An outdoor woodland/gathering space, with space for a fire pit
  • An enclosed garden containing a meditative walk which depicts the evolution
    of the cosmos.

What can you expect from a retreat at Llannerchwen?

We welcome both individuals and small groups to Llannerchwen but always manage
our booking diary to ensure that there is no overlap between the two.

During your stay, our team at Llannerchwen are committed to:

  • Valuing the uniqueness of each individual and tailoring our welcome to each person or group who comes.
  • Being present and readily available in an unobtrusive way.
  • Protecting and nurturing the special atmosphere of Llannerchwen, whilst balancing this with the need for the carefully managed use of power tools to ensure proper care of our extensive grounds and woods.
  • Giving advance notice, when possible, of the likely usage of power tools in our grounds.
  • N.B. We have no control over any noise that comes from land that is beyond
    our property.

Types of retreat we offer at Llannerchwen

  • Solitude Retreat of between two and nine nights, with the option to arrange an occasional session of spiritual accompaniment, lasting about 45 minutes.
  • Day of Private Prayer (9am – 5pm)
  • Individually Guided Retreat (3,5,6 or 8 days), rooted in the Ignatian tradition.  The retreatant has a daily session of spiritual accompaniment.
  • Full Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, either as a 30-day block or in three separate blocks of 10 days, spaced over several months. Again, the retreatant has a daily session of spiritual accompaniment.
  • Themed Immersive Retreats and workshops which deepen the experience of:
    • Listening to and experiencing Divine presence in the natural world
    • Creative and embodied way of praying, ritualising and ceremony-making which helps the retreatants to more fully experience and respond to the Divine in all things.
    • Processes of communal journeying, shared spiritual conversation and collective discernment rooted in a deep-time perspective and honouring the wider web of life.

If you are interested in the Full Spiritual Exercises or in Themed Retreats, please contact us on retreats@llannerchwen.org.uk. Bookings for Solitude Retreats, Days of Prayer and Individually Guided Retreats are made via our Churchsuite booking system.  If you are already registered with Churchsuite, please click on 'Log In'.  If you are not yet registered with Churchsuite, please click on 'Sign Up' in order to create an account, and then return to this page to click on 'Log In' when you are ready to make a booking.

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We are committed to:

  • Supporting the ministry of Llannerchwen through our own prayer and reflection.
  • Adopting a responsible and environmentally sensitive approach to the management and development of our resources at Llannerchwen.

Suggested Donation

While we do not set prices for a retreat, we would appreciate a donation. The guidelines below will help you to decide how much you are able to offer. We are very grateful for your donations, which help to cover the costs of our ministry at Llannerchwen and keep this unique place running.

If you are kindly able to offer more than what is suggested, that then helps us to cover the costs of those unable to offer as much.

Non-residential Day of Prayer | £40 per day | non-returnable deposit of £15
‍
Solitude Retreat (minimum 2 nights) | £58 per night | non-returnable deposit of £30

Individually Guided Retreat (minimum 4 nights) | non-returnable deposit of £45
- 4 nights | £255 (i.e 3 days of retreat)
- 6 nights | £425 (i.e 5 days of retreat)
- 7 nights | £510 (i.e 6 days of retreat)
- 9 nights | £660 (i.e 8 days of retreat)

Non-returnable deposits can be transferred to a future booking.
‍
Suggested donations are reviewed each year in January

The Society of Retreat Conductors has a fund which may be able to offer a grant towards the cost of an Individually Guided Retreat.
‍
Contact details: Society of Retreat Conductors,
Administrator: Kathy Redington
St. Mary the Virgin Church
30, Bourne Street
London
SW1 8JJ
Tel: 07979 157 603

The Chapel

We have a chapel that is always open for prayer. This small, simple space, which
used to be a cowshed, is much loved by our retreatants. The evocative wooden
crucifix on the wall was carved by Sister Joan Scott, who founded Llannerchwen for
the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1979.

A communal prayer time is offered in the
chapel each evening.

Mass is available in Brecon on Sundays and certain weekdays. We are sometimes able to offer transport to Brecon for a Sunday church service.

Brecon Churches:
St Michael's Catholic Church
11 St. Michael's Street, Brecon, LD3 9AB
01874 622 046
www.stmichaelsbrecon.org.uk

Church in Wales:
Brecon Cathedral
The Cathedral Close, Brecon, LD3 9DP   01874 623 857
admin@breconcathedral.org.uk

Yr Oriel

‘Yr Oriel’ is Welsh for ‘The Gallery’ and is our creative arts cabin. It is a space for anyone who wants to express their prayer beyond words. We have a wonderful supply of paper, paint, pens and air-drying clay. Alternatively, you may choose to bring your own materials and use this as a space to work.

Walks

There are plenty of walks in and around Llannerchwen. There is a tailor-made OS
map in all cabins and hermitages, and a small booklet containing a few local walks
starting from Llannerchwen, as well as a guide to the meditative cosmic walk in our
enclosed garden.

Good walking boots or wellies are essential, walking poles are advisable and
waterproofs are a must if you want to stay any length of time and go walking. Please
note that the rural, hilly character of Llannerchwen may not be suitable for everyone.

Getting here

Our contact details:
Llannerchwen
Llandefaelog Fach, Brecon, Powys, LD3 9PP
T: 07415 111 959
E: retreats@llannerchwen.org.uk

By car

Please note that SatNavs struggle to locate Llannerchwen as they do not recognise our narrow access lane, which is on the B4520 between the town of Brecon and the hamlet of Llandefaelog. Llannerchwen is now listed on Google Maps, and the What 3 Words reference for the entrance to our lane from the B4520 is: ///grills.overdrive.revisit.

By train

Unfortunately, Brecon does not have a railway station. However, buses or coaches to
Brecon are available from the following train stations: Cardiff, Abergavenny, or Hereford. Please stay on the bus/coach until Brecon Interchange, the last stop in Brecon when coming from Abergavenny or Cardiff. National Express and Stagecoach timetables are below.

National ExpressStagecoach Bus

Please be aware that the last bus from Abergavenny, Cardiff or Hereford departs
between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

By air or sea
‍
From Heathrow Airport, there is a National Express coach to Cardiff and then a change to Brecon. Otherwise, it is best to take the train to Reading, then another train to Cardiff.

From Gatwick Airport (South), there is a National Express coach to Bristol, a change to Cardiff and then a change to Brecon.

From Cardiff Airport there is a bus to Cardiff Central Station. At certain times this service is not very frequent.

From Manchester Airport there is a train to Manchester Piccadilly Station then another train to Abergavenny.

From Bristol Airport there is a bus to Bristol Temple Meads station and then a train to Abergavenny. Alternatively, there is a bus to Cardiff, and then another bus to Brecon.

From Holyhead, it is possible to travel to Abergavenny by train (sometimes involving
a change at Crewe).

History

The Society of the Sacred Heart came to live at Llannerchwen in 1979, inspired by one of the sisters, Joan Scott. Her own two-year experience living as a hermit led her to recognise the need for a place where people from all walks of life could experience a time of solitude, stillness and spiritual accompaniment if desired.
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Originally a small farm holding from the 19th century, Llannerchwen became a place of stillness and contemplation in the 1960’s, when it was purchased by Rev. Shapland and his wife. The Shaplands, together with a laywoman, had two bungalows built and set up and ran a small retreat centre here. When they retired in 1979, they made the property available only to those intent on continuing the spiritual purpose of the place.
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Stillness and solitude remain at the heart of what is offered at Llannerchwen. For this reason, several individual hermitages were constructed and all remaining retreat accommodation was adapted so that each retreatant now has a totally self-contained space.