The Yorkshire Writing Retreat

The Yorkshire Writing Retreat:
with Matt Kendrick and Ruth Brandt

Tuesday 8th – Monday 14th September 2026 in Thurlstone (Holme Valley)

Join us in the idyllic landscape of the Holme Valley for a six-night writing retreat where you’ll learn from two widely experienced creative writing teachers through a series of workshops, feedback sessions and one-to-one chats. You’ll also have plenty of unstructured time dedicated to putting new words on the page.

This is a chance for you and your writing to take centre stage. As such, you’ll be encouraged to structure your stay according to what works best for you. Everything is entirely optional. You might want to go out and explore the beautiful countryside. Or you might prefer to find a comfy corner of the cottage where you can snuggle up and write.

In the evenings, there’ll be social activities like informal readings or writing bingo, but again, these are entirely optional. With everything on the retreat, you do you. Our aim is that your stay becomes whatever you need it to be to feel creatively energised and replenished, and that you come away from your experience having conjured plenty of new words and made some wonderful writing friends.

Who the retreat is for

The retreat is designed for any prose fiction writer whether their focus is on short fiction, novels or something more bespoke, and whether they've just started their writing journey or they've been writing for several years.

How the retreat works

Along with time to concentrate on your writing, the retreat offers workshops, one-to-ones, feedback workshops, and evening activities. There's no compulsion to take part in everything, however, we hope that most participants will want to take part in most sessions.

Workshops last between 60 and 90 minutes and are a chance to learn and reflect on key concepts of writing fiction.

One-to-ones last 45 minutes and are an opportunity for participants to talk with Ruth and Matt on an individual basis and can be used to discuss a specific project or to talk about your writing more generally.

Feedback workshops are structured sessions where participants can read and discuss each other's work.

The evening activities and readings are a chance to engage with writing in ways that embrace the joy of the written word.

Accommodation

Accommodation is split across two "farm-style" cottages.

Hilda’s Cottage is a six-bed “farm-style” cottage with a large kitchen-diner downstairs that opens out into a cosy lounge space. There’s a further sitting room on the first floor along with six ensuite bedrooms. Other facilities include an outdoor seating area, a hot tub and a games room.

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Needlework Cottage is a four-bed “farm-style” cottage with a large kitchen / living room downstairs along with a games room for table-tennis and pool. On the first floor, there’s a comfortable sitting room for relaxing and writing. Two of the four double bedrooms have ensuite facilities while the other two share a family-sized bathroom.

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Accommodation options

Ensuite double
Double with shared bathroom
Twin room* (*available to those coming as a pair; availability limited)

Food and drink (self-catering)

We'll provide a welcome meal on the first evening for anyone who'd like to join us, but otherwise the retreat is self-catered. You can either choose to cook at the cottages or dine out at the local pubs and restaurants. Both cottages have large kitchens equipped with everything you’d expect (ovens, hobs, fridge-freezer, cooking utensils etc.).

Tea, coffee, milk, biscuits and some homemade cake will be provided. For all other provisions, there’s a Tesco supermarket 1 mile away in the neighbouring town.

Travel

By car

Thurlstone is approximately 15 minutes from the M1 junction 37.
Along the A628, it’s roughly 1 hour 30 minutes from central Manchester.

By train

The nearest station is Penistone which has direct links to Sheffield and Huddersfield.
Pick up from the station can be arranged at a small additional cost

Price

Ensuite double (single occupancy): £975
Double with shared bathroom (single occupancy): £875
Twin room (shared occupancy): £690

The price is inclusive of accommodation, welcome meal, all retreat sessions, and general supplies (tea, coffee, milk, cake, biscuits). For the sake of trasnparency, the cost breakdown per person (for an ensuite double) is as follows - this is for information only as individual items can't be selected or removed.

Price breakdown (ensuite double, single occupancy)

Accommodation = £650
One-to-ones (£45 x 2) = £90
Workshops (£20 x 4) = £80
Other sessions (£15 x 7) = £105
Welcome meal / general supplies = £25
Admin fees = £25

Dates

Tuesday 8th - Monday 14th September 2026 (APPLICATIONS OPEN FEBRUARY)

Provisional schedule

Tuesday 8th September

afternoon – arrival / settling in
afternoon – welcome session
evening – open-mic readings

Wednesday 9th September

morning – workshop 1
afternoon – writing time
evening – writing bingo

Thursdasy 10th September

morning – workshop 2
afternoon – one-to-ones
evening – Q & A

Friday 11th September

morning – feedback workshop
afternoon – writing time
evening – socialising

Saturday 12th September

morning – workshop 3
afternoon – one-to-ones
evening – exquisite corpse

Sunday 13th September

morning – workshop 4
afternoon – feedback workshop
evening – celebration evening

Monday 14th September

morning – departure

Matt and Ruth

Matt Kendrick is a writer, editor and teacher based in the East Midlands, UK. His short fiction has appeared in various journals, and has been included on the Biffy 50 list for 2019-20, in Best Microfiction 2021, Best Small Fictions 2022 and the Wigleaf Top 50 2022.

As a creative writing tutor, he aims to teach in a way that's encouraging, detailed and aspirational, helping each writer feel empowered to fulfil the potential of their stories.

Specialisms: flash fiction, novel writing from A to B, story structure, character development, lyrical writing, sentence flow, literary fiction, literary-speculative, fabulous realism, humour writing

Ruth Brandt is a writer and creative writing tutor who has worked for organisations including West Dean College, Kingston University, and Surrey Adult Learning. She’s the author of ‘No One Has Any Intention of Building A Wall’, which won of the Eyelands Book Award: Unpublished Short Story Collection 2018. She has an MFA in creative writing, is a Professional Member of the National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).

Her aim as a tutor is to get people writing and keep them writing through providing supportive and constructive feedback which takes into account the writer’s aims and ambitions.

Specialisms: Short stories, flash fiction, novella-in-flash

Apply

The retreat is open to all writers, however places will be initially allocated via an application process rather than a first-come-first-served basis to allow any interested writers a chance to sign up and in order that we can create a balanced group of varied experience levels and writing focuses.

Applications will open from 1st February to 20th February.

All applicants who apply before the 20th February will receive a response by the 10th March.

Selected applicants would need to pay a 50% deposit upon acceptance with the remainder payable by the 30th June.

Applicants who we're unable to accommodate this time around would receive priority for future rereats.

Applications open in February

Express interest

To express your interest and to receive a reminder email when applications open, please email matt@mattkendrick.co.uk

Matt Kendrick