About Cabilla
Imagine a world where humans are seen as an integral part of nature, and nature an integral part of being human.
For too long we, as humans, have been seen as something separate from nature. We talk about closing down our laptop for a weekend to spend time ‘in nature’ as if it is something that lives far away from us, as if we had forgotten that we are inextricably linked to everything in the natural world around us. The changing seasons, the cycles of the moon, the food that we eat and the air that we breathe all make us who we are. We are nature as much as we are human.
Cabilla Cornwall exists to create a fundamental bridge between humans and nature…
helping us to remember the natural connections that live within each and every one of us, rediscover the healing properties that nature offers for our mind, bodies and spirits, and re-imagine a future where we all play a role in the reciprocal healing of the natural world.
Established in 2019, Cabilla Cornwall is a dedicated retreat centre nestled within 14 acres of some of the UK’s rarest and most important habitat: Atlantic Temperate Rainforest. We also have a thriving permaculture garden which grows organic food for our site and beyond, and a spring-fed river that runs through the bottom of our valley providing the purest drinking water imaginable + a home for some rare and exceptionally important aquatic life. We believe that wellbeing doesn’t have to be a complicated affair and just a few days (or even hours!) spent in an environment like this one can have profound impacts on our mental and physical health.
We look forward to having you visit and are so excited to share the magic with you.
About us
Cabilla Cornwall is a community venture at the very heart of its being. We’d been hosting retreats across Europe for years and were looking for a magical and healing piece of land that would become our new home. When this wild and rugged Cornish corner of temperate rainforest came up for sale, we knew deep in our bones what we needed to do.
So we set up a community project, with roughly 30 of our friends, family and retreat community clubbing together to purchase the land and retreat centre. It is in this spirit of community that we continue to operate to this very day.
As well as hosting our own retreats, we hire out Cabilla Cornwall to other skilled practitioners looking to combine their practices with deep immersion in a pristine natural environment. We love seeing the different types of work that happen here and never fail to be amazed at the simple but extraordinarily restorative powers of a few days spent amongst ancient oak trees, surrounded by good people and eating fresh food from the land on which it is grown.
Rediscovering our nature
There’s no getting away from the fact that humans have, at large, had a negative impact on our planet. From pollution to deforestation to climate change we’ve caused a lot of harm, but we are fundamental optimists and believe that it isn’t too late to turn things around.
For just as we have the capacity to harm, we also have the capacity to heal. At Cabilla Cornwall we are re-imagining a future where each and every one of us contributes to the deep, rapid and sustained healing of the natural world – and we are seeing this happening first-hand in our small corner of Cornwall.
Ecologists often talk about certain animals like the bison, beaver, wolf and lynx as keystone species. The presence of these animals in a natural environment has a profoundly positive impact on the entire ecosystem, improving the health of other animals, plants, trees and even waterways.
Why can’t humans be a keystone species too? After all, we have the ability to choose.
At Cabilla we are seeing year on year increases in pollinators, insects, forest regrowth, food production, water quality and many more biomarkers of a healthy ecosystem, all by following natural and time-tested methods of land stewardship, eschewing chemicals and working together as a community. It allows us to dream big dreams of what could happen if entire villages, countries and continents were to work together with the same intention and gusto. We humbly showcase this work when people come to visit in the hope we can inspire others to do the same when they leave.
We all have a responsibility to care for the land. And when we care for the land, it cares for us in return. When Mother Earth thrives we do too. It is a deep and reciprocal symbiosis that has been forgotten, but is absolutely not too late to remember.
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