Food
Slow mornings at your own table.
Nourishing meals arranged around your preferences, or the freedom of your own full kitchen.
Meals, taken care of.
Main meals can be part of your retreat: prepared by local food providers and coordinated around your stay, with your dietary needs in mind. The cooking is done by local providers Deb and Ian know and trust.
If you’d rather look after yourself, every apartment has a full kitchen. Cook for yourself, wander to Cotton Tree’s cafés and grocers, or bring something back to eat on the balcony.
Self-catering
A table of your own.
Every apartment has a full kitchen and a dishwasher. Shop at Cotton Tree, cook what you like, and eat when you like.
Meals arranged
A little less to organise.
Main meals prepared by local providers and timed around your stay — from dinner on arrival to breakfast on departure, or just the evenings.
Later in the day
Vegetables at the centre.
Plant-focused plates are the easiest thing to arrange here — and meals with meat or fish are just as straightforward. You decide which.
Vegetarian, plant-focused, or whatever you actually eat.
This isn’t a vegetarian-only retreat, and you won’t be asked to eat a particular way. Vegetarian and plant-focused meals are straightforward to arrange with local providers, and so are meals with meat or fish. Tell us how you like to eat and it goes into your retreat plan.
Allergies, intolerances and foods you’d rather avoid are worth mentioning when you enquire, so the provider can be briefed. Several local providers work with organic ingredients — ask, and your meals are arranged with that in mind. We don’t claim certified organic across the board, because that certification belongs to the provider.
Self-catering is a normal choice here, not a fallback. Plenty of guests cook for themselves the whole stay, and plenty do a mix: a few main meals arranged, the rest their own.
How meals are arranged.
The exact meals and timings are set out in your retreat plan.
Tell us what suits you
Dietary needs and preferences, and how many main meals you’d like arranged.
Arranged locally
Local food providers prepare the meals. Delivery or collection, storage and reheating are agreed with the provider.
Eat in your own rhythm
Meals are arranged around your stay, so you can eat when it suits you.
Plant-focused and Ayurvedic-inspired food.
Ordinary meals, plant-focused food and Ayurvedic-inspired eating can all be part of your meal plans. On the Holistic & Alternative Retreat, food goes further: rather than a fixed retreat menu, it can be personalised around your Ayurvedic constitution, wellbeing goals, dietary needs and the foods you genuinely enjoy. If a lighter approach interests you, fasting and cleansing interests explains how that conversation works.
Food questions.
Are meals included?
If you choose them. Arranged main meals are part of your retreat plan and its price; you can choose self-catering instead.
Are vegetarian meals available?
Yes, and so are meals with meat or fish. You can also self-cater.
Can I self-cater, or mix the two?
Both. Shop locally at Cotton Tree, use the apartment kitchen, and eat whenever suits you. A mix is common — tell us roughly how many main meals you’d like arranged and the rest is yours.
Does the apartment have a kitchen?
Yes. Every apartment is fully self-contained with a full kitchen and a dishwasher, so you can cook for yourself for part or all of your stay.
Can dietary needs and preferences be accommodated?
Yes. Tell us your preferences and any allergies when you enquire, and they are confirmed before your stay. You can still change your mind when we talk, before your retreat plan is confirmed.
Who cooks the meals?
Local providers, not Deb and Ian, coordinated around your stay.
Is the food organic?
You can ask for it. Certified organic isn’t claimed across the board, because the certification would belong to the provider.
Ready when you are.
Tell us how you’d like to eat, and how you’d like the days to feel.
No payment to enquire, and no obligation.