Mixed Media - Solo Creative Retreat

Create nature-inspired letterpress prints during this solo retreat on Dartmoor. Forage botanicals and pigments, document the landscape, then translate your observations into printed pieces using our heritage letterpress workshop.

Take time away in England’s last wilderness: Dartmoor National Park. Connect deeply with place, explore the remarkable flora and fauna. Elevate your own creative practice with expert-led time in our heritage letterpress studio.

On Retreat

Our solo creative retreats offer what you’ve been longing: uninterrupted time to connect deeply with nature in Dartmoor’s ancient landscape. This isn’t merely a creative break, but the reset that will help you continue to capture precious moments long after you return home. Yes, this is a solo creative retreat. We only accept one person for each date.

Designed to support and nurture your creativity, our retreats will add knowledge, motivation, and momentum to your creative journey.

During your stay, you will have the opportunity to enjoy independent or guided walks, record and document the unique heritage and natural landscape of Dartmoor, and print your own words in our heritage letterpress workshop.

You will receive four Dartmoor experience envelopes, each with a suggested activity and duration. Before arriving, we will have a short consultation call on Zoom. We'll use the information from this call to create the perfect itinerary. From our favourite watering holes to locations where you might meet buzzards and ravens, our local knowledge will be ready for you on arrival.

• First day: Introduction to Dartmoor
  A short welcome introducing you to the retreat experience, Princetown and Dartmoor. Duration to suit your arrival time. If you arrive early enough, this could also be a guided, or independent walk.
• Second day: Engage in your creative practice
  Enjoy a day of submersing yourself in the expanse of high moors of Dartmoor and engaging in your creative practice. We will suggest four different activities, but the day is yours!
• Third day: Creative practice and intro to letterpress
  You will spend half the day in our heritage craft letterpress workshop getting an introduction to printing with metal and wood type, and help to start your printing project. This gives you a chance to familiarise yourself with the process, and perhaps adjust expectations. Choose morning (9am-12pm) or afternoon (1pm-4pm).
• Final day: Finish your letterpress printing & departure.
  Starting from 9am, you will have full access to our letterpress workshop, with 1-to-1 support and guidance. You are welcome to stay for as long as it takes, but generally people wrap up at or before 4:30pm. 

You will return home with a lasting memory of time spent on your creative practice, wonderful letterpress printed items completed by you, and a renewed energy for documenting the world around you.

Dates:

• 24-27 July 2026
• 21-24 August 2026
• 11-14 September 2026

Tuition for four-day retreat: £795, includes a pack lunch each day.

Additional dates may be available. Please email studio@princetownpress.co.uk to request alternative dates.

What's included:

• Consultation call via Zoom to discuss your creative practice and interests. This will allow us to plan your perfect creative retreat.
• One-to-one support to design and print uniquely letterpress-printed sheets (backgrounds, text pieces, or decorative elements), perfect for incorporating into nature journals, collage work, or book covers when you continue your creative practice at home.
• One and a half days in our heritage craft letterpress workshop.
• Four independent activities designed specifically for you and your creative practice based on our consultation call.
• Packed lunch each day. 

Accommodation, breakfast, and supper are not included. We are happy to recommend accommodation or coordinate bookings for you. Several options are available within a 5-minute drive, starting from £25/night (bunkhouse), £85/night (guest house, B&B, pub), or hotel (£140/night). Based on 3 nights’ accommodation and evening meals, total retreat investment typically ranges £1,050-1,350 depending on accommodation choice.

Most accommodation options include breakfast. Princetown has several pubs and cafes for evening meals, or we can recommend dinner-inclusive options when coordinating your booking.

What you will take home

• Letterpress printed sheets on British papers, perfect for continued practice when you return home
• Nature documentation kit, including our every-day-carry notebook, British-made wood pencils, and the world's best pencil sharpener (we've tested lots!)
• Gift box of ephemera from our workshop

Prior experience required: absolutely none! Even if you think you have zero artistic talent, and you're just artistically-curious, this creative retreat is perfect for you.

Independent activities: We will work with you to understand what might make the perfect creative retreat for you. Using guidance from our consultation call, we will create four activities of varying length. These will be presented on arrival as print-outs in sealed envelopes. You may wish to open them immediately on arrival, or keep them as a surprise.

The workshop is open to everyone, however, there is not an accessible toilet on-site. The presses are designed to be used while standing, and there is limited seating. Please get in touch if you like to talk through any accommodations that might improve your experience in the studio, or if you have any other questions or concerns about the workshop or facilities.