Retreats
Crafted Leader
A 3-Day Woodworking & Coaching Retreat to Unlock Clarity and Confidence - New Forest, UK
Craft your own symbolic wooden mallet while tackling your biggest life and work challenges. Step away from the noise, into nature, and give yourself the space to think, breathe, and reset.
Overview
Crafted Leader is a 3‑day woodworking and coaching retreat in the heart of the New Forest, UK.
You’ll build your own symbolic wooden mallet using traditional tools, guided through a process that blends purposeful craft, reflective coaching, and time in nature to quiet your busy mind and unlock the insights you’ve been searching for.
Who It’s For and What You’ll Gain
You’ve built a good life. But lately, something feels off.
You’re busy, but unfulfilled. You overthink, but still can’t find the clarity you need. You’ve tried to think your way through the big questions — career, relationships, purpose — but the answers never quite come.
Sometimes you doubt yourself, your choices, or the direction you’re heading. You might push it aside, or you’ve sought help before, but something deeper still feels unresolved.
That’s who Crafted Leader is for, Men who are ready to step out of their heads and into a space designed to unlock the answers they can’t access in the churn of daily life.
What It Means for You
Little Red is your conscious brain; great at quick decisions, daily problem-solving, and powering through to-do lists.
But for deeper challenges, career purpose, identity, fulfilment, she’s out of her depth.
The wizard is your unconscious mind — the part of you that sees complexity, understands nuance, and holds the insight you’ve been missing.
But he can’t break through the noise. He whispers — and most of us are too busy to hear him.
To access that deeper wisdom, you need to quiet your conscious mind — not by forcing it, but by gently occupying it.
That’s what purposeful woodworking does.
What Makes This Different?
Crafted Leader isn’t a retreat where woodworking is a novelty or coaching is a one-off session. It’s a fully integrated experience where each element is designed to unlock clarity and insight.
You’ll:
Build your own symbolic wooden mallet using traditional hand tools — the core vehicle for your transformation, not a side activity
Tap into flow science — keeping your conscious mind focused so your unconscious can do the deeper work
Experience a blend of coaching, craft, and nature, all structured into one cohesive process
Be part of a small group (max 12), ensuring space, depth, and personal attention
Choose your level of participation — no awkward rituals or forced vulnerability
Alongside the core woodworking process, you’ll also experience:
Grounding and breathwork practices to calm your nervous system
Immersive nature walks through the ancient woodland of the New Forest
Optional activities giving you space to explore, reset, or simply engage
Locally sourced, shared meals prepared with care
Plenty of unhurried time for quiet reflection, conversation, or simply being
Day 1
10am: Arrival
Morning: Meet and greet, grounding, co-create the space and set intentions.
Inputting the challenge
Lunch
Afternoon: Prepare tools and materials, woodworking project initiation.
Free time
Evening Meal
Forest Night Walk
How It Works
The Tale of the Two Minds
Your mind is like an enchanted forest.
In the centre lives Little Red Riding Hood — lively, busy, always solving problems. She’s brilliant at the day-to-day. But lately, the forest has changed. The trees droop. The rivers slow. Something’s wrong, but she doesn’t know what.
She works harder — fixing, pruning, pushing through — but the forest keeps wilting. Every solution helps a little, but never enough.
What she doesn’t realise is that the real answer lives elsewhere.
At the forest’s edge, in a crooked old cabin, lives a wizard. Wise. Quiet. He sees the whole picture. He knows what’s really wrong — and how to fix it — but his voice is too soft to hear over all her doing.
One day, Little Red stumbles into a quiet clearing.
There’s a workbench, a block of wood, and tools.
She stops. She starts to build. And in that stillness, the forest quiets.
Finally, the wizard speaks.
And for the first time — she hears him.
What’s Included
3 Days of guided sessions
All tools and materials for woodworking
2 Nights Accommodation at Tile Barn Outdoor Centre Sleeping Pods
All meals + Refreshments (locally sourced and freshly prepared)
All Activities: Forest Walks, grounding and breathwork
Complimentary Reflection Pad, Pencil, and Crafted Leader Woodworking Apron.
Free Car Parking Available Onsite/ Short Walk from Brockenhurst Train Station (Transfer Service)
Max. 12 Participants
Investment
Begins at 10am - Friday 10th October
Finishes at 4pm - Sunday 12th October
All Activities, meals, accommodation, materials included
£1,495
How It Transforms
Through the act of building a symbolic wooden mallet — using your hands, focusing on form and function — you give your conscious brain something to do.
And while it’s occupied, your unconscious mind gets to work.
This is flow science in action.
The combination of craft, nature, and reflection resets your nervous system and opens up a channel to deeper thinking — the kind that often gets drowned out by noise, stress, or daily survival mode.
You stop trying to solve the wrong problem…
And finally start hearing the right solution.
“What do I really want next?”
“What actually matters to me now?”
“Who am I, underneath all the roles I’ve been playing?”
You don’t just leave with a mallet.
You leave with clarity.
What To Expect
Day 2:
Dawn Outdoor Grounding (Breathwork/ Pilates)
Breakfast
Morning: Continue the creative woodworking process
Lunch
Afternoon: Refining Mallet
Optional Outdoor Activity
Freetime
Evening Meal
Campfire Mens Circle Discussion
Day 3:
Dawn Outdoor Grounding (Breathwork/ Pilates)
Breakfast
Morning: Complete Mallet Build
Lunch
Afternoon: Reconnecting with big questions
Discussing Integration and next steps
Close
4pm Depart
Ready to invest in yourself and take this step into answering the biggest questions?
Secure one of the remaining places for this unique and transformational experiences
About Your Facilitator
I’ve spent years in leadership coaching and performance psychology — powerful conversations that change people’s thinking. But I found something was missing.
When I discovered woodworking, I realised I could combine the insight of coaching and psychology with the grounding and creativity of hands‑on craft.
Crafted Leader is the result — a method that blends purposeful handcraft, applied neuroscience, and the stillness of nature to help you unlock the answers you’ve been chasing.
Location and Accommodation
Tile Barn Outdoor Centre sits quietly in the heart of the New Forest, just outside Brockenhurst. Set across approximately 14 acres, this site offers the calm and seclusion you need to reset—while still being easily accessible from the train station and nearby village amenities.
You’re in private, self-contained accommodation with all essentials to live comfortably, surrounded by ancient woodland.
The Enda Ryan “Poppy Pod” village provides cozy, pod-style lodging equipped with modern touches like USB charging and underfloor heating—but note, the cabins are not en suite; bathroom and shower facilities are shared nearby
It feels immersed in nature, yet offers the comfort and security of well-maintained facilities—not rustic, but grounded.
Shared amenities like toilets, showers, dining areas, and underfloor heating create a sense of ease and restoration.
The site blends tranquility and thoughtful infrastructure—enhancing the retreat experience without any distractions.
Ready to invest in yourself and take this step into answering the biggest questions?
Secure one of the remaining places for this unique and transformational experiences