Held By Story
You hold others to their word.
What's holding you?
17th-20th September, 2026
Cornwall
We have never had a greater need for guides, leaders and facilitators with integrity.
If you hold space for others - and you believe in emergence - it's just a matter of time before you lose track of where you stand.
You feel integrity slipping...
Neutrality devolving into people pleasing...
Forgetting why you do the work, pulled along by arbitrary trends...
Projects starting to feel repetitive, boring or, worse, pointless...
This event is a dare for people who hold others and have realised - to do their work with integrity - the time has come to be held themselves.
You know what everyone else believes. Come and find out what you believe.
Held By Story: Three nights, surrounded by ancient oak trees in a Cornish river valley, guided by professional facilitators and provoked by a mythic story older than all of us. Pause. Reflect. Root down into the depths of your own wisdom.
"Captivating. It was comforting and challenging. It called to something inside me."
"I was moved to laugh and cry. I leave feeling more whole than when I arrived."
You will gain:
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Access your own wisdom: learning who you are and where you really stand.
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The confidence to hold your ground.
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The clarity of universal, timeless wisdom to lean on when things get tough.
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Commitments and accountability from others to step into the life you want to lead.
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The power of extended silence (experiencing it and holding it).
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Lessons from the oldest facilitation technique in history: oral storytelling.
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The full story of Tristan and Isolde, not just ‘told’, but worked with over the whole weekend. We’ll return to the images from different perspectives, ensuring everyone leaves as a ‘story carrier’.
The takeaways:
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Bring new fire, verve and approaches to your communities.
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Meet even more difficult dynamics, conflict, silence and disengagement.
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Move beyond toolkits and session designs, shift perspectives.
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Work with your own inner wisdom and presence: meet nerves with a new level of calm.
You will experience:
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Guidance from professional facilitators with decades of combined experience.
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Powerful provocations (questions we might meet: What do you need to let go of? When will it be time? What is your relationship with rest? What does grief have to do with your work?)
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Extended time in a forest river-valley, in groups and alone.
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Working with an ancient mythic story, based in the land the event is held.
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Ceremonial moments of stepping in and ‘through’ the stages of immersion in myth and nature.
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It's the kind of work that lives in the body and stays with you for life. Even in the toughest moments, it will be with you. Nothing to remember or learn. No frameworks. No ice-breakers. No AI.
It's going to get mythic
Join Recalling Fire for an immersive weekend exploring your life and work through the underground work of Cornwall's deepest-rooted love story: Tristan and Isolde.
Told over four days, with way stops for group sharing, silent reflection, time in the wilds, the forest, the river, shared food and practices to deepen into your own story.
We, the Recalling Fire holding team, are going to share how we do this sort of work, how we facilitate the deep mythic terrain without rushing in to fix or looking for the right or best answers. Through the practice of going down into each of the images, we’ll explore the deep wells that participants of the oral tradition experience as moments within the overall journey. When receiving a story, we tend to trace along the surface, falling down when an image really speaks to us. When doing the work of bringing story, we see it as our duty and joy to have already gone down and down and down and down.
That’s how the images stay nearby. A king’s horses ears. The beauty of birth and death, a rudderless boat. The mythic antenna get tuned to the wider world. The specific story we’re working with will offer images to us, which will inevitably come up in moments of deepest need, some small things which might translate into bigger things will unfold for us, but the way of being with it will stay with us forever. The people around us will benefit in ways it’s hard to put a finger on.
And finally, this is for you. It will require you to come fully, not as a guest but as a full co-creator. It’ll be on you to find the time, the resource, the reasoning. Afterwards, it might not even be possible to explain to those around you what you’ve experienced, but that’s another signal of powerful work for you. You’ll be able to be in service in your own way, keeping a beautiful, glowing part of this work near your heart. Like a piece of jewellery or tattoo you keep hidden beneath your clothes. Like a secret ritual you bring to a secret place maybe even your closest loves know nothing about.
We’re offering you a mythic experience. For you. To help you in your acts of service. Drawn up and out from your own wisdom and experience of the world.
Sam and Alys, lead facilitators, on the event, who it's for, what you'll gain:
A calling to people who:
- Know that their contributions to their family, community and the world are directly related to the story they tell themselves.
- Have tried some approaches to inner work but never quite found the 'right fit'.
- Want to support their felt, real-world experiences with something deeper, something older.
- Are willing to write a letter distilling why now is the time, what is ending, what is beginning.
"I feel soothed to my bones."
You hold others. What’s holding you?
Held by facilitators with decades of combined experience.
Held by a Cornish oak forest in a river valley.
Held by fire, extended time in rest, contemplation and reflection.
Held by story; a mythic story older than all of us.
Your hosts - Alys Harwood and Sam Crosby of Recalling Fire - know that artful facilitation has very little to do with the personal opinion of whoever holds the room.
This is your moment to find out who you are and what you want to stand for.
Who is this for?
Guides. Leaders. Facilitators. Active members of a community.
The only prerequisites are 'a feel for the call' and a 'willingness for depth'.
Our participants are usually a mix of:
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Trouble makers (in the most generous sense of the term)
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Those who are committed to future focussed work: founders, leaders, activists, educators, environmentalists.
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People exploring major life thresholds: something coming, or something past.
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People who wonder if there's more, but don't necessarily have practices, ‘do mythology’ or anything like it.
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Anyone who is done pretending everything in modern life is 'fine', and want clarity and rest to contribute to change.
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Friends, allies and those who share some of our influences.
"The evening on the moor opened up possibilities of how stories can initiate healing, how they made me realise that we aren't too different from each other."
The primary purpose of this event is to lean further into Recalling Fire’s approach of deeper self knowledge, and therefore clarity in work and life in our uncertain times. As we always say, 'Maybe, in the twilight, meet yourself'.
It's also a great moment for pause and entering a quieter, calmer way of being with like minds for four days.
To join the event we ask that you distill – for yourself and us – in a short letter, why now is the moment to bring greater clarity and courage to your journey.
Who is this not for?
Those with significant anxieties about extended time off-grid.
Those who have no active enquiry or curiosity about planet and future generations.
Anyone who is unwilling to hear others as they explore the deeper meaning of their choices in life.
Hosting team
Alys Harwood – Storyteller and coach (NLP practitioner)
I came late to storytelling. But still, I’m a seasoned old woman and that is a good place to be on this earth.
Stories give us options. We get to try out what it is to be something wildly different and at the same time freakishly familiar. We are taken into the dark to squint sideways at things far beyond our everyday habitat. Stories give proper heft to our trials and griefs and adventures. We have to work to harvest meanings, each visit yields a different return, and we are the better for the effort. Stories open faults in our consciousness and then nature crowds in and takes a foothold and suddenly it’s all different.
It’s a rainy time of year. Let’s lift up our faces, the water pooling in our eye sockets, dripping into our ears, trickling down our necks, and drink deep. All this beauty given to us, unearned.
Sam Crosby: Storyteller and host
The stories tell us we are made by descending into deep water. Down there. The underworld.
In 2019 my family was broadsided. Our newborn boy, Patch, was diagnosed with a profound brain disorder. It wrecked my prideful ego and sent me down to kneel on the ocean floor. I’m still processing the reality of life with a disabled son, but I can tell you I am more fulfilled than ever before.
This world is darkness and light. We are not in control. Never will be. And there is beauty in the chaos.
I believe we'll never truly ‘understand’ life. Rationale and science can be leaky ships for these high seas. But, if our deliverance is in the deepest, darkest waters, we don't have to keep bailing them out. We can go down. Once in a while... we must.
Feelings, trust, love – the stuff of story – will guide us on.
What to expect
Off grid. Out of office. A time out of time. We're going to walk you through one of Cornwall's oldest stories (Tristan and Isolde) and help you see the pattern in what you're going through.
You'll leave with a way of ‘sideways looking’ at your life, and making decisions, which comes from something deeper than fear or habit. A way that's been true for thousands of years, fits in your pocket and will still carry weight when you go back into the world.
What's included:
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Bed and vegetarian board (bring your own snacks and alcohol).
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The story of Tristan and Isolde told over four days.
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Way-stops for silent reflection and time in the wilds.
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Group work to explore the ancient images of the story and the place.
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Practices to deepen into your own story, reflecting on poignant moments past and present.
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Guided ‘threshold’ moments for you to make commitments to your next steps.
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Opening and closing circles.
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Forest walks, river swimming, shared vegetarian meals cooked over fire.
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Optional activities (Canadian canoeing, bushcraft, foraging) enquire on booking.
Who holds it:
Skilled facilitators and mythologists who've been doing myth-and-meaning work for years.
If you've heard of Recalling Fire, you'll already know something of the 'unruly depth' we work at. Laughter and tears are welcome partners. If you haven't heard of us, you'll feel the welcome when you arrive.
Visit the 'Our People' page for more on the hosting team.
Where?
Four days, three nights, completely off-grid, in a forested cottage on the banks of the River Fal.
The Lost Cottage of Penperth. Tucked away in ancient oak woodland in a private creek. One of the most secluded spots in Cornwall. Wild swimming in the river, meals cooked over fire, hammocks overlooking the water. Phones away. Just the land, the story, and the people.
Our Spaces
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The Lost Cottage (sleeps 8).
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Accommodation across the cottage and separate huts.
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Fire pit, outdoor kitchen, indoor barn space with wood burner
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2 hot showers, acres of woodland to roam
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15 minute walk from parking (wheelbarrows provided for gear)
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No wifi, just wildlife.
Accommodation options (same-gender when sharing):
Single bed, sharing with one other (cottage).
Single bed, sharing with two others (cottage or hut).
Private double room (Shepherd’s hut).
Deposit/Part-payment:
50% of ticket cost (balance to be paid by 17th August).
USE CODE 'DEPOSIT' AT CHECKOUT
Ticket price includes accommodation, bedding, vegetarian meals and programming for the duration.
Our Ethos
Modernity has gone mad. The world is unravelling. And when everything outside is chaos, the natural response is to grip tighter, think harder, try to control more.
But what if the way through isn't more thinking? What if remembering who you are and what you’ve always known is the most useful thing you could do right now?
This isn't about escaping. It’s self-reflection as activism. Community and belonging as solidarity. It's about getting clear enough to show up properly. For yourself. For the people around you. For the generations to come.
Make a commitment, meet friends to last a lifetime, grow deeper roots for your own story.
How could peace, wisdom and courage support you, your family, your work?What blocks or 'stuckness' could you overcome with extended time alongside ancient myth, oak forests and a cottage hearth? Who would you meet on a journey like this and what would the quality of that friendship be?
Our approach
Our routes and campfires sound out the kinds of openness and curiosity left behind in our busy, modern world: invitations to pause, feel and think carefully. To look to nature, community and myth for ancient clarity:
– See in longer timescales, rooting further down into the natural world.
– See yourself more clearly, aligning to a life of fewer regrets and deeper meaning.
– Find greater peace to love more fully: ourselves and others.
– Access the courage to do our life’s work.
And, ultimately, contribute all of the above in acts of service to future generations.
You will be familiar with aspects of our approach if you explore any of the following:
– Nature-connection/sit spot/nature solo practices.
- Mythic/mythopoetic perspectives (you might consider listening to Drop The Map by way of orientation).
– An interest in your own journey towards elderhood/mentoring/leadership.
Find out more about our approach.
Practical details and next steps
Dates
Thursday 17th - Sunday 20th September 2026
Arrival: 6pm Thursday.
Departure: 11am Sunday.
Travel (to and around the site)
Lost Cottage of Penperth, TR2 5JH
Near St Mawes, Cornwall. Details to be shared as part of ticket purchase.
Please be aware, the site is off grid and is a 15-minute walk from a limited parking area (think sensible footwear and modest bags (without wheels)).
From our hosts: "A reasonable level of fitness is required for your adventure, and you will need to be mindful of uneven terrain during your stay. Due to the potentially hazardous nature of the wild environment, we also require guests to read our health and safety guide before arrival, taking responsibility for their actions on site."
Investment: £695pp
Payment plans available: 2 x £347.50 (use code PAYMENTPLAN)
Spaces
15 total
Included
All food, accommodation, facilitation, firewood, the works.
After you book, we ask that you distill – for yourself and us – in a short letter, why now is the moment to bring greater clarity to your journey.
You can contact the team directly at hello@recallingfire.com with any clarifying questions.
