THE RETREAT EXPERIENCE

Please join us at the beautifully appointed Guest House in Chester, Connecticut, a historic inn-turned-retreat-center just 2 hours from Boston and New York City by train/car and one hour from Hartford’s Bradley airport. (And don’t worry – we’ll even pick you up at the train station!)

Dar, our team of songwriters and special guest songwriters (TBA), will be on hand to guide and support your songwriting craft in various workshops and song circles. We’ll offer daily song inspiration, a daily peek into Dar’s songwriting process, vocal coaching, songwriting workshops, your own private song consultation with Dar, evening song sharing with the whole group, collaborative songwriting opportunities (the now infamous “So-Fab Collab”) and coffee, tea and creativity flowing 24/7.

Only you know what sort of retreat experience will benefit your songwriting. As a result, we have designed this retreat so you can structure your days as you see fit, making space for solo writing and reflecting time and a daily workshop or two, or hitting all the workshops you can in a day for feedback on a batch of semi-finished songs. We have lots of offerings, but no advance signups are necessary, so you can let the muse be your guide daily. And with regards to your musical level, we will meet you where you are at.

REQUIREMENTS

• The desire to write a song
• Some musical or songwriting background is helpful, but not required. (Team members and retreaters have collaborated with lyricists before.)
• A kind and open heart – we do our best to communicate with empathetic, supportive feedback

Both novice and gigging songwriters sit side by side in our workshops, united by the desire to keep honing their craft and connecting with others. We’ve had poets connect with musicians struggling for words, individuals who have one song under their belts and are inspired to keep going, prolific songwriters who need to get out of their bubble, and songwriters delving into songwriting again after decades. Wherever you find yourself is perfect and we will meet you wherever you’re at.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Guest House’s mission aligns well with ours and they are very good at ensuring we are comfortable so we can focus on what we love to do – all rooms are spacious and well-appointed, with AC and private baths, and the culinary staff serves up delicious meals, accommodating special dietary needs. We offer single, double and triple rooms with private bath at different price points and a friendly installment plan. Pricing is all-inclusive – all workshops, meals, lodgings (and fun) are included. You won’t need your wallet the entire week. Oh, and for all you keyboard players out there, we will have keyboards for common use in all the workshop rooms, but your rooms are spacious enough to accommodate whatever keyboard you want to travel with. Guitarists, if you cannot travel with your guitar, let us know and we will do our best to see if we can find you one from a team member’s collection.

CANCELLATION POLICY

As we have obligations to the venue, we have a no cancellation policy in place, except in the case of extreme circumstances. We assess that on a case-by-case basis. If you are ill with COVID or another respiratory illness, we will have no choice but to turn you away as per Guest House protocols on their site here. As a result we highly recommend you purchase travel insurance for a nominal fee through your insurance carrier of choice. Please note that if you need to switch retreats, we may be able to accommodate you if space is available.

SAMPLE DAY

8 - 9 AM Yoga – all levels (optional)

8:45 - 9:45 Breakfast

10 - 10:45 Dar’s song breakdown & daily themes, prompts and inspiration

11 - 12:30 Workshops with (vocals/songwriting/collaboration, no sign ups necessary)

1-2 Lunch

2:30-4 Workshops (vocals/songwriting/collaboration, no sign ups necessary)

4:30-6 Workshops (vocals/songwriting/collaboration, no sign ups necessary)

6 - 7 Dinner

8 - 10 Evening song circle (Retreaters can share a song with the entire group)

10 - 10:30 Wine and Seltzer, Savories, Sweets

11 PM + After hours song circle

• ALSO: Each retreater will be have a one-on-one private song consultation with Dar

TRAVEL INFORMATION

Travel information and directions can be found on the Guest House website here. Many people connect for ridesharing via our private FB group for your retreat that we will invite you to closer to the date.

Driving

• GPS Navigation: Enter “Guest House Retreat” in your navigation tools (instead of 318 W Main St, Chester, CT 06412) as there is a glitch with their address in most GPS. Park anywhere in the lot when you arrive. And there is an EV charging station now, thanks to Dar!

Train

• Guest House is about 15 minutes from the Old Saybrook train station via Amtrak, Metronorth and Shoreline East. We can pick you up at the train station if you let us know which train you will be on.

Plane

• Refer to the Guest House website here.

COVID POLICY

We no longer require proof of vaccination. As we are holding this event at Guest House, we are subject to their current policies regarding respiratory illnesses. Please check here for their latest protocols. Please note that we DO recommend travel insurance in the event of illness as we will have no choice but to turn you away if you arrive symptomatic.

We look forward to welcoming back many of our songwriting friends and making new ones in 2025 – we hope you can join us.

Have lingering questions? Please reach out to us at darwilliamsretreat@gmail.com