Les Marguerites
Alet les Bains, France
Healing, cooking and menopause retreats for women in a majestic mansion
Les Marguerites is an elegant mansion house in the ancient thermal spa town of Alet les Bains, surrounded by the Pyrenean mountains. Come here to relax year-round or join a healing, ayurvedic cooking or menopause retreat for women on set dates to recalibrate before creating a new vision for your next chapter. Expect gentle therapy, tender coaching and nutritional advice in a relaxing, nurturing environment.
our Reviewer Suzy Walker says:
‘Being hosted by Antoinette is like going home to a mother you always wished you had. My body intuitively knew it could relax. My insomnia disappeared on my very first night and I slept through till dawn for the first time in 25 years’
Queen of Retreats says:
‘Complete with peony roses on your bedside table, open fires and aromatherapy oils burning, these sensual getaways awaken your inner longings and allow you to deeply rest and remember who you are. You’ll tune into the wisdom of your body and make your own decisions about the right path for you’
Experiences
Join the Heartwork Retreat if you’re suffering from burnout or exhaustion and enjoy relaxing therapies and activities such as yoga and meditation, or the Menopause Retreat for gentle guidance and coaching. There’s also a mother/daughter retreat with connection-building activities and workshops. Specialist teachers occasionally offer retreats, such as Glow Up Experience.
On the Ayurvedic Cooking Retreat you’ll learn to cook truly healthy and delicious Indian dishes with celebrity chef Monisha Bharadwaj. You will discover the three energy types (doshas), how to maintain balance through food and prevent disease. Discover how to layer flavours, create curry pastes and blend spices by day, and eat your creations by night.
On the Menopause and Heartwork retreats, cook and retreat owner Antoinette gives informal lectures at every mealtime over beautiful, highly nourishing food, and you’ll be given plenty of recipes to take home.
The retreat team includes French botanist Laurie Beaufils, who runs herbalism workshops which guide you to forage and cook wild plants. Laurie leads a two-hour hike, in which you explore the bio-diverse region of Aude, where there are 3,000 species of flora.
Practitioners include massage therapists Pedro Morrell and Sophie Andrews, who specialise in trauma resolution and relieving chronic and long-standing issues; and psychotherapist Hazel Ratcliffe, who leads morning guided meditations and sessions to create your own set of affirmation cards.
Spaces
Relax in the living room where you'll find a wood-burning stove for cooler evenings. There's also a farmhouse kitchen, where you can potter and gather.
The swimming pool at the side of the house gets the sun morning till night. The pool remains open all year and is filled with water from the ancient source in Alet les Bains, discovered and loved by the Romans for its healing waters. Unheated, it’s ideal for cold water swimmers. You can also recline on the outside terraces overlooking the pool.
As well as being famous for its thermal spa and waters, the ancient medieval village of Alet les Bains is linked to spiritual legends and history, including the dramatic Cathar Castles and Troubadour Trails, the Legends of Magdalene and the Knights Templars.
Five spacious en-suite double bedrooms and a family suite are uniquely decorated with vintage finds and original art, and every bedside table is adorned with fresh flowers.
Huge beds and roll top baths mean you can disappear to your room and deeply rest. Open your shuttered windows to sunshine, relish the classy vintage furniture and tread slowly on beautifully worn, warm wooden floors.
Sustenance
All food is cooked by owner Antoinette, a gifted chef who tailors menus for each programme. Expect hormone-balancing food on menopause retreats, while the Heartwork Retreat features an overnight fast before a hearty brunch. The ayurvedic Indian cookery meals are based on doshas (body types).
Breakfast might be buckwheat pancakes with a fresh fruit topping, a sweet potato topped with avocado and seeds, served with chia seed pudding, or a spiced quinoa upma.
Lunches include a miso, bean, tomato and vegetable soup with home-made gluten-free bread, a mixed green salad with falafel, hummus and beetroot crisps, or a spiced khichdi with peas and potato curry.
A typical two-course dinner could be mushroom risotto and a mixed salad, followed by spiced poached pears with a chocolate sauce, or spiced roasted cauliflower and chickpeas, with quinoa salad, followed by grilled peaches and Florentine biscuits.
Snack on energy balls, fresh fruit, gluten-free banana bread, home-made chocolate truffles, soaked apricots and stuffed dates. A different flavour of smoothie is offered each day and teas, coffees and infusions are available throughout your stay.
