Rooted in the Old Ways:
A Pilgrimage of Remembering & Sovereignty
Glastonbury & Somerset
19 - 24 May 2027
19 May 12 noon to 24 May 9:30am
Wednesday to Monday
5 Nights · 6 Days
This is not a retreat. It is a pilgrimage — a returning, a remembering.
A returning to the rhythm of the earth…
to the language of ritual…
to the part of you that already knows the way.
Together, we will walk sacred land, drink from ancient springs, gather beneath old trees, create ritual, move our bodies, craft with our hands, and listen deeply to what this landscape has to teach us.
This is an intimate women’s pilgrimage for those who feel the stirring of the Wild Feminine within them — the part that refuses to stay quiet, small or domesticated any longer.
19–24 May 2027 · Glastonbury & Somerset · 5 nights / 6 days · intimate women’s pilgrimage
Would you like to get a feel for this magical place?
Download your free guided visualisation: Return to Avalon
Come with me into the land of Magick
Come with me into a landscape where myth, land and everyday life seem to weave themselves together.
We will climb the Tor at sunset, drink from the Chalice Well, enter the candlelit darkness of the White Spring, listen beneath ancient trees, wander through Avalon’s apple orchards and gather around sacred fires.
We will dance in stone circles, laugh beneath wide skies, create with our hands, share cacao, make offerings to the land and allow ourselves to be moved by places that have called pilgrims for centuries.
You may find yourself wandering down Glastonbury High Street surrounded by crystals, herbs, sacred tools, fairy wings, drumbeats and the occasional Merlin chatting to a shopkeeper.
That is part of Glastonbury too.
The mystical and the ordinary live side by side here.
Glastonbury is difficult to explain until you have walked it. Its stories, sacred waters, strange little corners, ancient trees and layers of myth are experienced as much through the body as through the mind.
This pilgrimage is an invitation to experience Avalon slowly, intentionally and in relationship with the land
Why Glastonbury?
For centuries, people have been drawn to this landscape as pilgrims, seekers and storytellers.
The Tor, sacred springs, Abbey ruins, ancient trees and surrounding landscape hold overlapping layers of Pagan, Christian, Arthurian and contemporary Goddess traditions.
Many spiritual traditions associate Glastonbury with Avalon, sacred ley lines and the “heart chakra” of the Earth.
Others simply describe feeling something different when they arrive here — a sense of liminality, heightened awareness, remembrance or closeness to the land.
For me, what matters most is not proving the mythology.
It is entering into relationship with the place.
During our pilgrimage we will not simply visit Glastonbury’s sacred sites.
We will walk.
Listen.
Make offerings.
Drink from the springs.
Create ritual.
Move our bodies.
Sit beneath trees.
And allow the stories of the land to meet our own.
This is pilgrimage, not sightseeing
You could visit Glastonbury alone.
You could climb the Tor, walk through Chalice Well and wander the High Street.
This journey is different.
We enter these places intentionally — through ritual, story, movement, creativity and relationship with the land.
You will walk with people who live and work here.
You will experience places and practices you may never encounter on a typical visit.
You will gather fallen apple wood from Avalon’s orchards and create your own wand.
You will enter the White Spring for a private ritual.
You will meet the hawthorn and Dragon Egg Stone on the side of the Tor.
You will work with seasonal plant allies.
You will dance inside a Somerset stone circle.
You will sit around fire, share meals, make offerings and leave with physical reminders of the journey woven into your everyday life.
You are not coming to observe Avalon.
You are coming to enter into relationship with her.
This Pilgrimage Is For You If…
You feel the stirring of the Wild Feminine within you.
You feel the ache to reclaim parts of yourself that have been hidden, muted or tamed.
You are drawn to earth-based spirituality, ritual, myth, magick and ancestral ways of knowing.
You are standing at a threshold — midlife, menopause, grief, rebirth, creative awakening, change or a quiet knowing that something within you is ready to move.
You long to remember who you were before the world told you who you should be.
You crave connection with women without needing to perform, explain or become a polished version of yourself.
You want spirituality to be something you live and embody, rather than simply read about.
You feel called by Glastonbury, Avalon, ancient landscapes, sacred waters, trees, stone circles or the mysteries of the Divine Feminine.
You do not need prior experience with ritual or pilgrimage.
You do not need to arrive healed, certain or spiritually “advanced”.
You only need to listen to the call that has been whispering — or perhaps roaring — within you.
There is space here for all of you.
For feral joy and deep stillness.
For laughter and reverence.
For tenderness, grief, curiosity and truth-speaking.
For dancing wildly one moment and sitting silently beneath a tree the next.
There is no expectation that you arrive as anyone other than yourself.
What this pilgrimage invites
This journey is not about becoming someone new.
It is about remembering what is already there.
You may leave with:
A deeper relationship with your own inner knowing
A renewed connection with the wisdom of the natural world
A relationship with the Divine Feminine that is felt and embodied, rather than theoretical
Ritual tools and practices that can continue to live with you at home
Greater clarity around the threshold you are currently moving through
A stronger sense of belonging — to yourself, the Earth and the community around you
Permission to become a little wilder, truer and less willing to make yourself small
There is no pressure to be anyone’s version of spiritual.
Your experience is your own.
What makes this Pilgrimage different
More than an itinerary
This pilgrimage has been intentionally created as a journey rather than a collection of workshops.
Small and intimate
The group is intentionally small, allowing space for genuine connection, personal attention and a deeper sense of sisterhood.
Held through relationship
I have returned to Glastonbury many times, building relationships with its land, sacred places and the people who live and practise here.
This means we can go beyond the obvious tourist sites and experience the landscape in a more intimate way.
Local wisdom
Throughout the pilgrimage you will be held and guided by women whose work is rooted in this land — through folklore, plant wisdom, craft, food, ritual and relationship with place.
Embodied rather than observed
We do not simply talk about ritual.
We walk it.
Craft it.
Taste it.
Dance it.
Touch it.
And carry pieces of the journey home.
Space to integrate
Our pilgrimage begins within Glastonbury itself before moving into the Somerset countryside.
This shift is intentional.
After the stimulation, mythology and sacred-site pilgrimages of Glastonbury, we retreat into the gardens, stone circle and slower rhythm of Apothecary Gardens so the experience has time to settle into the body.
Accommodation - Our journey through two landscapes
19 - 21 May | Glastonbury
For the first two nights, we stay in Glastonbury itself.
This gives us the opportunity to fully enter Avalon — to walk through town, climb the Tor, visit the sacred springs and experience Glastonbury when the day visitors have gone home.
We will be staying at Tree of Life House, a peaceful home with beautiful views towards the Tor.
21 - 24 May | Apothecary Gardens
Then, after two days of pilgrimage and exploration, we move into the Somerset countryside for three nights at Apothecary Gardens.
This change of pace is deliberate.
The second half of the journey gives us space to slow down and integrate.
Here, we are surrounded by medicinal plants, orchards, roses, herbs and a beautiful stone circle.
We will share meals, work with plant medicine, dance, create ritual, gather around fire and allow everything we have experienced in Glastonbury to settle more deeply.
All the rooms for the first two nights in Tree of Life House are similar: Twin or King size beds with Ensuite shower room
Tree of Life House rooms will be allocated on a first booking first choice basis
The Apothecary Gardens has a variety of cabins, ensuite rooms and yurts. Booking descriptions below are to identify your preference at the Apothecary Gardens
Facilitators
Laura Yates
Organiser, Guide, Facilitator Founder of The Hummingbird Life & Lead Pilgrimage Guide
Laura is the founder of The Hummingbird Life and the creator and lead guide of Rooted in the Old Ways.
Her work weaves earth-based spirituality, ceremony, cacao, movement, meditation and embodied ritual with a deep love of pilgrimage and sacred landscape.
Having returned to Glastonbury many times, Laura has developed a personal relationship with its wells, trees, myths, hidden places and people.
She guides this pilgrimage not as a tour, but as an invitation into relationship — with the land, with ritual, with sisterhood and with the parts of ourselves that modern life can make very easy to forget.
Laura has over a decade of experience facilitating retreats, ceremonies, movement experiences and women’s spaces internationally.
At the heart of her work is a belief that our connection to nature is not something we need to create.
It is something we need to remember.
Through ceremony, movement, devotion and deep listening, Laura supports women to reclaim their inner wisdom, awaken their joy and live with greater authenticity, courage and freedom.
Chloe Isadora
Seasonal Plant Ally Workshop with Chloe Isidora
Our time with Chloe invites us into a deeper relationship with the green world.
We begin among the seasonal plants and herbs, learning how to meet a plant through observation, intuition, scent, touch and deep listening.
Rather than approaching herbal medicine only through technique, we explore relationship first.
We will then move into hands-on medicine making, creating with the plants through processes such as distillation, hydrosol making and seasonal herbal preparations.
This is a day of learning through the senses, the hands and the heart.
You will leave not only with something you have made, but with practices you can continue using at home.
Guest Facilitator
Kubi May
Guest Facilitator
Wand Crafting & Folklore Day with Kubi May
Kubi May is a Glastonbury-based therapist, wand maker and creative arts practitioner whose work weaves together Celtic-inspired folklore, craft, ritual and relationship with the land.
Our day with Kubi is part pilgrimage, part creative rite.
We begin in Avalon’s apple orchards, where you will choose a naturally fallen branch and begin creating your own wand.
Along the way we will journey through story, ritual, sacred sites and the symbolism of the trees.
Your wand will then be shaped, decorated and consecrated with intention.
You will leave not only with a beautiful object, but with something that carries the story of your pilgrimage within it.
Laura Rose
Retreat ChefDuring our stay at Apothecary Gardens, our meals will be created by retreat chef Laura Rose.
Her food is rooted in the seasonal abundance of Somerset and the wider South West.
She works with local gardens, growers, hedgerows and seasonal produce, weaving together nourishing meals with a deep respect for sustainability and the land.
Our meals are not simply fuel between activities.
They are part of the experience.
A time to gather.
To share stories.
To laugh.
To digest — both the food and the journey.
What’s included
Devoted time, support and guidance from Laura Yates throughout the retreat
5 nights accommodation across two beautiful locations
All ceremonies, rituals, workshops and facilitated pilgrimage experiences
A full Wand Crafting & Folklore Day with Kubi May
A Seasonal Plant Ally experience with Chloe Isidora
Private White Spring ritual
Glastonbury Tor pilgrimages and sacred-site experiences
Chalice Well, Avalon Orchards, Dragon Egg Stone and Hawthorn Tree rituals
Laura’s bespoke Cacao ceremonies
Glastonbury Abbey- burial place of King Arthur & Guinevere
Movement and dance inside the stone circle
Spell work and ritual crafting
Closing fire ceremony
All meals during our stay at Apothecary Gardens
Bespoke welcome gifts and ritual materials
Transport between Glastonbury and Apothecary Gardens
Pre-pilgrimage guidance and preparation
Post-pilgrimage integration support
Add on, suggestions and tips for your onward journey
Option to spend one extra night at Tree of Life House , 18-19 May, to ground and centre before the retreat starts
For those who feel called to continue the pilgrimage, on Tuesday 18 May 9am-6pm there is an optional day journey into the ancient landscape of Avebury and surrounding sacred sites.
We will travel through one of Britain’s most extraordinary ceremonial landscapes, including:
Avebury Stone Circles
Silbury Hill
West Kennet Long Barrow
Unlike Stonehenge, you can walk freely among the Avebury stones, touch them, sit beside them and experience the landscape at your own pace.
This is an optional additional day and pricing will depend on participant numbers.
If you wish to visit Stonehenge, I recommend visiting on your way to and from Heathrow/London
I have some healers, mediums and practitioners that I can recommend for you, should you wish extend your stay.
What’s not included
Lunch an dinner - meals while we are staying in Glastonbury
Flights
Airport transfers
Visas where required
Travel insurance
Personal spending and shopping
Site donations and entrance fees where applicable
Any optional excursions or experiences outside the main itinerary
Take a little journey now with this free guided visualisation
Return to Avalon
Words from the women who walked before you
Rooted in the Old Ways was first held in 2026.
The women who joined arrived from different backgrounds, different places and different stages of life.
What emerged was a deeply connected group and a journey that none of us could have fully predicted.
Some came for the land.
Some came for sisterhood.
Some came because something inside them simply said yes.
Here are a few of their words.
Do you feel the call?
You do not need to know exactly why Glastonbury is calling you.
Sometimes the knowing arrives before the explanation.
If something in you has softened, stirred or whispered while reading this page, I invite you to listen.
Rooted in the Old Ways
19–24 May 2027
Glastonbury & Somerset
Small group.
Limited places.
Payment plans available.
All the rooms for the first two nights in Tree of Life House are similar: Twin or King size beds with Ensuite shower room
Tree of Life House rooms will be allocated on a first booking first choice basis
The Apothecary Gardens has a variety of cabins, barn rooms and yurts. Descriptions below are to identify your preference at the Apothecary Gardens
Pricing below includes the two nights at Tree of Life house in Glastonbury
Early Bird pricing ends at Samhain 31 October 2026
Ensuite room or cabin
Single occupancy — £3,100 per person Early Bird
Regular price £3,600 per person
Shared — £2,600 per person Early Bird
Regular price £2,900 per person
Yurt accommodation (shared bathroom)
Single occupancy — £2,900 per person Early Bird
Regular price £3,400 per person
Shared — £2,500 per person Early Bird
Regular price £2,800 per person
Payment plans are available.
Your place is secured with a deposit.
Accommodation choices are confirmed after your deposit is received and are subject to availability.
Final bookings close 21 March 2027.
For my South African sisters: If you are living in SA and earning ZAR - please contact me for pricing arrangements
By paying this deposit you agree to the terms and conditions and payment terms and timing
By paying this deposit you agree to the terms and conditions and payment terms and timing
Deposits are currently quoted in Singapore Dollars
SGD 2100 = approx GBP 1215
SGD 2500 = approx GBP 1445
You may arrive in Glastonbury feeling curious, excited, nervous, uncertain or simply called.
You may leave with muddy boots, spring water in a bottle, herbs in your bag, a wand made by your own hands and several stories that are almost impossible to explain to anyone who was not there.
But perhaps more importantly, you may leave remembering something.
Something about yourself.
Something about the Earth.
Something about being a woman among women.
Something old.
Something wild.
Something that has been waiting patiently beneath the noise.
This is not a retreat.
It is a pilgrimage.
And perhaps Avalon has already started calling youY.
Frequently asked questions
-
Bristol airport is the closest to Glastonbury with many flights arriving from Europe and the Uk.
If arriving from Singapore or further away. I recommend flying into Heathrow.
I will provide a list of airport transfer services (for Bristol and Heathrow)
-
By Train: Castle Cary (20 mins away) and Yeovil (30 mins away), you can then take a cab from here to Glastonbury town.
If you are coming from Heathrow, Bristol Airport or other; booking a private transfer might be best.
There are also buses from Bristol to Glastonbury
-
Glastonbury offers several women-only retreats that focus on spiritual growth, healing, and connection to the divine feminine. This retreat is unique in that along with visiting scared sites, we will learn to create tools for magic, remembering our own sovereignty in weaving the old ways
-
We have an opportunity to bathe naked in the white spring (optional) . and I would like to keep this private.
-
Glastonbury is not just a place — it’s a living threshold. A landscape steeped in myth, mystery, and memory, where the veil feels thin and the land itself seems to listen. For thousands of years, people have come here to pray, heal, initiate, and remember who they are.
Often called the Heart Chakra of the world, Glastonbury holds a rare convergence of ley lines, sacred wells, ancient pathways, and powerful hills — from the quiet presence of Chalice Well to the watchful spiral of the Tor. There is a softness here that invites deep rest, and a potency that gently stirs transformation.
Retreating in Glastonbury allows you to step out of ordinary time. The land supports inner listening, emotional healing, and spiritual insight with an ease that can feel both subtle and profound. Nature, myth, and spirit weave together, offering a sense of being held by something much older and wiser than the thinking mind.
A retreat here isn’t about escaping life — it’s about remembering your place within it. Glastonbury meets you where you are, and if you listen closely, she quietly reminds you of who you’ve always been.
-
Sacred Wells
The Chalice Well and White Spring have been honoured for thousands of years as places of healing and blessing. In Pagan traditions, sacred wells are gateways—where earth, water, and spirit meet—inviting purification, renewal, and deep inner listening.The Crossing of Ley Lines
Glastonbury is believed to sit at the convergence of powerful ley lines, often described as the heart chakra of the world. This crossing creates a palpable sense of balance and coherence, where many feel more grounded, open, and emotionally attuned.The Tor as a Threshold
Glastonbury Tor is understood as an axis mundi—a meeting point between heaven, earth, and the underworld. Walking its spiral path mirrors ancient initiatory journeys of descent, vision, and return.The Thinning Veil
Many experience Glastonbury as a liminal place where the veil between worlds feels thinner. Intuition sharpens, ancestral wisdom feels closer, and ritual, prayer, and divination deepen with ease.Avalon & Living Myth
Long associated with Avalon, Glastonbury carries stories of priestesses, the sacred feminine, and the Grail. Whether held as myth or memory, these stories shape the energetic field of the land, inviting remembrance of earth-honouring spirituality.A Land Still in Practice
Glastonbury is not a relic—it is alive with ceremony, pilgrimage, and devotion. This living relationship gives the land its power, welcoming seekers not as observers, but as participants. -
Yes, you're welcome to book a shared room on your own, and then I can pair you up with someone, or even introduce you all before on a zoom call, and we can see who aligns.
I always trust who comes into circle together is exactly as it should be.
-
We will begin at 12 noon on Wednesday 19th.
We will finish around 9:30am on 24th and our transfer is booked to take us back to Glastonbury town for 10am.
Some little Video inspiration for you:
This Documentary, by Filmmaker Marijn Poels, highlights a little bit about the magic of Glastonbury, energy and ley lines