The Ultimate Winter Retreat Day
This is the ultimate retreat day experience, and it is built around one feeling: the moment your shoulders finally drop.
If the year has worn you thin, this is an invitation to stop for a day and let yourself be nourished and nurtured.
You'll move gently, then lie still while sound settles over you and a year of held tension begins to loosen its grip. You'll warm right through in the sauna and the steam room, drift between the hot tub and water that steams into the cold November air, and come back in glowing. You'll make a Christmas wreath for your own table, then sit over a long tapas lunch by the pool with no reason at all to check the time.
Bring a friend and you'll find the kind of slow, unhurried hours you keep meaning to make for each other. Come on your own, as most of our day retreat guests do, and you'll be folded straight into the warmth of the group.
You'll leave with Christmas feeling far more manageable than it did that morning.
This Retreat Day Is For You If...
- You are already running on empty, and the Christmas rush hasn't even started yet.
- You want to feel the tension actually go, not just be told to relax.
- You want to bring a friend and properly reconnect, or come alone and make new ones.
- You're looking for a Christmas gift with more thought in it, for someone you love or for yourself.
Coming solo? Most of our day retreat guests do. You'll find a warm, easy-going group.
Retreat Highlights
Yoga, Sound Bath & Journalling
Gentle, accessible yoga with Alex Bannard, then a sound bath to let a year of held tension go, and 40 minutes of journalling with Katie. No experience needed for any of it.
Make a Christmas Wreath
An hour and a half with seasonal florist Kate Oatley, creating an elegant Christmas table wreath from the freshest seasonal foliage. All materials provided, no experience needed, and yours goes home with you.
Warm Up: Pool, Sauna & Steam
Two hours to swim and relax in the open-air heated pool, then warm up properly in the hot tub, sauna and steam room while the November air stays cold.
A Long Tapas Lunch
The tapas lunch our Thames Lido guests always talk about, served by the pool with a full hour to sit over it and actually talk to each other.
Timings for the Day
Every place gets the same full day
Morning Swim
Saturday 21st November
Swim first, then yoga and wreath making in the afternoon
Swimming runs in small groups, in two-hour slots. The exact timing will be confirmed closer to the day.
Non-swim places do yoga and wreath making in the morning, then lunch and journalling, finishing at 3pm.
The team for the day
You're in trusted hands.
Katie Hodge
Founder of Zenaa
Zenaa is led by founder Katie Hodge, who hosts every retreat. A yoga teacher and retreat curator, Katie has created over 50 sold-out retreats across the UK and Europe, calm, nourishing spaces where women can slow down, reconnect and feel truly looked after.
On this day Katie leads the journalling, 40 quiet minutes in a small group to take stock of the year and decide what you want to carry into the next one.
Alex Bannard
Yoga Teacher & Sound Practitioner
Alex is a yoga teacher, sound practitioner and menopause specialist who creates warm, welcoming spaces where people can slow down, reconnect and feel more at home in themselves.
Her approach is gentle, inclusive and neurodiversity-affirming, informed by trauma-aware practice and a belief that wellbeing doesn't have to look a certain way. Through yoga, mindfulness and sound bath practice, Alex offers spaces to move, breathe, rest and simply be… with a healthy dose of humour and absolutely no pressure to touch your toes!
Kate Oatley
Seasonal Florist
Kate Oatley is a seasonal florist and coach based on her family farm in Wiltshire. Inspired by the English countryside and the changing seasons, she creates natural, elegant floral designs using the freshest seasonal flowers and foliage.
On this day Kate guides you in making an elegant Christmas table wreath to take home, sharing simple floristry techniques as you go and tips for keeping it beautiful right through Christmas. Her workshops are relaxed and sociable, all materials are provided, and no previous floristry experience is needed.
Choose Your Experience
The Full Day
Saturday 21st November 2026
The whole day. Gentle yoga and a sound bath, a Christmas table wreath to take home, your 40 minutes of journalling, the tapas lunch, and two hours to swim and relax in the open-air pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room. 9:30 until 5pm.
14 places
The Day, Without the Swim
Saturday 21st November 2026
For those who would rather stay dry. Gentle yoga, a sound bath and your Christmas table wreath all happen in the morning, then the tapas lunch from 1pm to 2pm and journalling with Katie from 2:15pm. Finishes at 3pm.
Only 2 places
The gift of a day off
Falling on 21st November, this lands just before the Christmas rush, which is usually exactly when the person you're buying for most needs it. No wrapping, nothing to dust, just one day where somebody looks after them.
Tell us it's a gift
Email us and let us know you're buying for someone else. We'll hold a place and take it from there.
We send you a gift voucher
A digital gift voucher with their name on it, ready to send whenever you like, so you have something to give.
We sort the details
We'll be in touch with them directly to sort their swim time and anything else they need to know.
Your Questions Answered
The full day (£239) runs 9:30 to 5pm and includes an arrival drink, gentle yoga and a sound bath with Alex, a Christmas table wreath to make with Kate Oatley and take home, 40 minutes of journalling with Katie, a tapas lunch by the pool, and two hours to swim and relax in the open-air heated pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room. Two non-swim places are available at £199. They include everything except the swim, with the yoga, the sound bath and the wreath making all in the morning, then the tapas lunch from 1pm to 2pm and journalling with Katie from 2:15pm, finishing at 3pm.
A spa day gives you facilities and leaves you to it. This is a hosted day with a structure: two practitioners and Katie guide you through gentle yoga, a sound bath, Christmas wreath making and journalling, with a tapas lunch and two hours in the pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room built around it. There are only sixteen places, so it stays small and unhurried rather than feeling like a busy spa. If you are looking for a winter spa break near London without an overnight stay, this is a hosted version of one.
That is exactly what it is built for. Thames Lido is in Reading, 30 minutes from London Paddington by train, so you get a full winter wellness break without an overnight stay or a long drive. The pool is heated and open air, so you swim outdoors in November, and the sauna and steam room are there to warm up in afterwards. The day runs 9:30 to 5pm on Saturday 21st November 2026 and includes yoga, a sound bath, a Christmas wreath to make and take home, journalling and a tapas lunch.
There is only one ticket, so you do not need to decide at the point of booking. Swimming runs in small groups of four so the pool and spa never feel crowded, which means your two hours fall either in the morning (10am to 12pm or 11am to 1pm) or the afternoon (2pm to 4pm or 3pm to 5pm), and the other hour is spent with Katie on the journalling exercise. The booking form has a box to tick if you have a preference, and we will do our best to match it. Your exact slot is confirmed nearer the day.
Yes. The Thames Lido pool is heated year round, and there is a hot tub, sauna and steam room alongside it. Swimming outdoors in cold air and warm water in November is genuinely one of the best parts of the day.
Neither. The yoga is gentle and taught with modifications throughout, and many guests are complete beginners. The sound bath asks nothing of you at all beyond lying down and letting go. The wreath making is designed to be enjoyable rather than skilful, with all materials provided, no previous floristry experience needed, and Kate guiding you through it. As Alex puts it, there is absolutely no pressure to touch your toes.
The Thames Lido is at Napier Road, Reading RG1 8FR, a beautifully restored Edwardian outdoor swimming pool dating from 1902. It is 30 minutes from London Paddington by train, and Reading station is a 10-minute walk away. There is a private car park on site with a charge.
Comfortable clothing for yoga, swimwear and a towel, and something warm for moving between the pool and the building. The Lido provides lockers, changing rooms and showers, and yoga mats are provided. A water bottle is useful.
Most of our day retreat guests do. With only 16 places the group stays small, and the day is built to be warm and easy from the moment you arrive. It is a brilliant low-commitment introduction to retreats if you have never been on one.
Yes, and it makes a lovely one. Falling on 21st November, it lands just before the Christmas rush, which is usually exactly when the person you're buying for most needs a day to do yoga and relax. Email us to arrange it as a gift and we'll sort the details.