Autumn CREATIVE RETREAT
4 October – 11 October 2025
Join Bland Badger hosts - Charlotte Bland and Ros Badger - and their very special guests, Amy Fielding of JamJar flowers, Caroline Kent founder of Scribble and Daub, Louisa Dunn Collage artist, Nadine Gibbon of Spinney Cottage Flowers and author Christobel Kent together in Villa Pia’s beautiful setting for a spring creative retreat that will reconnect you with your inner creativity.
THE Programme
The art of flower pressing with Amy Fielding from Jam Jar Edit.
XXX with Caroline from Scribble and Daub….
Photography walk with Charlotte Bland.
Silver clay workshop with Ros Badger.
Floral headdress workshop with Nadine Gibbon.
A day trip to Arezzo to the oldest antiques market in Italy Fiera Antiquaria di Arezzo.
Please note, the exact programme for the week is provided to booked guests before arrival.
HIGHLIGHTS
Learn the XXXXXXXXXXX s that celebrate the beauty of Villa Pia’s surroundings and nurture the creative spark we all have inside.
Create a silver charm with Ros in her silver clay workshop? and go on a photography walk with Charlotte where she shares her tips for developing your own photographic style inspired by the beauty of the Italian landscape and the wonderful natural light.
A day excursion to the oldest antiques market in Italy Fiera Antiquaria di Arezzo..
Optional Extras
Cooking classes with the Villa Pia chefs.
Massage and treatments with Villa Pia’s beauty therapist.
Local visits including Piero della Francesca’s most famous work “The Madonna del Parto” and other local museums.
PRICES for 2025
THE MAIN HOUSE
£2195 per person Twin room, ensuite bathroom (to be booked as a group of two friends)
£2250 per person Single room, shared bathroom with one other room
£2425 per person Single room, ensuite bathroom
THE ANNEXE
£2095 per person Twin room, ensuite bathroom (to be booked as a group of two friends)
£2150 per person Single room, shared bathroom with one other room
£2325 per person Single room, ensuite bathroom
Rooms are allocated on a first come first served basis. Full payment is required upon booking the Spring Creative Retreat. The full payment is made up of a non-refundable £800 deposit and the remaining balance.
Please read the Bland Badger Terms &Conditions carefully before booking.
MEET THE TUTORS
Amy Fielding
Amy is director of renowned floral design studio JamJar Flowers, and co-founder of sister studio JamJar Edit. After graduating with a degree in Fine Art, Amy worked for visionary fashion photographer Nick Knight before finding her calling at JamJar, a bespoke florist situated in a charming Dickensian yard in South London.
A chance commission from Mulberry to press flowers for their SS15 fashion show opened up a whole new world of botanical exploration which inspired Amy and fellow co-founder Melissa Richardson to launch their flower pressing studio and e-commerce shop, JamJar Edit.
JamJar Edit specialise in creating contemporary pressed flower artworks for private commissions, exhibitions and their ready-to-buy collection; they have recorded wild flower meadows, documented entire gardens and reinterpreted historical paintings and stained glass with pressed flowers to create bespoke artworks and large scale installations.
Their work has been featured in Times Luxx, Elle Decoration, House and Garden, Rakes Progress and many other publications and The Modern Flower Press, written by Amy and Melissa, was published by William Collins in 2022.
Caroline Kent
Louisa Dunn
Louisa Dunn is a textile designer and mixed-media artist living & creating in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, Louisa has a BFA in Fibers, with a background in textiles. She designs with a keen sensitivity to colour and shape interactions using sewing, collage and drawing. Louisa began her Bland Badger journey as a guest and impressed us so much we are bringing her back for her third year as a tutor.
Nadine Gibbon
Nadine is a floral designer based in St Albans, Hertfordshire specialising in weddings and events. Drawing upon her lifelong love of flora, she creates unique and whimsical arrangements, showcasing an intuitive practice.
As an extension of her passion for the craft, Nadine teaches workshops, including Christmas wreath making in her enchanted woodland studio and family home, Spinney Cottage.
Christobel Kent
Christobel was born in London in 1962 and educated at Cambridge. She has lived variously in Essex, London and Italy. Her childhood included several years spent living on a Thames sailing barge in Maldon, Essex, with her father, stepmother, three siblings and four step-siblings.
She has had seventeen novels published: the first four being standalone thrillers set in Italy, followed by the six novels in the Sandro Cellini Florentine detective series. Since then she has written seven psychological thrillers roughly in the ‘domestic noir’ genre including the Sunday Times bestseller The Loving Husband. Christobel now lives in both Cambridge and Florence.
What’s Included
Room prices include all workshops and materials, activities and all food and drink (except lunch and dinner on the excursion day). The meals (including 24 hour access to snacks, fruit, aperitivos, wine, beer and soft drinks) at the villa are provided for and prepared expertly by the local cooks.
You also have full use of Villa Pia’s facilities, which include a swimming pool and a tennis court.
FLORENCE EXCURSION Day
Bland Badger provides return coach travel from Villa Pia to Florence where you are free to explore the city for the day with Christobel Kent’s bespoke itinerary.
What’s Not Included
Air fares and the cost of transfers to and from the villa
Travel insurance
Optional extra activities
Lunch and dinner on the excursion day
ARRIVING AT THE VILLA
Flights to Perugia, Florence and Pisa are well-located for Lippiano.
If flying to Florence, you can take the train to Arezzo, and then a taxi or hire car from there to Villa Pia. Direct trains run between Florence and Arezzo. If enough people arrive on the Perugia flight, Villa Pia can arrange a group transfer.
Hiring a car at the airport or in Arezzo is a great way to get to Villa Pia and gives you freedom to explore the area. Lippiano is a beautiful hamlet but most local attractions, shops and restaurants are a short drive away.
Arezzo train station is approximately 30 minutes from Villa Pia and taxis are available between Arezzo and the villa at a cost of around €70.
Arrival time at Villa Pia is from 3pm on Saturday. On your first night we have welcome drinks before dinner, which is at 8pm. Checkout time is by 10am on Saturday.
Bland Badger bears no responsibility for flight cancellations or schedule changes.
TRAVEL INSURANCE
It is a condition of accepting your booking that you have personal travel insurance arranged in advance, including cancellation insurance for Covid and other medical reasons, redundancy, jury service etc. for all members of your party. Please note that the use of Villa Pia, its facilities, grounds and swimming pool are entirely at the user’s risk. Bland Badger and Villa Pia SRL, its directors, staff and agents are not liable for any loss, injury or claim of any kind arising out of, or in connection with, staying at, or traveling to and from Villa Pia for you or any member of your party.