SOLAS, SOLACE: A Summer Solstice Gathering with Kerri ní Dochartaigh
When & Where
13 Jun 2026, 08:00 – 14 Jun 2026, 16:00
Yarn Ballycastle, 24-26 Ann St, Ballycastle BT54 6AD, UK
About
Join writer Kerri ní Dochartaigh at Yarn this June for a summer solstice gathering: a weekend shaped around creativity and the turning of the season. Together, we’ll explore ideas of softness, light and connection to place through writing, reflection and shared experience.
Saturday
We’ll begin the day with morning yoga led by Ashley Jackson, followed by a breakfast provided by Ursa Minor. From there, we’ll move into journalling and cacao before gathering for a two-hour writing workshop — ‘something soft and radiant and true’ — exploring the poetry of softness and the role of ritual in sustaining a creative life.
After lunch, the afternoon opens with a hands-on crafting session creating flower crowns inspired by seasonal blooms and folklore. We’ll then return to writing with a reflective session centred in land, memory and the stories held in gardens and wild places.
The day closes with time to rest before an optional evening gathering at Ursa Minor, a shared meal accompanied by poetry read by Kerri.
Sunday
A slower morning begins with breakfast, followed by journaling and cacao. Late morning will offer space for either a beach gathering or an additional writing session, shaped by the weather and the mood of the group.
After lunch, we’ll come together for a closing circle — ‘Solas, Solace: on Brightness’ — a final reflective session exploring light, consolation, and the small, everyday acts that restore and steady us. We’ll draw on writing, conversation and shared experience to gently close the weekend, finishing in the afternoon.
FOOD
Throughout the weekend, catering will be provided by Ursa Minor, whose cooking focuses on ingredient-led dishes highlighting local, sustainable, and seasonal produce. All meals will be vegetarian. On Saturday evening, Ursa Minor will also host a special ticketed dinner in their café, featuring a poetry reading by Kerri and a communal, intimate shared meal that includes a welcome drink. Spaces will be reserved for retreat participants while also open to the wider Ballycastle community, and dinner tickets can be purchased alongside your retreat booking.
Please note: Ursa Minor’s Saturday Dinner tickets are reserved for those attending SOLAS, SOLSTICE. If you are joining the retreat, you can add a dinner ticket during booking (Full Residential tickets include dinner). If you are not attending the retreat and wish to join the dinner, please purchase your ticket directly via Ursa Minor.
What’s Included
Guided workshops and creative sessions with Kerri ní Dochartaigh across 1 full day and 1 half day
Saturday morning yoga session with Ashley Jackson
Breakfast and lunch on Saturday; breakfast and lunch on Sunday. Full Residential tickets include dinner at the Ursa Minor solstice-themed feast on Saturday evening
Morning cacaos
All materials for creative, journalling, and crafting sessions (including flower crown making)
Tea and coffee throughout the weekend
For those booking accommodation: a 2-night stay
ITINERARY
Saturday
8 am – Yoga with Ashley Jackson
9-10 am – Breakfast
10-11 am – Journalling and cacao
11-1 pm – Workshop: ‘something soft and radiant and true’ - A workshop on the poetry of softness. How, in a world so full of hard edges, do we remain open, bright, tender? We’ll explore the art of ritual; how gentle daily practice and devotion can hold us safely as we make our way along every pathway of life.
1-2 pm – Lunch
2-4 pm – Crafting session: Flower crowns
4-5 pm – Writing session: ‘A circle of flowers, as the wheel gently turns’. This session is centred around the stretches of land that mean something to us. Floral folklore, garden memories and stories of the land.
7 pm – Dinner at Ursa Minor (ticketed separately)
Sunday
9-10 am – Breakfast
10-11 am – Journalling and cacao
11 am-1 pm – Possible beach session or writing workshop, weather dependent
1-2 pm – Lunch
2-4 pm – Closing Circle: ‘Solas, Solace: on Brightness’. A parting session exploring light and peace in dark times. We will look at writers and artists who hold at the heart of their work ideas of brightness and consolation. We will touch on small, everyday acts that hold the power to restore our inner calm and reset our creativity.
Who is Kerri ní Dochartaigh?
Kerri ní Dochartaigh is a mother, writer, holder and grower. She is moved by the way we tend and attend: to ourselves; to one another; to the living world. She has written for The Guardian, BBC, RTE, The Irish Times and others. She mentors and teaches worldwide.
Her work currently explores ideas of one-anotherness, interconnectedness and ecologies of care.
Her first book, Thin Places, was published by Canongate in Spring 2021, for which she was awarded the Butler Literary Award 2022, and highly commended for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2021. Cacophony of Bone was published by Canongate in May 2023 and was longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2023. Kerri lives in the west of Ireland with her family.