This is when the lightbulb moments happen.
All food & drinks included — not a penny spent
Eleven places. When they're gone, they're gone.
Founders aren't short of advice. They're short of quiet — and the company of women who carry the same weight.
The things you can't book or plan for — and the ones you'll still be feeling long after you're home.
A four-AA-Red-Star country hotel set back from a gravel driveway, just outside Colchester, looking out across Constable's countryside.
Twelve individually designed bedrooms — each one named after an English poet, from Shakespeare and Keats to Newbolt and Betjeman. Inside each room, a framed copy of that poet's best-known work. Quiet detail, properly done.
The lounge opens through to the Garden Room and out onto the terrace. The spa, the heated outdoor pool and the tennis court are ours from mid-afternoon through the following morning — open to you throughout, whenever the mood takes you. Rackets and balls are supplied; just walk out and play.
There's a meeting room too, yours for the whole retreat and the day after — for anyone who wants proper CEO time before heading home.
Twelve women, the hotel and spa given over to us entirely. No other guests. No shared spaces. No interruptions. Every meal and every drink is included — you won't spend a penny while you're there.
Arrivals from 9am, refreshments in the lounge while the rooms are turned around. Mid-morning, two hours behind the scenes of how Alison runs two businesses — for those who want them, and the lounge, the gardens and a second refreshment for those who don't. Lunch together after.
Lunch together. Check in to your room. A walk out into Dedham Vale for those who'd like one. An Elemis treatment of your choosing — massage, facial, or mini manicure. The spa, the heated pool, the hot tub and the infrared sauna are open to you throughout — in and out as often as you like. A set on the tennis court if you fancy it, rackets and balls supplied. A cosy corner by the fire, blankets and hot chocolate within reach.
A drinks reception as the evening starts, then dinner together — cooked for us by a private chef. Unhurried, wine flowing into late conversation, and every glass of it included. The kind of evening where stories come out and friendships start.
Taken by the hotel's courtesy car to the Talbooth Restaurant — riverside, three AA rosettes — for breakfast together. Driven back. A walk through Dedham Vale for those who'd like one — Constable's countryside, the river path. The meeting room stays ours for the rest of the day, so stay on and work on the business while your head is still clear.
"This isn't another retreat. It's twelve women being given
permission to switch off — and the room to do it in."
Talbooth House sits in the heart of the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty — the countryside John Constable painted again and again, on his way to becoming one of England's most beloved artists.
It's the kind of place that does something quiet to you. The river, the meadows, the soft light. Walk it in the morning before lunch, and the rest of the day arrives differently.
Eleven places. Twelve women including Alison. Single occupancy throughout — your own room, your own door to close.
The hotel and its spa are ours entirely for our overnight — the spa, the heated pool and the tennis court open to you throughout. Nothing shared with the outside world.
You'll arrive to refreshments, leave with new friendships. In between: a treatment, the pool, dinner cooked by a private chef, a quiet night, and a riverside breakfast you didn't have to plan. All of it paid for — every meal, every drink, not a penny spent on the day.
The workshop is the only thing on the schedule, and even that's optional. The meeting room is yours throughout — and the following day too — if you want real CEO time to work on the business rather than in it. If you want to do nothing — that's the actual point.
In the morning, Alison will open the doors to her operations and invite you behind the scenes.
No polished presentation. No slides. Just an honest look at how she's using automation and AI across her businesses.
Her hope isn't that you'll copy what she's doing. It's that something sparks an idea for your own business.
If there's an AI skill, workflow or process that would genuinely help you, Alison is happy to share it.
This is your retreat. You may decide your time is better spent with another refreshment, a walk around the grounds, or simply switching off for a couple of hours. That's just as valuable.
Alison will be around for the rest of the retreat, so whether you join the session or simply want to chat over lunch, in the spa or with a glass of wine in the evening, she's always happy to talk business, AI or whatever's on your mind.
Last Autumn, I ran a spa day at the Grove Hotel for fourteen of us in Six Figured Females. The conversations taught me something I haven't been able to shake — there's a particular kind of friendship that only happens when founders are out of their houses, away from their laptops, in proper time and space together. Not at a conference with name badges. Not at an event with a stage. Just women, in good company, with the run of somewhere beautiful.
I've been wanting to put an overnight version together for a while. Talbooth House is the right room — exclusive access, twelve bedrooms, four AA Red Stars, the staff at our beck and call. 30 September is the right date. £995 covers everything, because there's nothing that breaks a retreat like worrying about money once you've arrived.
Two things about how the time actually works. The first is that there's almost nothing in the schedule, and that's deliberate. I went away recently and put my phone away — looked at it once in the morning, once in the evening, and not in between. I came back feeling like a new woman. That's what I want for you here.
The second is that I've put two hours on AI and automation before lunch on the first day, for anyone who wants them. It's the thing I get asked about most, and two hours is genuinely enough to hand something over and feel the difference when you're back at your desk. If you'd rather be in the gardens, be in the gardens — it's optional, like everything else here. And either way I'm about for the rest of the retreat if you want to bend my ear about your own set-up.
Eleven places. I hope yours is one of them.
A genuinely all-inclusive overnight retreat for twelve.
All food and drinks covered — not a penny spent on the day.
"Every meal and every drink is already paid for — the reception, the wine at dinner, the coffees in between. You will not spend a penny while you're with us. No reaching for your wallet."
Eleven places only. When they're gone, they're gone.
Eleven places. By the time you've finished talking yourself out of it, someone else will have said yes. That's not a sales line — that's just what happens when a room is this small.
Reserve my place — £995