Hello and welcome ...

to our winter newsletter

A big THANK YOU to all who have participated on a VegiVenture Holiday in 2011.

We are almost full, still a few last-minute places available on our Christmas Houseparty in Somerset. This is our eleventh year on Exmoor. We have a great programme lined up, and (as always) the option to rest and do nothing. See below.

Take a look at our exciting programme in 2012/13 with new holidays in Equador and India, 24 group holidays in Turkey (plus independent breaks at any time), and our established favourite holidays in Peru, the Caribbean and the UK. We kick off with our 'best value' Creativity Break in Derbyshire 1 - 4 March, and Walking and Yoga holidays over Easter in Turkey and Snowdonia. Our 'paper' programme (if you take our annual free mailing) will be landing on your mat between Christmas and New Year. For a preview, please browse our web sites: www.vegiventures.com * www.yuvaholidays.com/programme.asp * www.faralyahotel.com/programme

Wishing you a Peaceful Solstice, Happy Christmas and great success in all your projects for 2012.
Nigel

Christmas Houseparty, Somerset

24 - 28 December 2011.

Croydon Hall is a lovely mansion in the beautiful countryside of the Exmoor National Park, 3 miles from England's rugged North Somerset coast. Access is easy by car or public transport. Traditional and creative events include: yoga, guided walks, ballroom dancing, painting and drawing class, Christmas carols, Taize chanting, folk songs, counselling, circle dancing, guided meditation, images of crop circles, sauna/spa... and excellent vegetarian/vegan food including Nigel's famous Christmas dinner, served with organic wine. Choose to join in, or just toast your toes in front of the log fire. We expect about 40 guests. Some space still available. Singles, couples and families welcome. Prices from £349 for 4 nights full board. Please contact us for full details: +44 (0)1760 755888.

Creativity Break, Derbyshire

1 – 4 March, 2012

Many of you have asked us to run this popular event again. Relax in the country, learn, laugh and make new friends! The venue is Unstone Grange, a mansion in a beautiful rural setting, surrounded by 5 acres of organic gardens. These Creativity Breaks are based on skill sharing. If you do not have a skill to share, that’s fine, please just come as a participant. In the past skills offered have included: drawing & painting, yoga, creative writing, massage, therapies, cooking, singing, circle dancing, storytelling, jiving, chi kung, pottery… We often spend the mornings going for a walk. 2 nights full board from £110, 3 nights from £145. Please contact us for full details.

Turkey, Yuva Eco Holiday Centre

Yuva Eco Holiday Centre is in a forest, in the mountains, right by the sea. You can almost dip you hand in the Aegean from the dining area. Former guests know of its stunning, secluded location and return again and again:

2 - 9 April (Easter) Lycian Way Walking & Yoga Holiday. Choose vigorous or more gentle walks. The optional pre-breakfast Yoga/Do-In class with Nigel Walker will set you up for the day. We explore 'Lycian' paths and tracks, amid magnificent scenery with our expert guide Nihat Tokdil. Nihat has been walking this coast for 30 years, has a wide knowledge of the area and speaks excellent English. And there's time for relaxing, swimming, sunbathing... yes, at Easter it's often warm enough for this!

Our 2012 programme continues with:

16 – 23 Apr         Alexander Technique with Tai Chi & Walking, Robin & Béatrice Simmons-Heiz
23 – 30 Apr         Evolution of Movement with Robin & Béatrice Simmons-Heiz
30 Apr – 7 May        Painting, Drawing & Walking Week with Gabriel Sempill
7 – 14 May              Yoga Holiday with Faye Hill
14 – 21 May            Karina’s Yoga Retreat with Karen Stewart (Karina)
28 May – 7 June     ‘Yoga Village’ Retreat with Yogi Manmoyanand
11 – 18 June           Yoga Holiday with Lisa Colby
25 June – 2 July     Yoga & Meditation with Chandra Mauli & Julie Preston
2 July – 9 July     Yoga & Meditation with Chandra Mauli & Julie Preston
9 July – 16 July       'Summer Sault’ Yoga Retreat with Marion Ancker
23 – 30 July        Kundalini Yoga with Sheila Wisdom
28 Aug – 4 Sep      Yoga and Mindfulness with Linda Allam
17 – 24 Sep            Iyengar Yoga with Barbara Hicks & Dave Dayes

And starting 21 – 28 May WhiteEagle returns with the Council Guide Training, a 2-year 'Earth Wisdom' shamanic course.

Plus 'Independent Breaks' available at most times.

Yoga holidays from about £430, Independent Breaks from £280, including 7 nights full or half board. Flights are available from about £200 UK/Dalaman return. We do not sell flights, but we are happy to help you find the best value airfares. Feel free to call us or email us at any time. For details see: www.yuvaholidays.com/programme.asp

Turkey, Faralya Hotel

Open all year, The Faralya is our sister establishment, just 2 miles from Yuva, in south-west Turkey. The Faralya has magnificent sea views, comfortable rooms, a pool, a large yoga platform and is surrounded by organic fruit and vegetable gardens that supply the kitchen.We specialise in vegetarian and vegan food, based around the ‘meze.’ Non-veggie options are also available. You can take an Independent Break at most times, from £280 for 7 nights half board. Group holidays include:

23 April – 7 May Yoga & Detox retreats (one or two weeks) with Lauren Manning
28 May – 2 June Unfold your Wings with Ram Charan
4 – 18 June    Jiva Healing, Yoga & Detox retreats (one or two weeks)
18 – 25 June        Yoga Holiday with Miska Williams
2 – 9 July Yoga Holiday with Julie Potter
23 – 30 July Yoga & Detox retreat with Lauren Manning
6 – 13 Aug Yoga & Detox retreat with Lauren Manning
20 – 27 August     Unity Yoga & Partner Yoga with Sevanti

Plus 'Independent Breaks' available at most times. For details please see www.faralyahotel.com/programme

UK Walking Holidays

5 – 10 April, Easter, Spring Walking Holiday
5 day hill-walking break in the Snowdonia National Park. Based at the comfortable Trigonos Centre, six miles west of Snowdon. Chris Bristow, our energetic mountain guide, will be leading with his usual light and friendly touch, assisted by experienced mountain walker Mike Cursons. Choice of gentle or longer, harder walks each day. Excellent vegetarian/vegan cuisine. 5 nights from £340 full-board. Contact us for full details.

29 May – 5 June Peak District Walking Holiday, new venue
Six full days of walking based at Sycamore Farm Barns, a comfortable, recently restored venue with ‘eco-status’ and organic gardens. The group is led by experienced local guide Chris Bristow, assisted by Mike Cursons. Choice of two walks each day, a gentle walk and a more challenging one. Great food (cooked by Nigel) and a daily yoga class to help you get in shape for the day. 6 nights from £250 camping £460 in-house, 7 nights from £280/£500. Contact us for details.

1 - 8 September, Lake District, gentle walking
8 - 15 September, Lake District, faster pace with higher walks
Based at Buttermere, in the heart of the Western Fells, the grounds of our guest house extend to the shores of the lake, the starting point of many walks. Clean mountain air, pure water, excellent vegetarian/vegan food (cooked by Nigel), a daily yoga class, and safe hill walking led by our experienced Lakeland guides Heather Read and Chris Bristow, make these exceptional holidays. 7 nights from £160 camping £335 in-house. Please contact us for details.

Journey to Ecuador

9 – 23 August 2012

Quito - Otavalo - Cuicocha - Highland Lakes of Mojanda - Peguche – Mindo

Our newest adventure, Ecuador’s range of offerings is astounding. In one day’s drive you can journey from the Amazon Basin across glaciated Andean volcanoes and down through tropical cloud forest. The tour begins in the narrow cobbled streets of the world-heritage colonial capital, Quito, dominated by views of the vast Pichincha volcano. We travel by local transport to Otavalo in the northern highlands to learn about the culture, crafts and haunting music of the Otavalo Indians.We barter for ethnic cloth and clothes at the market and learn from local weavers. We visit ancient sites, a sacred water-fall and explore crater lakes and páramo (grasslands) on foot. We stay with, learn from and cook with an indigenous family near Peguche; then travel deeper into the country to the beautiful elfin cloud forest near Mindo. From £1295, excluding flights. Please contact us for full details.

Peru 'Inka' - Journey of a Lifetime

17 December 2012 - 2 January 2013

As I write, our 2011/12 tour is arriving in Cusco. VegiVentures has run holidays in Peru since 1992. Our next tour is at Christmas 2012. Join our friendly group to visit: Lima, Cusco, Machupicchu, The Sacred Valley, Limatambo, Lake Titicaca and Taquile Island. Focussing on the history of the Inkas, and on their descendants' present-day lives, we travel by bus, train and boat and explore as much as we can on foot. We spend time at Ollantaytambo, the only inhabited Inka city with its irrigation systems still intact. On Lake Titicaca we stay on Taquile Island, as guests of the Taquilenos tribe. Natural ecologists, they willingly share their simple colourful way of life. Enjoy delicious local vegetarian/vegan food and the expert leadership of anthropologist Oda Seedhouse. We also offer an optional extension to the Pacific coastal desert and mysterious Nazca Lines. From £1659 including all 'ground arrangements' in Peru, excluding flights. Please contact us for full details.

Tour of South India

24 January – 9 February 2013

India’s vast subcontinent is a heady melange of people, cultures and landscapes, offering spiritual sustenance, grand vestiges of the Raj, swarming bazaars, shimmering beaches, lantern-lit villages, software cities, seductive food… Our tour offers a taste of two states in the south. There are two parts: Part one begins on the west coast of Kerala, where we take a tranquil backwater cruise in a traditional barge.We visit spice plantations and trek in the Cardamom Hills. Travelling over the Western Ghats and into Tamil Nadu, we visit cities and temples. Part two in south east Tamil Nadu is a ‘village experience,’ hosted by SCAD, Social Change and Development, a remarkable project helping the low caste, disadvantaged and poorest of the poor. We spend time visiting SCAD’s many projects and taking in some of the local places of interest. For further information, please contact us.

Sonnets on the Sunshine Coast

Poet Trevor Carter proposes a one-week poetry writing course

Tap into the poet within at the inspiring setting of the Faralya Hotel, Turkey. The course provides a supportive space to develop creative talents. It will be composed of a variety of exercises to stimulate the imagination. A range of poetic forms will be explored, and guidance and advice will be offered to develop ideas. As well as writing there will also be support and guidance on the art of public presentation.

Trevor Carter (the Bard of Windmill Hill) is a poet of many parts. He has wide ranging experience in residencies, cabarets, radio, festivals and arts trails. His latest collection ‘Children of the Fire’ is available through Foyle’s. He has recently organised events for Bristol Poetry Festival, Bristol Vegfest and Bristol Folk Festival. He is particularly known for his zeitgeist poetry, responding with sometimes satirical and sometimes poignant observations on the news as it happens.

‘The range and tone is huge’ – Phil Hammond, in BBC interview.
‘I’ve seen a lot of poets, but you are the best. Superb performance’. Barry Walsh, Bristol events organiser.

Dates to be confirmed (possibly early May 2012). If you are interested, please contact us: faralya@vegiventures.com or +44(0)1760 755888 If we have sufficient numbers, we will organise this.

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky. " Rabindranath Tagore

Eradicating Ecocide

Each day 100 living species become extinct, 1,000 acres of peat bogs are excavated and 150,000 acres of tropical rainforest are destroyed. Each day, 2 million tons of toxic waste is dumped in to our rivers and seas, 22 million tons of oil are extracted and 100 million tons of greenhouse gases are released.

Large scale habitat destruction, massive soil depletion and extensive deforestation are leading to worldwide disruption of natural cycles and the irreversibility of extinction. Today instances of mass extinction occur with greater frequency, greater rapidity and greater impact than at any other time... This destruction, damage and loss comes at an enormous cost...

This shocking info comes from Polly Higgins, who is campaigning to make 'ecocide' illegal. Please see her web site: www.thisisecocide.com

Assisting

Free holiday?... Well yes, in exchange for some enjoyable work:

Catering assistants are required for some of our UK holidays. Experience is a bonus, but not essential. Please contact Nigel for details: T. 01760 755888 or email: nigel@vegiventures

Climate Care

Each time we take a flight or travel by car CO₂ is added into the atmosphere. One way we can help to reduce the impact is through carbon offsetting. There are several organizations that offer this service. We recommend Pure: www.puretrust.org.uk and Climate Care: www.climatecare.org. Offsetting isn’t the answer to climate change. The first step should be to see how we can avoid and reduce emissions. However, some emissions can’t or won’t be avoided. That's where offsetting has a role to play. It’s a way of compensating for the emissions produced with an equivalent carbon saving. - You could also consider donating to Trees for Life. It’s not directly a carbon offset provider, but a very worthwhile forest regeneration project in Scotland: www.treesforlife.org.uk

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Thank you

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." Martin Luther King, Jr.

VegiVentures

Vegetarian and vegan holidays

Britain - Turkey - Peru - Guatemala - Grenada

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