Our final retreat day of the year covered a whole host of topics from winter remedies, to making nutritional suppers with seasonal food and included recipe cards to take away. We even covered winter skincare. There was a chance to relax with mindful meditation and Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra. Here are a small selection of our Top Tips for Winter Care from the day, we also covered many other topics including Homeopathic remedies and Stress Management Techniques:

• Sage - use the dried herb and infuse with hot water to make a tea add honey, for relief from sore throats. Sage Essence - is also of great to have in during the winter month use as an inhalation for blocked noses and colds or add it to your bath to warm and purify your skin. Dr. Hauschka do a beautiful Sage bath essence which is available here or you can purchase a sage essential oil.
• Echinacea - a must for your first aid kit all year round but particularly in winter when germs are rampant, Echinacea can boost your immune system to stave off colds and flu and has also been found to effective at reducing symptoms. Available in a tablet form from Lamberts in our supplements section or via an Orchard Barn own tincture.
• Ginger - is wonderful for your circulation you can add essential oils to a carrier oil to act as a warming and stimulating rub. It can be very helpful to aching and tired muscles. We have a new limited edition body oil which combines ginger with clove and cinnamon. Pukka's Three Ginger Tea is delicious and can be good for relieving sinusitis and boosting your circulation.
• Eucalyptus - the smell can be fantastic for clearing your head so use as inhalation or mix with lavender and olive oil to use an ear drop to relieve earaches.

Alison's Ginger, Turmeric and Carrot soup recipe will be posted soon. We also proudly launched our Orchard Barn own range of products on this retreat day, we now offer some off the shelve tea's, remedies and creams to go alongside our oils. The day included a delicious mixed beets super salad prepared by the wonderful Becky Grimmick who caters for all our retreat days. If you would be interested in attending any of our retreat days then dates coming in the New Year are Saturday 27^th January: detox retreat day, Saturday 17th February: restore & balance retreat day, Saturday 3^rd