Julia Bradbury is a UK TV presenter who passionately believes the great outdoors can lead to healing and happiness.

The outdoors lover won the hearts of the nation on the BBC programme Countryfile, which she first appeared on 20 years ago and has written six walking books, including the bestseller Walk Yourself Happy. Bradbury credits nature therapy with helping her through fertility struggles and survive breast cancer in recent years. She says these life events made her fundamentally overhaul her approach to wellbeing and led her to explore nutrition, breathwork, exercise, spending more time outdoors and activities such as yoga, grounding yourself in nature and sound bathing.

Now, Bradbury dedicates her time to championing the benefits of nature immersion and walking and has created a spa retreat which will debut at South Lodge Hotel in England in September.

Moving meditation
The two-day event, hosted by Bradbury in person, is based on the Walk Yourself Happy philosophy. Chapters of her book will be brought to life through a blend of expert-led sessions, group conversations and nature-based activities.

“I wanted to bring together a group of experts who had been so transformative in my own personal journey and, together with them, lead others through a series of life-changing, wellbeing practices in a focused retreat,” says Bradbury.

“I know that the guests at our retreats will feel truly energised by spending time doing breathwork, aroma-sound, forest bathing, nutrition work and, of course, going on a nature walk with me.”

Specialists involved in the retreat include breathwork practitioner and Oxygen Advantage founder Patrick McKeown; holistic practitioner Lisa Pauley from AromaSounds and Wildfitness CEO Hannah Beadle, who will teach participants how to unlock the freedom of movement.

Bradbury will be on hand throughout the retreat to share the ethos of cumulative wellbeing practices and host live readings from her books, nature walks and Q+As.

Guests will also enjoy daily nutrition talks and curated meals, sound baths, cold water swimming, playtime in nature and the South Lodge spa (see www.spabusiness.com/southlodge).

The upcoming experience is running in tandem with The Outdoor Guide – an online resource for outdoor enthusiasts – which Bradbury founded in 2014. Spaces are limited to 25 people and cost £1,650 (US$2,126, €1,958pp).

Hiking renaissance
Bradbury has plans for more retreats in the UK for 2025 and joins a number of leading names incorporating outdoor walking programmes.
Notable operators which are now focusing on hiking range from The Ranch and Golden Door in the US to Sensei in Hawaii and Buchinger Wilhelmi in Germany.

Spa Business expects even more spas will tap into ‘moving meditation’ in the near future and has included the trend in its newly-released 2024/25 Spa Foresight predictions (see www.spabusiness.com/foresight2024).