Heirloom Springs — Monroe, United States

Working farm and Pilates retreat in the Blue Ridge foothills, Monroe, Virginia

Heirloom Springs sits at the end of a winding, single-lane mountain road in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, with a small white sign at the top of the driveway. It is a working farm. Chickens and a vegetable and herb garden share the land with three goats named Reese, Oreo and Buttercup, a rustic-elegant barn and a hilltop gazebo. Pilates and yoga classes are held in open-air, covered spaces, and the retreats run rain or shine. The center of gravity is Pilates, and the person at the center of the Pilates is Rachael Lieck Bryce. She has 25 years in the classical method and trained through The PilateSystem, Power Pilates and Alycea Ungaro's Real Pilates, where she became a Lead Trainer. In fall 2020 she sold Pilates Methodology in Dallas, the third studio she had built, opened and run. At the farm she teaches guests, and she also grows and harvests some of what ends up on their plates. Her Pilates Pedagogy retreat is built for working instructors. It pairs workshops on observation and teaching with mat classes, yoga, farm time and hikes with the goats, and she describes it as a retreat, not a conference. The Signature Retreat is organized around four words: eat, move, breathe, connect. Over three days, guests move through Pilates, yoga, easy hiking, meditative walking and forest bathing, with no experience required. Meals are cooked from scratch in the farmhouse kitchen from eggs, herbs and vegetables raised on site, goat cheese from Caromont Farm and wild-caught seafood from Marsh Roots. Specialty weekends add Farm-to-Table Pilates, Camp Heirloom Springs and Herbalism in the Blue Ridge, led by master herbalist Kat Maier. Retreats are all-inclusive, starting at 2 p.m. on arrival day and ending at 1 p.m. on the last. Guests sleep at the Elston Inn on Sweet Briar College's 2,840-acre campus, about 15 minutes away. Lynchburg Regional Airport is roughly 35 minutes from the farm, and there is on-site EV charging. The farm and its facilities can also be rented for private events and reunions.

Traditions: Classical Pilates, Yoga, Herbalism, Ayurveda, Forest Bathing, Meditative Walking

Programs: Signature Retreat, Herbalism in the Blue Ridge, Farm-to-Table Pilates, Pilates Pedagogy Retreat, Camp Heirloom Springs, Private Pilates Sessions, Pilates Mentorship, Real Pilates Teacher Training