Our Vision Statement
“A spiritual retreat, education and well-being centre housed in a small beautiful medieval building and grounds, with a resident community offering a unique place for restoration and inspiration. Here, as an individual or a group you can find support in your enquiry for your own particular contribution towards building a better world for all.”
40 Years of Community
In 1980, founders Bishop Steven Verney (1919-2009) and Rev Fred J Blum (1914-1990), set out to create a progressive centre for spiritual exploration, open to all faiths and none, “ a place to stop and think (be)”, underpinned by individual personal development experienced through communal living. The Abbey community, as it stands today, has steadily grown and developed from these original visions of the founders.
Rev Fred J Blum was a German Jewish refugee from the Holocaust, who became a psychotherapist and later an Anglican priest. Right Reverend Stephen Verney was an Anglican Bishop and highly innovative theologian. They established the Abbey as a place for spiritual development, exploration and transformation of community, and as a centre for workshops and events for the public.