The Good Life Society

The Good Life Society Intimate events, experiences, workshops and holiday accommodation designed to bring you joy. And now we have our All Day Feasts, too.

We run intimate events focusing on the great outdoors, community, food, craft, culture and music in incredible locations on two of Britain’s most beautiful private estates. Each of our events aims to be the most friendly and inspiring anywhere. Currently we run Camp Good Life which is a small festival for under 1000 guests on the storied Hawarden Estate in North Wales. We also have Summer Camp, wh

ich is an annual event, running across four long weekends, for up to 100 guests on the Hawarden Estate. Our first ever one-day events, hosted within the storied Walled Garden of Hawarden Castle. We also run Camp Glen Dye, an occasional event for around 30 guests on the Glen Dye Estate in Kincardineshire, Scotland.

Weaving with .hannah_robson at Summer Camp 2024 🧶A timely reminder that there will always be magic to be found in making...
01/11/2024

Weaving with .hannah_robson at Summer Camp 2024 🧶

A timely reminder that there will always be magic to be found in making something with your own two hands, to try something new, or to engage in heritage craft.

If this sounds like your kind of thing, come and explore our Craft Weekend at Summer Camp 2025!

🎟️ Early bird tickets available for a limited time!
📸 .finniigan

Early Bird Tickets End Soon ⏰Time is running out to book early bird tickets to Summer Camp 2025. Book before prices rise...
30/10/2024

Early Bird Tickets End Soon ⏰

Time is running out to book early bird tickets to Summer Camp 2025. Book before prices rise to save 10% on all tickets 💸

GOOD NEWS 🗞️
We’re holding 2025 ticket prices at 2024 levels. This means an adult weekend early bird ticket is under £45 per day. We think that’s pretty good value.

Save on accommodation, too! 🏕️
And yes, our super comfortable accommodation is also available at early bird prices. However, space in our Walled Garden, as well as the castle, cottage and cabin, is limited. Book soon to get the best spot and save 10%.

And finally, early bird tickets are also available with our popular payment plans 📆
Our hugely popular payment plan is available for 2025 tickets and accommodation, meaning you can choose to pay in one lump sum up front, split the cost in half, or split the cost into three equal parts.

Enter the code FIFTYFIFTY
to pay in two equal parts.

Enter the code ONETWOTHREE
to pay in three equal parts.

Early bird tickets are available now.
Accommodation is extremely limited.

The Craft Weekend
18th - 21st July 2025

The Family Weekend
25th - 28th July 2025

The Outdoors, Wellness & Adventure Weekend
1st - 4th August 2025

Tickets and all the information you need can be found in our bio 🎟️ 

📸

Candle making with the great  at Summer Camp 2024 🕯️Adults and children alike divided into this fun, smelly and hands-on...
28/10/2024

Candle making with the great at Summer Camp 2024 🕯️

Adults and children alike divided into this fun, smelly and hands-on workshop alongside Laura, who guided us from start to finish.

One of 70 life-affirming, interactive and joyful masterclasses taking place across that long weekend in August.

We’re looking forward to doing it all again in 2025!

Early bird tickets end soon… ⏰

📸 .finniigan

Book a stay in The West End of Hawarden Castle during Summer Camp and wake up to views like these 🌤️You’ll stay in a new...
26/10/2024

Book a stay in The West End of Hawarden Castle during Summer Camp and wake up to views like these 🌤️

You’ll stay in a newly refurbished, perfectly appointed apartment within a castle of national importance, and the former home of four-times Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. Expect exceptional sunrise views of Hawarden Old Castle and complete comfort.

There’s nowhere else quite like it.

Book a private double room and bathroom, or take the full place for exclusive use for up to 10 guests.

Also available for year-round stays.

B&B sleeps 2.
Exclusive use sleeps up to 10.

📸

A great press review 🏆And our favourite ‘testimonial’ so far… 💛“At the end of a day spent swimming past lily pads, carvi...
24/10/2024

A great press review 🏆
And our favourite ‘testimonial’ so far… 💛

“At the end of a day spent swimming past lily pads, carving a cack-handed spoon and singing really shockingly with much more gifted strangers, I found myself feeling better than I had in over a year.

It’s wellness without the trite hashtags.

And I love it.”
- for

“I don’t need a shower.
Mum, I promise.
I had a wash in the lake!”
- Overheard during a morning craft workshop at Summer Camp 2024

📸

Autumn in Hawarden looks a bit like this 🍁As well as Summer Camp, Hawarden Estate is also home to some of the best self-...
22/10/2024

Autumn in Hawarden looks a bit like this 🍁

As well as Summer Camp, Hawarden Estate is also home to some of the best self-catering holiday accommodation in Britain; there’s a cabin, a cottage and a castle.

During those long summer weekends we gather together to try new things and learn new skills. It’s a whole load of fun, of course, but it also helps to set us up to live The Good Life.

✅ Great food
✅ True connection to the outdoors
✅ Getting hands-on with craft
✅ Unearthing exciting new ideas
✅ Discovering wellness that works
✅ Surrounded by the best people

These things are ever-present as Summer Camp. 

But you can also book a holiday, any time, which will live long in the memory

And yes, you can book these amazing places to stay during Summer Camp, too!

📸 .finniigan

Day tickets 🎟️ to Summer Camp 2025. Head to Hawarden Estate’s bucolic Walled Garden from 10am-11pm on the Saturday or Su...
20/10/2024

Day tickets 🎟️ to Summer Camp 2025.

Head to Hawarden Estate’s bucolic Walled Garden from 10am-11pm on the Saturday or Sunday of your choice at Summer Camp!

Your ticket will include an evening feast with a great guest chef or Hawarden’s Estate Head Chef, Adam Williams.

PLUS you’ve have full access to all: craft workshops, wild swimming, paddle boarding, talks, our wood-fired sauna and hot tub and the room to roam the historic Hawarden Estate.

The perfect ticket for locals or those who want to stay off site nearby.

Speaking of which, to extend your stay in Hawarden, book a pitch at our Farm Shop Campsite (2025 dates just released on the website!) or book full weekend tickets.

📸

Have you heard about our long weekend of the outdoors, wellness and adventure?For the first time, at Summer Camp 2025, w...
18/10/2024

Have you heard about our long weekend of the outdoors, wellness and adventure?

For the first time, at Summer Camp 2025, we’re hosting a weekend which stands proudly upon these three key pillars.

They’re ever-present at all of our events, but next summer we’ll be turning these themes up to 11 for one outstanding weekend.

This is the escape, and adventure, you’re looking for: 25th - 28th July 2025

In 2025, we’ll be gently theming our three long weekends of Summer Camp:
A weekend of craft.
A weekend for families.
A weekend of the outdoors, wellness & adventure.

This does not mean they’ll be lacking in your favourite workshops or activities.

Instead, the intention here is to bring greater clarity to precisely what Summer Camp is all about for the uninitiated.

Our outdoors, wellness and adventure weekend is designed to speak to the souls of people who, above all else, cherish time spent outside.

This will be rooted in activities set within our beautiful landscape, with The Walled Garden providing the platform from which everything starts.

There will, of course, still be super comfortable accommodation and facilities but with a greater emphasis on the elements and the stuff that both raises the heart rate and settles busy minds.

Whichever weekend at Summer Camp you choose, we guarantee you a blissful long weekend spent with like-minded people in the serene Walled Garden of Hawarden Castle.

We’ll plunge into the lake, make things with our hands, practice sunrise yoga, engage with fascinating talks, dance to live music, explore a historic estate and come together for evening feasts cooked over fire by great guest chefs and the award-winning team from Hawarden Estate.

All weekend you’ll have access to our wood-fired hot tub and sauna, guided foraging walks, paddle boarding, live fire cooking demos and proper showers and loos.

That’s all included when you book your early bird tickets.

And we have some amazing places to stay, too.

📸 .finniigan

At Summer Camp 2024, we hosted a spectacular long weekend, designed for families.It was a smash hit. So we’re doing it a...
16/10/2024

At Summer Camp 2024, we hosted a spectacular long weekend, designed for families.

It was a smash hit. So we’re doing it again!

Join us at Summer Camp for a long weekend, or just a day: 25th - 28th July 2025.

The central themes, the stuff that makes Summer Camp unique, aren’t changing.

So there will still be amazing food from the fire, invigorating wild swims, early morning yoga at Hawarden Old Castle, inspiring talks and tastings, campfire cooking workshops and true connection to craft and the outdoors.

What will be different about this weekend is the set up of the workshops themselves, which will allow the whole family to enjoy activities together and apart.

Everyone, children and adults alike, will gain new skills, friends and confidence.

Create core memories within the sanctuary of The Walled Garden, to allow time for individuals to thrive as well as coming together as a family.

We think this weekend is one of real magic.

And we could go on and on about why we think it’s unique and worthy of investigation.

But instead of reading our words, here is some great press and two of our favourite testimonials from our family weekend at Summer Camp 2024:

“I’m struggling to get back in the real world after the most perfect weekend. The mental load was lifted due to organised fun and not having to cook was so precious. Families were looking out for each other, it had the whole village to raise a child vibe. Without the worry of traffic we could allow our children more independence.”
- Hannah C

“One of the UK’s best Summer Camps for kids.”
- The Guardian

“The ideal spot to unwind and reconnect with nature.”
- Stylist

“I don’t need a shower. Mum, I promise.
I had a wash in the lake!”
- Overheard during a morning craft workshop

📸 .finniigan

Introducing: The Craft Weekend at Summer Camp!After three incredible long weekends this year, Summer Camp will return in...
14/10/2024

Introducing: The Craft Weekend at Summer Camp!

After three incredible long weekends this year, Summer Camp will return in 2025.

The central themes, the stuff that makes Summer Camp unique, aren’t changing.

So there will still be amazing food from the fire, invigorating wild swims, early morning yoga at Hawarden Old Castle, inspiring talks and tastings, campfire cooking workshops and true connection every weekend.

But we are theming each of the three weekends, to help give them some structure and a point of difference.

First up, the Craft Weekend: 18th - 21st July 2025.

We’ve always believed that there is magic in making something with your hands.

And that you do not need to be an expert to extract the joy found in creating something new, something beautiful, from raw materials.

At our first weekend of Summer Camp in 2025, you will discover great disappearing crafts in the presence of their contemporary masters.

Expect masterclasses in techniques such as signwriting, pottery, printmaking, darning, knife sharpening, floristry, stamp making, dyeing and more.

This is for everyone: adults, children, dogs.

Whichever weekend at Summer Camp you choose, we guarantee you a blissful long weekend spent with likeminded people in the serene Walled Garden of Hawarden Castle.

When the making is done we’ll dip into the lake, practice sunrise yoga, engage with fascinating talks, dance to live music, explore a historic estate and come together for evening feasts cooked over fire by great guest chefs and the award-winning team from Hawarden Estate.

All weekend you’ll have access to our wood-fired hot tub and sauna, guided foraging walks, paddle boarding, live fire cooking demos and proper showers and loos.

That’s all included when you book your early bird tickets.

And we have some amazing places to stay, too.

💛💛💛

GOOD NEWS 🗞️The quick version is:We sold out of 2025 campervan pitches in under a fortnight. So, we’ve added a few more....
11/10/2024

GOOD NEWS 🗞️

The quick version is:
We sold out of 2025 campervan pitches in under a fortnight. So, we’ve added a few more. In a new location!

The longer version is:
Each weekend at Summer Camp, we make a quiet corner of the Walled Garden our dedicated space for live-in vehicles. For 2025, we made four pitches available each weekend.

These pitches sold out after being on sale for just a matter of days, less than a fortnight after our final 2024 weekend.

That’s a record.

But it doesn’t feel like something to celebrate, as we have long wished we could make room for more. In truth, live-in vehicle pitches have been in short supply at Summer Camp for too long, but the Walled Garden is only so big.

So, BRAND NEW, for Summer Camp 2025:
Guests can now park their campervan at our Farm Shop Campsite!

The walk from your pitch to the Walled Garden will be a very pleasant stroll through the orchards, pumpkins, and pick-your-own fields which lie beyond the Farm Shop.

You’ll never be more than 10 minutes from the action.

And you’ll have our great campsite facilities right outside your door, as well as the brilliant showers and loos within the Walled Garden itself.

Early bird tickets and accommodation options available now, for a limited time.

📸

Breakfast from the fire at Summer Camp 🔥Each morning we come back together, around the fire, to each a hearty breakfast ...
09/10/2024

Breakfast from the fire at Summer Camp 🔥

Each morning we come back together, around the fire, to each a hearty breakfast -or delicious pastries fresh from the bakery at - before diving in to another life-affirming day of masterclasses, invigorating swims, enriching talks and tastings, adventures, dancing, discussions and endless fun.

Food from the fire is always best in our books.

📸 .finniigan

With over a decade of events under our belts, and tens of thousands of images in our archives, it’s often easy to be so ...
07/10/2024

With over a decade of events under our belts, and tens of thousands of images in our archives, it’s often easy to be so busy looking forwards, onto the next thing, that we forget to reflect.

So, here’s a handful of beautiful black and white film shots, taken by our friends and long term collaborators, , at Summer Camp 2022.

Now, onto the next thing 🚀

There is magic to be found down at the lake at Summer Camp.From invigorating early morning dips, to balance-challenging ...
05/10/2024

There is magic to be found down at the lake at Summer Camp.

From invigorating early morning dips, to balance-challenging and confidence-enhancing paddle boarding sessions, and midsummer lazing around on the banks, overlooking water lilies and dragonflies.

The stroll to the lake, from the hub of Summer Camp in The Walled Garden, is worth the trip alone; views across ancient and historic parkland, two castles of national importance, wildflower meadows and great conversations about what the day has in store.

Will we see you at the boathouse next year?

📸 .finniigan

Getting hands on with our food at Summer Camp, thanks to an expert butchery demonstration and workshop with Jamie Corry ...
03/10/2024

Getting hands on with our food at Summer Camp, thanks to an expert butchery demonstration and workshop with Jamie Corry from .

Venison is one of the most sustainable meats available in Britain. Not only is it delicious, but it is also incredibly healthy: it’s naturally low in fat and high in iron, potassium, zinc, and vitamins B6 and B12. And, when you choose to buy local venison, you are also ensuring the lowest possible carbon footprint.

So, at Summer Camp 2024, Jamie showed our guests how to effectively and efficiently break down a venison carcass; a true and ancient skill which is slowly fading out of our collective consciousness.

It’s always a pleasure to see a master at work, but particularly exhilarating to get hands on, learning the skill for yourself. 

That happens dozens of times, in all sorts of amazing ways, every weekend at Summer Camp.

💛

When we’re thinking about our line-up at Summer Camp, as we are right now, we want to work with the best master craftspe...
01/10/2024

When we’re thinking about our line-up at Summer Camp, as we are right now, we want to work with the best master craftspeople around.

Gaz, from , is the best knife sharpener we know. Tick.

But as well as deep knowledge and skill, he brings with him the other core component we look for: he’s a lovely man, who will make your time spent with him, at one of his workshops, feel joyful as you learn a last-forever life skill around some pretty sharp objects.

That’s special.

So we’re looking forward to many more masterclasses in 2025 at Summer Camp!

In the meantime, if you can’t wait, there are still a handful of spots left at ’s workshop on Sunday 13th October.

See you there?

💛

Dinner, which is included with every Summer Camp ticket, looks like this 🔥📸 .finniigan
29/09/2024

Dinner, which is included with every Summer Camp ticket, looks like this 🔥

📸 .finniigan

27/09/2024
 has become a mainstay in our Summer Camp line-up, bringing his expertly-led stamp making and printing workshops to hund...
13/09/2024

has become a mainstay in our Summer Camp line-up, bringing his expertly-led stamp making and printing workshops to hundreds of happy guests in various beautiful spots around The Walled Garden.

A true master of his craft, Laurie’s reputation in the design world (and everywhere else) continues to grow year on year. From book covers to beer cans and jacket labels to the National Theatre and Roald Dahl’s The Witches, the more you look to more of Laurie’s amazing work you see.

And while we’re here, Laurie is a great example of how our mastercraftspeople, experts, chefs and speakers join in at Summer Camp, alongside you.

Laurie can regularly be found at one of .hasegawa.creative’s mesmerising fly tying workshops, and then beside him late into the evening as he spins rare French vinyl.

What we’re trying to say is that Summer Camp is a community.

It’s a beautiful thing to be a part of for a long weekend, in a truly special place.

📸 .finniigan

Address

Hawarden Estate
Hawarden
CH53FB

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Good Life Society posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to The Good Life Society:

Videos

Share

Our Story

THE GOOD LIFE EXPERIENCE 29 APRIL - 2 MAY 2021 HAWARDEN ESTATE, FLINTSHIRE A festival of discovery and adventure.

Now in its seventh year, The Good Life Experience on the Hawarden Estate, Flintshire is absolutely unique. Founded by four friends –Cerys Matthews MBE, Steve Abbott and Charlie and Caroline Gladstone- if it fits in with their idea of The Good Life, it features at the festival. Expect to pitch your tent in the shadow of two castles, great locally produced food, axe throwing, foraging, campfire cooking, mass sing-a-longs, over 40 expert craftspeople, comedy, beer served by experts, talks by explorers, a canine circus, raucous music, abseiling, a free 1930s fairground, tree climbing, butchery displays, poetry, literature and endless How To… talks. And everything is aimed at adults and children alike; there aren’t many festivals that truly do that. 29 APRIL - 2 MAY 2021 Tickets on sale now. Dogs welcome. 15 minutes from Chester.

Come & explore: www.thegoodlifeexperience.co.uk


Other Performance & Event Venues in Hawarden

Show All