A Taste of Things to Come at Chapel House

Sea swims, supper in Newlyn and a morning of ferments in Penzance, ahead of a three-day fermentation and wellness retreat next March.

Words and photographs by Lulu Townsend

I spent the first weekend of October in Penzance as a guest of Chapel House, a Grade II-listed Georgian townhouse on one of the oldest streets in town. The weekend was a preview of the Fermentation & Wellness Retreat the house is hosting with the Newlyn Fermentary in March 2027, and it followed the same shape: swimming in the sea, eating very well, and learning how a handful of everyday ferments are made.

Into the sea

We swam before breakfast. The first morning we went in off the rocks below the promenade, with the town still half asleep across the bay and a dryrobe waiting on the steps. October water is colder than it looks and kinder than you expect, and getting in was easier than getting out. The second swim was further west, in a tidal pool tucked among the boulders of a small cove, with fishing boats pulled up on the slipway and the sun burning through a mackerel sky. We sat on the rocks afterwards with flasks of tea, nobody in a hurry to put their shoes back on.

Favorita, Newlyn

On Friday night we walked along to Newlyn for dinner at Favorita, which opened this year. It is a small room behind lace café curtains, with yellow tables, wood panelling, framed photographs and a menu printed fresh each day. We started with gildas, the Basque pintxo of olive, anchovy and pickled guindilla on a pin, then pickled sardines with chard and pine nuts, fava bean purée with samphire and pickled kumquat, flatbread straight from the pan, and figs with dukkah and Ele cheese. It felt like a neighbourhood place that already knows what it's doing. If you come down for the retreat, book a table for the night before.

Room 4

Chapel House is on the 50 Best Boutique Hotels list, but it feels more like a private home than a hotel: art-filled rooms, walled gardens and nobody hovering. I had Room 4 for both nights. It sits high in the house under a skylight: a low oak platform bed against a turquoise glass headboard, a glass-walled shower behind it, and an arched window looking over slate rooftops and the garden to the sea.

Both mornings I woke early and sat in the window before the swim. The Fermentary's new programme was waiting on the bedside table.

At the table

Breakfast at Chapel House is reason enough to book. It is served at a long wooden table in the kitchen, on speckled stoneware with striped linen napkins, little jars of Chapel House preserves and dahlias in blue glass bottles. Nobody rushes you, so we didn't rush. On Saturday evening we came back to the same table for supper: fish under a crust of dill, spiced rice with lentils and crisp onions, a slow tomato and aubergine stew, and a slice of dark baked cheesecake with raspberries and cream to finish.

A morning of ferments

Rachel Booth runs the Newlyn Fermentary, and on Saturday morning she set up in the kitchen to show us what she makes. First came water kefir lemonade, bright and barely sweet, with knobs of fresh ginger on the board beside the bottles. Then tepache, a Mexican ferment made from pineapple, bottled a couple of days earlier and fizzing hard when she cracked the cap. She poured it into etched coupes and talked us through how little you need to start: a jar, some fruit, sugar and patience. I came home with a brown paper bag and a list of things to try.

Next March

Everything above was a preview. From 19 to 21 March 2027, Rachel and her Newlyn Fermentary team will be staying at Chapel House for the whole weekend. They'll run two fermentation workshops and cook seven meals with River Cottage's Rachel de Thample. You get all the comforts of the house, and you go home knowing how to make your own ferments.

The workshops cover sauerkraut, kimchi, brined vegetables, water kefir, kombucha and kvass, and how to use them in simple everyday cooking.

Rachel Booth, founder of the Newlyn Fermentary said “This retreat is about slowing down and connecting with simple ancestral practices that support long term wellbeing. Fermentation is both nourishing and grounding, and when combined with beautiful food, wild swimming, heat and rest, it becomes a powerful way to care for ourselves. Collaborating with Rachel de Thample and the team at Chapel House allows us to share these practices in a setting that truly supports deep restoration.”

There's plenty of time between the workshops to do very little. Sunrise swims, herbal sauna sessions, coastal walks and breathwork are all on offer, and all optional. Rachel Llorente, the house's own therapist, also gives massages.

You can arrive from 3pm on Friday 19 March, when the sauna will already be warm. There's a welcome drink and a light supper, then an informal introduction to the weekend.

Saturday starts with a sunrise swim and sauna. They're optional, but having swum there myself, I'd go. After a gut-friendly breakfast there's a two-hour fermentation workshop, then a light lunch, and in the evening a four-course fermented tasting menu.

Sunday follows the same pattern and ends with a big sharing feast. Both afternoons are yours: sleep, sit in the sauna, walk, swim, or keep to yourself.

All meals and soft drinks are included. Because the food is built around ferments, you'll eat at least three ferments a day and at least 30 different plants, often in a single meal.

The learning and culinary experiences

It's a few days away from everyday life, to rest properly and look after yourself, in body and mind.

Details

The Fermentation & Wellness Retreat runs from 19 to 21 March 2027 at Chapel House, Penzance. From £1,000pp (double room) / £1,250 (single). Book at chapelhousepz.co.uk/events/fermentary-wellness-retreat-march-2027