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A Charity Prize Draw for BookTrust | 12 July - 16 Sept 2024

Slightly Foxed x BookTrust Raffle Prize Reading Party

Prize 2 of 20: The Reading Party | A 4-Night Luxury Reading Retreat in Cornwall | RRP £825

This prize for our 20th birthday charity Prize Draw in aid of BookTrust is a place on the 4-night Spring 2025 Reading Party at Middle Colenso Farm in Penzance, Cornwall.

The Reading Party Spring 2025 | 6–9 March 2025

Do you dream of getting away from it all and just curling up somewhere quiet with a good book? The Reading Party may be just what you’re looking for. The Reading Party is an opportunity for you to relax and read away from the pressures of everyday life.

We are most grateful to our reader Christen Pears for offering this brilliant prize, which includes:

  • Spring Reading Party | 6–9 March 2025
  • The Reading Party includes four night’s accommodation in a private room in The Granary at Middle Colenso Farm
  • The cottages occupy a quiet rural location where the only significant noise comes from the dawn chorus.
  • You don’t even have to think about cooking. All of your meals will be provided, along with snacks and copious quantities of tea and coffee to fuel your reading.
  • Middle Colenso Farm is located in the far west of Cornwall just a couple of miles from beautiful Prussia Cove and the South West Coast Path. Marazion, Penzance, St Ives and the Land’s End Peninsula are all within easy striking distance by car.
  • There’s no pressure to mix or take part in activities but The Reading Party is an excellent opportunity to connect with fellow booklovers.
  • The three cottages are decorated in a modern-rustic style and filled with mid-century and Scandinavian design. They are nestled in sub-tropical gardens where there are plenty of quiet reading spots as well as a pétanque court and Pilates studio if you’re feeling more energetic.
  • Guests will also have access to the barn, a convivial communal space with a large library and open fire.

From Christen Pears of The Reading Party at Middle Colenso Farm:

I’m Christen, avid reader, former bookseller, collector of vintage Penguin books and owner of Middle Colenso Farm. Like C.S. Lewis, I love nothing more than sitting down for a few hours with a big cup of tea, a good book and no distractions but it’s rare that I manage it. There’s always something to do – an email to answer, a job to finish or a meal to cook. That’s why I created The Reading Party. It’s an opportunity to read away from the demands of home and work.

 

The idea goes back almost 30 years to when I was at university. It was a tradition for the history students at my college to attend a reading party in the Easter vacation before their final exams. We stayed in a beautiful old house in north Cornwall, attended seminars in the morning and evening and spent the rest of the day exploring the surrounding area. It’s lodged in my memory, partly because it was my first proper introduction to Cornwall but also because it was such terrific fun.

 

This Reading Party will be a far more relaxed affair. We will come together at meal times and there will be opportunities for group discussion but the rest of the time you’ll be free to read, explore or just relax in your surroundings. Each of the cottages has its own selection of books and you’ll also have access to the barn, once a semi-derelict outbuilding but now my own little library, complete with open fire and comfortable seating.

 

I will be present throughout the retreat to make sure you have everything you need and facilitate any book chats. Nothing will be compulsory but I will provide you with a reading list featuring some of my favourite books set in Cornwall. Feel free to bring any books you’d like to read or share with the rest of the group.

 

My friend Helen, who is a wonderful cook, will be in charge of the kitchen, rustling up delicious home-cooked breakfasts, lunches and dinners made from fresh, local ingredients. There will be a Cornish cream tea waiting for you in your cottage when you arrive. Snacks and hot and cold drinks will also be provided. Alcohol is BYO.​ Please note that we will be eating together in the dining room of The Old Granary.

 

​I am a fully-qualified Pilates teacher and will be offering classes for those of you who are interested. There is plenty of parking on site but Middle Colenso Farm is six miles from Penzance if you prefer to arrive by train. We can collect you from the station by pre-arrangement.

To find out more about The Reading Party please visit: www.middlecolensofarm.co.uk

About the Prize Draw

This year (2024) the well-loved literary magazine Slightly Foxed is celebrating twenty years in print. When the magazine turned ten in 2014, we celebrated by raising over £5,500 for Great Ormond Street Hospital School with the proceeds from the sales of a little book of famous people’s drawings of foxes. And now, here we are, hoping to mark our twentieth birthday year by raising £20,000 for another good bookish cause: the brilliant BookTrust – the national charity dedicated to getting children reading.

With twenty covetable prizes from our friends and sponsors worth from £100-£1500 on offer. From a four-night luxury reading retreat in Cornwall, a full set of Slightly Foxed issues 1-80, boxed sets of books, a one-off original ‘fox’ by artist Jackie Morris, a two-night stay in a converted railway carriage so beautiful that it’s been featured by World of Interiors, a gardening masterclass in Wales, and many others besides, there’s sure to be something to tempt booklovers all around the world to enter.

Please click here to view all 20 prizes.

• Tickets are available from 1 July to 16 September 2024 • The Prize Draw will be held on 17 September 2024 • Tickets £5 online. Please see tickets page for full T&Cs

From BookTrust

We’re incredibly grateful to Slightly Foxed and their readership for supporting our cause and helping us change lives through reading. We know that reading for pleasure can be both magical and transformative for the lives of children and is something that every child in the UK should experience, no matter their background. Thank you Slightly Foxed!
Diana Gerald MBE, CEO of BookTrust
BookTrust | Getting Children Reading

About BookTrust

BookTrust is the UK’s largest reading charity and they reach millions of children every year with books, resources and support to get every child reading, regularly and by choice.

They are national in scale and operate in every region in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. They work through every local authority, via children’s centres, schools, libraries and health professionals, to reach the families who need them most.

From running the Children’s Laureate to giving out books to families and schools, running exciting reading campaigns or celebrating the very best children’s books with their prizes, everything they do at BookTrust aims to inspire children – from babies to teenagers – to get started on their reading journeys.

From the Slightly Foxed Editors

As anyone for whom reading is not just a pleasure but an essential part of life will know, learning to decode words on a page is very different from becoming a reader. Statistics may show that increasing numbers of our children have learned to read but they do not tell us how many of them will find pleasure in reading for the rest of their lives. This is where the wonderful charity BookTrust comes in and why we, as a magazine dedicated to the joys of reading, are delighted to be linking up with them in our 20th anniversary year.
Gail Pirkis MBE & Hazel Wood MBE

A 20th Birthday Prize Draw in aid of BookTrust

• Tickets are available from 12 July to 16 September 2024
• The Prize Draw will be held on 17 September 2024
• Tickets £5.*
• No limit on number of tickets an individual may purchase
• The Draw is limited to 4,500 tickets in total
• Worldwide entry but overseas friends should note that a number of the Prizes are UK-based trips, stays or tours
• The Draw is at random. Winners may pass a Prize to a friend or pass entirely if they are unable or unwilling to accept it
• Tickets are non-refundable
• All profits to BookTrust

*Available online at www.foxedquarterly.com or by writing to: 20th Birthday Prize Draw, Slightly Foxed Ltd., 53 Hoxton Square, London N1 6PB

The Reading Party | Four-night Retreat ● RRP £825


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