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Top: Holy Rood House main buildingAbove: Sowerby with its beautiful church established in the 12th century is just a few minutes walk away from Holy Rood House

Painting of Mary and Jesus in the chapel by artist Lillian Delevoryas

Holy Rood House is a holistic therapeutic centre in Sowerby, near Thirsk. Its patron is the Archbishop

of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and it is run with what director Rev. Elizabeth Baxter describes as ‘a gentle Christian ethos’. The annual Easter Retreat is always popular, and Holy Rood House itself makes a story-book setting for the event.

Inclusiveness is central to the way things are done, and the team at the house welcomes people from any Christian denomination, as well as those from other faiths or of no faith at all. Various themed events and retreats are run throughout the year, but the house is also always open for guests to come and stay as they wish, with professional counselling and complementary therapies available if they are needed.

Homely and full of character, this big Victorian house with its huge walled gardens looks out across Sowerby Flatts towards the Hambleton Hills. Daffodils are out all around, and some will have been picked from the gardens and placed in guests’ rooms. Next door in Thorpe House, which is also a venue for some of the celebrations, a lady called Marjorie Warner once lived with her cherished Pekinese dog, both of whom were made famous by James Herriot in his vet books as the character Mrs Pumphrey with her dog Tricki Woo. Stepping across the threshold of either of the two houses, you certainly have a sense of entering a welcoming home.

Although the setting is ideal and the surrounding countryside beautiful, the guests who come to Holy Rood

Christina Surdhar discovers that Easter holds a special significance at Sowerby’s Holy Rood House

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House are ordinary people with real life problems: stress because of debt, moving house, bullying at work, addictions, children leaving home, or abuse from childhood. The Easter story with its strong message of transformation is one that people can relate to, and it is a useful metaphor to describe the work that goes on at the house all year round. ‘You’ve got Good Friday, which is the cross, pain and suffering,’ Elizabeth, the director of the house, explains. ‘Then you’ve got the Easter Saturday, when Jesus is still in the tomb. And then there’s Easter Sunday when he rises. So a lot of our guests are people who are stuck in the Easter Saturday space.’

She continues: ‘They’ve been through a horrific time, maybe in childhood, and they’re stuck there for all kinds of reasons – guilt, fear, or they just haven’t felt safe enough to begin to get out of that tomb. We use the Easter story to help people see that they’re in the middle of this process and it takes time. You don’t just suddenly get cured. You work at it, and it might take a couple of years of, say, art therapy, but you do see glimpses of Easter Sunday along the way.’

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Art therapy is one of the activities available at Holy Rood House. ‘About 80 to 90 per cent of guests find their way over to the art room,’ therapist Elaine Wisdom says. ‘Art Therapy makes it possible for someone to move forward where words may not be all that helpful on their own and it’s often an image that will help them to find words that are helpful.’ Drama therapy is also useful to many of the guests and weaving is an activity which is often appreciated, particularly by male guests.

Art in all its forms is used a lot at Holy Rood House. Elizabeth points out a painting of Mary with baby Jesus by Lillian Delevoryas in the main chapel, which also illustrates something of what the work at the house is about. The

image is layered and as well as Mary and Jesus we can also see a vase of flowers, symbolising hospitality. ‘What we’re trying to do at Holy Rood House is offer a safe space, and because of that something comes through about love and about the divine,’ Elizabeth says. ‘People who are atheists who come here might see it that love comes through, and people who are religious might want to see it that God comes through and that they meet God here in some way.’

An interesting feature in the art at the house is that images of God and the divine are usually female. ‘We rarely use male images of God because often those male authoritarian images are the kind of images that have actually caused people to feel abused,’ explains Elizabeth. In

the grounds, there is also the Chapel of Sophia. Sophia is a biblical figure often seen as representing the female aspect of the divine, as well as representing wisdom. And in the main chapel, sculptures by Caroline MacKenzie of two women from the parables illustrate the positivity of the approach at the house. One woman is holding a sheep across her shoulders, and another holds a coin. ‘This one’s the story that Jesus told about the lost sheep,’ Elizabeth says, ‘but it’s called the Found Sheep, which is much better. And the other is the woman who lost a coin, and here she’s found it. When you stand by her, you pick up on the stillness. The emphasis is on finding and on hope.’

The central theme of Easter is also one of hope. The team and guests at Holy Rood House have lots of fun throughout the week, going out in the minibus to see the daffodils at Farndale; visiting some of the crosses on the North York Moors; and on Easter Sunday morning, watching the sun rise at Sutton Bank. There’s a big celebratory meal on Sunday and services in the chapel will include music, art and poetry.

‘Easter is the possibility that despite everything, there’s new life,’ Elizabeth says. ‘That’s really what we think it is, and that’s why we think the story’s so wonderful.’

For the Easter Retreat week, April 20th – 26th, full price: £390. Non-residential prices and others are also available.Prices for overnight stays and therapy courses are income dependent.For further information on Holy Rood House: Tel: 01845 522580Email: enquiries@holyroodhouse.org.uk Website:www.holyroodhouse.freeuk.com

Left:James Herriot describes this tiled entrance hall at Thorpe House in his booksBelow left: Guests are able to use the library in Thorpe House with its many books on theologyBelow:The main chapel in Holy Rood House where the Easter services are held

Left:Holy Rood House overlooks the White Horse at Kilburn in the Hambleton Hills