Away from the pace of the office and the demands of a busy schedule, there is space to think more clearly, reconnect with colleagues and enjoy conversations that aren’t dictated by the next meeting in the diary. As more organisations place greater emphasis on wellbeing, many are recognising the benefits of retreats that give their people the opportunity to recharge and return with a fresh perspective.

Wormsley has always been a place that lends itself naturally to exactly that. Nestled within the Chiltern Hills, our estate’s ancient woodland, rolling parkland and peaceful surroundings create an atmosphere that feels a world away from everyday life. Calm doesn’t need to be created here – it’s simply part of Wormsley.

For organisations planning a corporate retreat or wellbeing experience, that sense of peace and space makes all the difference. Removed from the distractions of the workplace, conversations become less hurried, ideas have room to develop, and teams connect in ways that are often far more difficult to achieve in an office.

The beauty of wellness at Wormsley is that it doesn’t need to be highly structured. The estate itself invites you to unwind. Ancient woodland, open parkland, quiet lakeside walks and far-reaching views naturally encourage a gentler pace and a deeper connection with the surrounding countryside.

Beneath our centuries-old canopy of trees, the Japanese practice of forest bathing feels entirely at home. It’s not about reaching a destination, but about becoming fully present in the natural world – listening to birdsong, breathing in the woodland air, watching sunlight dance through the leaves and feeling the woodland floor beneath your feet. Even a short time spent among the trees can restore a sense of calm, sharpen your focus and remind you of the simple pleasure of being present.

Beyond the woodland, the lake and Deer Park offer countless opportunities to switch off for a while and simply enjoy time outdoors. Yet perhaps the estate’s greatest luxury is its silence.

Finding places where nothing competes for your attention has become increasingly rare. At Wormsley, quiet is part of the experience, whether you’re walking beneath the trees, gazing across the parkland or sitting beside the lake with nowhere else to be.

Wellness here isn’t defined by a programme of activities. It’s woven into the estate itself – into the landscape, the fresh country air and the feeling of having both the time and the space to breathe. Leadership sessions, strategic discussions and team workshops sit comfortably alongside walks through the grounds, allowing the surroundings to become an integral part of the day rather than simply its setting.

For organisations investing in the wellbeing of their people, that balance between purposeful work and genuine restoration has never felt more valuable. And Wormsley offers a place where people can reconnect with one another and rediscover the clarity that often comes from time spent outdoors.

In a world that rarely stands still, isn’t taking the time to pause one of life’s greatest luxuries?

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Beekeeping is less about managing bees and more about understanding them. For most of the year, our little colony simply gets on with the job it has evolved to do. The beekeeper’s role is to keep an eye on the hive, step in when needed and create the best possible conditions for the colony to thrive.

From spring through to late summer, our honeybees are at their busiest! What starts off as a little colony of less than 10,000 can reach up to 50,000 – 80,000 bees during this peak season. Every day, our bees leave the hive in search of nectar and pollen, travelling across the estate and pollinating the trees, wildflowers and plants that help make Wormsley such a rich and diverse landscape.

While the honey and beeswax they produce are wonderful by-products of beekeeping, their role as pollinators is every bit as important. A healthy colony can visit millions of flowers in a single day, supporting biodiversity across the estate and helping many of the plants we enjoy to flourish.

Despite the activity around the hive, honeybees are remarkably self-sufficient. During the spring and summer months, our beekeeper, Paul, usually inspects each hive just once a week, checking that the colony is healthy and has everything it needs to flourish.

Inside the hive

A routine hive inspection usually takes between 10 and 20 minutes. Before opening the hive, Paul puts on protective clothing and lights a smoker, which produces cool smoke to help keep the bees calm while they’re being inspected.

The hive is opened carefully, and each frame is removed one at a time. As well as looking for signs of a healthy colony, Paul checks food stores, looks for signs of disease or pests, and makes sure the bees have enough space as the colony grows. Once the inspection is complete, the hive is gently closed again, taking care not to trap any bees.

Rather than searching for the queen to check on her – she’s very important! – Paul usually looks for freshly laid eggs and young larvae. Their presence is a reassuring sign that she’s healthy and laying well.

Keeping the colony healthy

Like any living community, a bee colony can face challenges. One of the biggest threats is the Varroa mite, a tiny parasite that can weaken bees and spread disease throughout the hive.

Regular inspections help identify any problems early, giving our colony the best chance of remaining healthy throughout the season.

Paul also keeps an eye on the colony’s food stores, particularly after prolonged spells of poor weather when there may be fewer opportunities for the bees to forage. Making sure they have enough honey and pollen is an important part of helping them all stay strong.

Preventing swarms

Another reason for inspecting hives during spring and early summer is to look for queen cells. These larger, peanut-shaped wax cells suggest the colony may be preparing to raise a new queen.

This often means the existing queen is preparing to leave the hive with around half the worker bees to establish a new colony elsewhere. Swarming is a completely natural part of a honeybee’s lifecycle, but it reduces the size of the colony and can affect honey production.

If queen cells are found, Paul may decide to divide the colony into two smaller hives, helping to manage the swarm while keeping both colonies healthy.

Over the summer months, as the colony grows, additional hive boxes, known as supers, are also added above the brood box, giving the bees plenty of room to store honey and continue expanding throughout the season.

Turning nectar to honey

For the honeybees to turn the nectar to honey, the bees need to lower the water content to less than 18%.  To do this the bees add enzymes to break down the sugars, pass the nectar by mouth to mouth and fan their wings rapidly. When the honey is ready bees cap the honeycomb with bees wax which they secrete from the wax gland on their abdomen which hardens when in contact with air.

Harvesting the honey

When the honey-filled frames are ready, they can be harvested. Bee welfare always comes first for us, so enough honey is left in every hive to ensure the colony has the food it needs before any surplus is collected.

For Paul, one of the most rewarding parts of beekeeping is about helping healthy colonies thrive and supporting the landscape around them.

By caring for the bees, we’re helping to protect the rich variety of wildflowers, trees and wildlife that make Wormsley so special. It’s a small but important part of looking after the estate, ensuring that both the bees and the landscape continue to flourish for years to come.

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Yet long before the story reached the silver screen, it lived in beautifully crafted books -works of art in their own right, that celebrated not only Homer’s words but the enduring power of print.

Within the Library at Wormsley is one such treasure: a magnificent seventeenth-century edition of Homer’s epics, translated and illustrated by the celebrated cartographer, printer and publisher John Ogilby.

Published in London in 1660 (The Iliads) and 1669 (The Odysses), Ogilby’s editions were among the most ambitious illustrated books of their age. Richly engraved with dramatic scenes from the ancient world, they transformed Homer’s stories into a visual experience, inviting readers to journey alongside Achilles, Hector and Odysseus through both words and images.

For seventeenth-century readers, these volumes represented something extraordinary, since printing on such a lavish scale required exceptional craftsmanship. Ogilby’s translations would have helped make the classics more accessible, reflecting the growing appetite for literature, exploration and learning at that time.

Today, they remain remarkable not only for their literary significance but also for their artistry. Every exquisite illustration captures moments of drama and mythology that continue to resonate centuries later, reminding us that storytelling has always been as much about imagination as it is about language.

Christopher Nolan’s adaptation – already receiving rave reviews – demonstrates that Homer’s themes remain as compelling now as they were in antiquity: courage, resilience, identity, loyalty and the long journey home. Every generation finds new meaning in these ancient poems, retelling them through the lens of its own time.

At Wormsley, however, these stories are preserved in a form that invites a different kind of reflection. Turning the pages of a seventeenth-century Homer is to experience not only the words of an ancient poet but the history of the book itself – an object created with extraordinary care, intended to endure for generations.

As audiences discover The Odyssey in cinemas this summer, we’re reminded that every modern retelling begins with a story that has travelled through centuries of readers, printers, collectors and custodians. It is a journey almost as remarkable as Odysseus’ own.

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This week, as the world marks the 462nd birthday of William Shakespeare, we celebrate with one of the most captivating items in the Wormsley Library collection.

This exquisite collection of engraved illustrations for John Bell’s edition of Shakespeare’s plays (London, 1775) resides in the Wormsley Library, lovingly preserved for future generations. Highlights are these two portraits of Shakespeare and 71 illustrations of actors, such as David Garrick in performances of Shakespeare’s plays. The handsome red morocco binding with gilt neo-classical anthemion and palmette tooling is by Samuel Christian Kalthoeber, a German emigré, the master of that style in late 18th-Century England.

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