All you have to do is turn up. A beautiful country house, every detail arranged, and a group picked so it works from the moment you arrive. Places are limited, so it's an application rather than a booking.
Someone found a cottage, everyone piled in, and you came home with stories you still tell.
Somewhere along the way those weekends got harder to come by. It isn't you. It's just what happens. Diaries got complicated, people moved, and whoever used to organise everything quietly stopped.
So we're doing it for you. One beautiful house, one long weekend, and a group of sixteen chosen so that it works. You don't have to find anywhere, organise anyone, or plan a single thing. You turn up, and the weekend is already there waiting.
You arrive with a bag. Every other part of it is handled long before you get there.
A fire already lit, a drink in your hand before you've even found your room. No name badges and no icebreakers. You'll have heard a little about everyone before you arrive, and them about you, so the first evening feels like carrying on rather than starting.
A beautiful walk through proper countryside, at the speed of the group rather than the fastest person in it. Back by mid-afternoon, with the rest of the day entirely yours.
Dinner that nobody's in a hurry to leave, at one table, all sixteen of you. This is the part people will still be talking about in a year, which is why we take such care over who's around it.
We run the weekend, so there is always something happening: a long lunch, the spa, and a few conversations we set up so everyone gets past the small talk. None of it is compulsory. Spending an afternoon asleep by the fire with a book is a perfectly good way to use it.
A private country house a couple of miles outside Skipton, with the fells rising up behind it and walks that begin at the front door. We take the whole place over, so it's just our sixteen and nobody else.
Easier to reach than you'd think, too. Ten minutes from Skipton station, and Skipton is well under forty minutes by train from Leeds.
from Skipton station, door to door
by train from Leeds
from Manchester by road
from London King's Cross, one change
Leeds Bradford Airport is 24 miles away and Manchester Airport 55. If you'd rather not drive, tell us on your application and we'll sort a lift from the station.
Because with sixteen of us in one house for three days, the group is the whole thing. Get that right and the rest of the weekend looks after itself.
Everyone here is over 45 and in roughly the same chapter. Nobody is the odd one out by twenty years.
We go further here than we do for a dinner, because three days together deserves it. The questions on your application are what we use to decide who you'll be sitting next to.
We build the sixteen as a whole, looking at how everyone sits together rather than at any application on its own.
We read every application ourselves. If this weekend isn't the right fit, you go to the front of the queue for the next one.
Three nights, Friday to Monday. Your own room, every meal, the walks and all the activities. There is nothing else to pay for once you're there.
Nothing to pay to apply. You only pay once you have a place and you've seen exactly what you're saying yes to.
No sharing and no single supplement.
Long dinners, slow breakfasts, lunch on the walk.
Taken over by our group alone.
Planned, optional, never compulsory.
Built into the weekend, not sold as an extra.
Matched by us, looked after all weekend.
This is our first weekend away, so here is exactly how it works and exactly what protects you.
people have signed up to PLY
matching members into small groups across the UK
places, one house, taken over entirely by us
You only pay once you've been offered a place, seen the house, and know exactly who is hosting.
In the unlikely event anything stops the weekend going ahead, you're refunded in full, straight away.
Your room, every meal, the walks and the activities are all in. No single supplement and no extras appearing later.
Someone from PLY is there from the moment you arrive until the moment you leave. You're never left to work it out yourself.
A door you can close, whenever you want to close it. Sharing is never assumed and never required.
I read every application myself, and you'll hear back from me either way. If you have a question first, just reply to the email this came from.
Nobody will know anybody, and that's rather the point. Everyone arrives in exactly the same position, which takes the pressure off far more than turning up to a group where people already have history. We also tell you a little about who's coming before you arrive, so no one walks in cold.
That's precisely why we match rather than sell tickets. Everyone is over 45 and in a similar chapter, and we build the sixteen for balance. In practice a group that size gives you plenty of people to gravitate towards, and your own room means you can always take an hour to yourself.
Not remotely. The walks are optional and gentle, and plenty of people will spend that time in the spa, by the fire or asleep with a book. Nothing on the weekend is compulsory.
Applying is free and commits you to nothing. If you're offered a place we'll send you the full details, the house, the dates and who's hosting, and only then do you decide. Full cancellation terms come with that offer, before any money changes hands.
Yes. Say so on your application and we'll consider you both together and put you in the same weekend.
Almost everyone is, and most people say so on their application. That's normal and it's welcome. It's a house in the countryside with good food and no agenda, not an assault course, and there's always somebody from PLY around to make the introductions for you.
Applications close Sunday 31 August. Nothing to pay, and no commitment until you've been offered a place and seen the house.
This is what we actually use to build the group, so answer it like a person rather than a form.
We'll read it properly, put the group together after applications close on 31 August, and come back to you either way. If you're in, you'll be the first to see the house and the first to pick your room.
Karen
Founder, PLY
This is the first one we've ever done, which makes the sixteen who come along rather important. If you've read this far and something in you said yes, put your name in. We would love you to join us.
Karen
Founder, PLY
P.S. Tempted but the price, the timing or anything else feels off? Say so in the last box. I read every one, and it genuinely shapes what we do next.