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Nestled in the picturesque Scottish Borders, the Canonbie Christian Retreat Centre offers a sanctuary for those seeking spiritual renewal, connection with God and an escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Our retreat centre is surrounded by beautiful landscapes, rolling hills, and attractive gardens.
The centre is made up of Byreburnfoot House, two luxury cottages and several quiet secluded outdoor spaces for you to enjoy, with views over the River Esk and the surrounding countryside.
The natural beauty of the area provides the perfect backdrop for visitors with a variety of purposes including prayer retreats, small group or family holidays, leadership away days, small conferences and so much more.
Our own journey to becoming Canonbie Christian Retreat Centre
We often hear God’s direction for our lives when we take time to stop. Be that by going away, spending time praying with friends or creating space within our daily routine.
Our own journey to setting up the Canonbie Christian Retreat Centre came about by hearing the Lord through prayer, as did our move to Scotland, though not in the most conventional way.
In our last article we cited Covid and our inability to meet with friends who’d travelled north with us, as the primary reason for setting out for Scotland, but I didn’t fully share how the Lord’s hand had been at work in that decision in a specific and remarkable way.
Whilst in the Dales, I discovered that I may have ‘Reiver’ ancestry. Reivers were warring clans on both sides of the Scottish/English border back in the 14th to 16th centuries. They murdered, raped and stole cattle, so much so that in 1525 the Bishop of Glasgow issued a written curse against them and their offspring. You can read the curse on the Cursing Stone near Carlisle Castle. You can also tramp across the surnames of the major Reiver clans etched in the path including ‘Taylor’ and ‘Tailor’. These two clans were in Cumbria and Northumberland.
On hearing that people were finding release through prayer after breaking the curse off their families, Julie and I visited a Christian couple with Reiver history to pray. We met in the chapel of Rose Castle, the former home of the Bishop of Carlisle, and as we prayed we were given a prophetic word that we would ‘take flight in a hot air balloon and resettle in Rheged’. We later discovered that Rheged was an ancient kingdom covering Cumbria and some parts of south-west Scotland.
This was the first indication we had that the Lord intended to move us on from the Dales.
When we made the decision to move however, it was Covid and not the prophecy concerning Rheged that was uppermost in our minds. And so it was that as we were about to sign the contract on a property in Northumberland, the Lord stepped in and closed the door. It was only later when we arrived in Canonbie, in what was once ancient Rheged and steeped in Reiver history, that we realised that the Lord had orchestrated the eventual location to coincide with the word he’d given!
Upon arriving in Canonbie, we also discovered that it was the site of a medieval Augustinian Priory. While evil had been sown into the land by the Reivers, so too had Christian love and service, since monasteries provided teaching, refuge, shelter and places for Christians to gather with purpose. And so, the Lord also spoke to us about sowing spiritual fruit back into the land, the result of which was the opening of Canonbie Christian Retreat Centre!
At times we may think our motives for some of life’s big changes are largely pragmatic, but it’s only when we stop to reflect, pray and hear from God that we might realise God is orchestrating our steps far more intricately than we knew.
You can read the full story about our journey to Canonbie here.
Why not come and visit us – we’d love to welcome you.
