Walsingham House at Abbotswick has served as a house of prayer for more than thirty years. The facilities have recently been fully refurbished – and the photographs scrolling on your screen show you the wonderful rooms we have here, along with the newly created chapel built into the two hundred year old garden wall: a haven of prayerful tranquility. We enjoy fourteen acres of glorious grounds, full of natural beauty.

We are a Catholic retreat house, with a young adult residential team who can offer retreats for young people: we warmly welcome Confirmation and School groups for residential or day retreats, and Parish adult groups for day retreats. We can also offer conference and training facilities. Individuals can visit our grounds and chapel at any time. On these web pages, you will find all the information you need to bring a group to Walsingham House at Abbotswick, or to visit as an individual.

Walsingham House began in Chingford more than thirty years ago; from 1995-2017 the home of Walsingham House was the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Canvey Island. We are very grateful to the Sisters for their generosity throughout that period.

Abbotswick was founded as a House of Prayer by Sr Agatha in 1987; from 2004-2017 it was run by the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham (COLW).

In 2017, when COLW moved to the Shrine of Walsingham, in Norfolk, the heritage of Walsingham House was fused with the heritage of Abbotswick and – with the extensive refurbishment complete – the house reopened again in January 2018, as “Walsingham House at Abbotswick.”

You are very welcome to visit, at any time, to see the house for yourself; we are delighted with the refurbishment, and would be very happy to show you around.

The Walsingham House retreat team offer retreats for school groups from Year 5 to Year 13, and parish Confirmation groups. It is wonderful if young people can come on retreat to Walsingham House at Abbotswick, and enjoy the facilities here, and we particularly commend residential retreats to you. We are also able to travel to schools and parishes if that helps you, to run day retreats in a suitable hall.

During Saturdays and Sundays in June, July and September we welcome parish adult groups; the house is ideal for groups of Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist or parish readers, for a day of retreat, reflection, recollection or training. Our main room and the new chapel can both comfortably take fifty people – the size of a coach, and a sensible size for people to then enjoy the tranquility of the grounds in times of personal prayer and reflection.

During weekdays, on occasions when the youth team are conducting retreats at a school, we warmly welcome school staff or other groups for INSET, retreat, training or conferences.

The house is a magnificent resource: we do encourage early booking, as we are very often fully booked!

Please telephone or email for any further information, and we will happily help you.

With every blessing

Fr Dominic and the “Walsingham House at Abbotswick” staff and volunteer team