Leadership team · 3 days · 2 nights
A strategy retreat where the phone stops ringing
Three days to take the decisions that never survive a normal week.
Why three days
The decisions that never survive a normal week
Every leadership team has two or three subjects that come back to every meeting and never get settled. They do not get settled because ninety minutes is not enough to reopen a premise, and because everyone is reachable throughout.
Three days change what is possible. The first afternoon puts the real question on the table. The second day is where it gets uncomfortable, which is the point. The third morning is where it turns into decisions with names and dates on them.
What the estate contributes
- Nobody else on site, Monday to Friday, for the whole stay
- Three lounges so a plenary can split and come back together without moving buildings
- 15 beds on site, so the evening is part of the work rather than a drive home
- 5 hectares of grounds for the walks where the sticking points come loose
For a shorter format, see the executive offsite over two days.
A sample schedule
What your strategy retreat looks like
- Day 1 · afternoonArrival, settling in, then the session that sets out the question the three days have to answer.
- Day 1 · eveningDinner, then a free evening in the Dumas lounge: the conversations in twos and threes where decisions ripen.
- Day 2 · morningThe long session. No agenda by the quarter-hour, one subject taken all the way.
- Day 2 · afternoonBreakouts across the three lounges, then a walk in the grounds to let it settle.
- Day 2 · eveningDinner, and the telescope on the lawn if the sky is clear.
- Day 3 · morningArbitration, then what each person owns and by when.
- Day 3 · lunchLunch, and the road back with something written down.
The programme is built with you: timings, breaks and activities follow your objectives.
Night at the estate
When the meetings stop, the estate takes over.
The session ends at six. The stay does not. None of this is on the programme, and it is often what teams remember best.
The lounges
In the evening the day's conversations carry on in the Monet and Dumas lounges, differently.
The stars
The château's telescope comes out onto the lawn. Far from city lights, the Vexin sky does the rest.
The silence
No neighbours, no traffic, no other group. Night here does not sound the way it does in town.
Dawn
A coffee in hand, mist over the grounds and the 250-year-old cedar, before the first session.
They have been here
“We were looking for somewhere that would take the team out of its routine without turning the trip into an expedition. Four days at the estate, with everyone sleeping on site: the evenings did as much as the working sessions.”
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from a residential seminar?
The residential seminar is for a team: cohesion, a kick-off, the start of a year. The retreat brings a leadership team together around decisions of substance, with a slower pace and far fewer items on the agenda. Same estate, different schedule.
When is it worth doing?
Before a fundraise or just after one, after a merger or an acquisition, when a strategy has stopped being shared, or when a leadership team has changed shape and needs to find its way of working.
Will our discussions stay confidential?
The estate is entirely private: no other group and no hotel guests. Documents can stay in the room between sessions, and nobody walks past your flipcharts.
Can we bring in an outside facilitator?
Yes, and many teams do. We can also suggest coaches we have worked with. The facilitation is quoted separately from the stay.
Can you organise activities?
Yes, and on a retreat they are usually light and short: a walk in the grounds, archery, tennis, the pool. The point is to break the session, not to fill the day.
Packages
The other packages
One-day meeting
A day out of time
1 day · 10 to 200 people
A working day out of the office, in the quiet, with the grounds for the breaks.
from170 € excl. VAT per person
Executive offsite
Two days to decide
2 days · 1 night · 6 to 15 people
Away from the office and out of sight, with a bed for everyone on site.
from410 € excl. VAT per person
Residential seminar
Three days to build a team
3 days · 2 nights · 6 to 15 people staying over
Time to work, to meet again in the evening and to leave as a tighter team.
from590 € excl. VAT per person
Company party
An evening that is yours alone
1 evening · up to 200 people
Year-end, a launch or an anniversary: dinner at the Pavillon du Parc.
from120 € excl. VAT per person
Let's talk about your seminar
You deal directly with the estate, with no booking platform and no middleman. Tell us your dates and your headcount and you get a costed proposal within 24 hours.