Here you’ll find all the information you may need for planning and booking your event or retreat dates at Azhen, including:

• Amenity & Accommodation Descriptions

• Quantities

• Location & Maps

• Sliding Scale Pricing

• Catering Options

• What To Bring

• How Other Event Holders Usually Sell Tickets & Use The Space

• What People Say After Being Here

• Contact Info

A bell tent is a circular tent with a post in the middle. It will be sitting on the ground or on a wood platform. It has a queen size bed on one side and a rug and pillows on the other.

It can comfortably sleep 1-2 people.

Unlimited camping and nearly unlimited RV spots wherever folks choose to set up.

*Elements are being upgraded since the photos, the kitchen will be inside one of the containers and the entire area between the containers will be decked to create a large multipurpose / studio space*

The kitchen is a communal style kitchen with long table dining under a chandelier. Everyone loves it. 

It consists of 2 stand up fridges with freezers, a commercial fridge with prep counter, 2 bbqs with side burners, a large flat top griddle, a 3 burner stove, tables/counter space and an island for cutting and prep.

Coffee grinder, commercial coffee percolator, blender, toaster, plates, bowls, cups, cutlery, cutting boards, etc are here for you.

Everything you need in a kitchen. There is power in it so you can bring anything else you may want.

Next to the kitchen there is also a lounge area with a large sectional couch, some additional dining seating, and a large TV hung on the side of the container that can face any direction for presentations.

The dining tables are light and can be easily moved to create a large space for multi-purpose event space.

Below are floor plan examples with average capacities…

Facilitators have several options for studio space for hosting things like yoga, meditation, breathwork, etc:

• The teepee (16 foot diameter)

• Rearranging some furniture and using a wall tent (20x16 feet)

• Using the common area space and moving the dining tables out of the way as mentioned above (30x30 feet)

• Or doing it outdoors in the field, under the trees, or up at the lookout point

The teepee is set up for ceremony and circle. It's 16 feet in diameter. Great for circling up with 10-20 people. There are bins of blankets used to cover the ground and some centrepiece decor.

The toilet house is equipped with an incineration toilet. This is a very modern and comfortable toilet. It is not an outhouse. It works well for 10-15 guests making sure everyone leaves around 10 minutes in between uses. For 15 - 20 people we do have additional options. We’ll be installing more this year.

We have outdoor gravity fed showers only. One in the communal spa area and one at the first wall tent. We do not have indoor showers yet. We’ll be installing more outdoor showers this year, and some indoor.

The only place that has power to plug anything in is the common area (kitchen, lounge, dining, multi-purpose space area). 

This area also has satellite internet by Starlink. It’s very fast, faster than most home wifi networks in the city.

No other area has power to plug things in or wifi. This means that accommodations do not have power to plug things in. Guests must come down to the common area to charge phones, etc. There is space for them to do so there.

The developed area where you will spend most of your time also does not have cell service, but guests can make phone calls over the internet (Facetime, Facetime Audio, etc) near the common area space.

All other areas of the property have cell service, so you can walk up a hill and get full bars. 

This is the way we like it so folks can disconnect from devices and electromagnetic frequencies and reconnect with nature, while still having reasonable and safe access to their phones and communication.

There is a small outdoor gym setup with a squat rack, bench, bar and weights, pull-up rack, kettlebells, ab machine, and a few dumbbells.

This is a wide dirt road that is government maintained year-round.

It is accessible by all vehicle types from a Honda Civic to a truck and trailer.

The driveway is tight for people towing long trailers, but 40 foot trailers, semi’s and other large and long vehicles come in and out on a regular basis.

Guests can park right beside their wall tent or camp site. You will receive a map of the land with site numbers you can pass on to your guests.

If you’re travelling in the winter, between late fall and early spring, we recommend an all-wheel drive vehicle with good snow tires and have tire chains on-hand.

Here is a general map of the developed area with accommodations and amenities:

Here’s a screenshot overview of the entire 160 acre property.

There is a road to the lookout where you’ll find sunrise and sunset views overlooking rolling mountains as far as the eye can see. This is about a 10-15 minute walk from the main area. 

There is no road to the mountain top yet, but you can hike there. You get 360 degree views of everything around us. This is about a 40 minutes hike from the main area.

• Campsites With Tent Platforms: Adding raised tent platforms to gravelled campsites, picnic tables, and string lights

• Additional Accommodations: Adding more wall tents and bell tents 

• Additional Bathroom & Shower Options: New indoor heated showers and additional toilets

• New Spa Amenities: We’d love to do a meditation room, hot tub, and more

We do not have specific dates when certain new additions will be available.

We help you plan your retreat around current and future accommodations in the next section.

There are many options on how you could use the stays and it’s totally up to you, your guests, and what style of event you’re hosting as to how you want to use them. It’s always a bit of a juggling act because every event and guest may have different desires and needs. 

Here’s some thoughts and examples that we’ve seen other event hosts do. You could:

• Use each wall tent as a private stay for 1 person or a couple

• Put up a divider wall to create shared accommodations and…

• Sleep 1 person in each bed for a total of 2 people per tent

• Or sleep couples in each bed for a total of 4 people per tent

• Let a group of friends crash in it however they want and sleep 2 per bed and 1 person on the couch for a total of 5 people

And the bell tent could sleep 1 person, a couple, or two friends.

• Use the divider walls in the wall tents with 2 queen beds and sell 2 tickets per wall tent, advertise this as an event ticket with accommodation included

• If it’s a couple or a pair of friends, they both pay full ticket price and get a private wall tent to themselves

• If it’s 3 or more friends, give them all a small discount and let them all crash in one wall tent with 2 queen beds, a couch, and lots of floor space for another bed

• If an individual wants a private stay, put them in a bell tent, or give them the option to bring a friend and get a private wall tent together

• Everyone else camps or brings their own RV

• Offer accommodation tickets for a higher price, and camping tickets or RV spots for a lower price

Currently We Have… 

3 luxury wall tents, 1 bell tent, and unlimited camping and RV spots. 

This means, if you use the above strategy, you can sell the following tickets for your event:

• 7 accommodation tickets (3 wall tents @ 2 tickets each = 6; plus, 1 bell tent @ 1 ticket = a total of 7)

• Unlimited camping tickets (and RV spots)

Tell your camping guests that there will probably be an opportunity to upgrade to an accommodation stay because we are building more.

The average number of guests and ticket prices for a retreat or workshop are:

• 8-20 guests

• $600-$2000 per ticket

Retreat Example:

• 15 guests

• 7 accommodation tickets @ $1000/ticket = $7000

• 8 camping/RV tickets @700/ticket = $5,600

• Total ticket sales = $12,600

Soon We Will Have…

With new additions we hope to have ready by the end of May (no promises), we’ll have 5 luxury wall tents, 2 bell tents, and unlimited camping and RV spots.

This means, if you use the above strategy, more of your campers can upgrade to accommodation tickets if and when we confirm that the new accommodations are available, for a total of:

• 12 accommodation tickets (5 wall tents @ 2 tickets each = 10 plus, 2 bell tents @ 1 ticket each = 2; for a total of 12)

• Unlimited camping tickets (and RV spots)

Retreat Example:

• 15 guests

• 12 accommodation tickets @ $1000/ticket = $12,000

• 3 camping/RV tickets @700/ticket = $2000

• Total ticket sales = $15,000

If you have special requests and need more accommodations we’re open to discussing options to make that happen.

There are three tiers of payment.

They are as follows… 

Rebalancing - This is for those with more than enough financial resources and a desire to support access for other hosts who are just getting started and help rebalance the systemic inequity. 

Fair - For those with sufficient financial resources who can pay fair value for their attendees' experience. 

Supported - For those with currently limited financial resources who will benefit from access supplemented by the community.

What does this mean? How do you choose?

If you’re doing very well financially, you could choose the Rebalancing payment tier. It costs more money and helps those who are struggling financially.

If you’re struggling financially, you could choose the Supported payment tier. It costs less money and is designed to support you and your attendees so you can still have access to this space at a more affordable rate.

If you’re somewhere in the middle, choose the Fair payment tier.

This helps make it accessible for everyone, regardless of what stage one may be at in their journey.

The financial systems are not fair to everyone. This helps balance that out in a kind communal way.

You get to choose your own tier. It’s an honour system.

Add Extra Nights:

If you want to add nights on for a 3 night rental or more we will do that for an extra $1000 per night. 

A common 3 night option is to arrive Thursday evening, depart Sunday afternoon and get those full days on Friday and Saturday.

Week-long and other long-term rental options are available.

Additional Help:

For these prices we’ll be there to help get you sorted when you arrive and provide detailed instructions for everything needed.

After that you manage everything including set up and take down, lighting fires in the stoves and operating the saunas, preparing ice baths, directing guests to their accommodations, helping with dishes, etc. 

Sometimes it is too much work for a single facilitator to do while also hosting their retreat. We recommend bringing a co-facilitator or a guest to help. 

We can also take care of all of it and help things run smoothly to let you focus on holding space, for an additional $500 for a one night event or $1000 for a weekend event. 

Or if you simply need the help and can’t find anyone let us know and we’ll do our best to be there for you. We’re lenient and want to be here to help. It’s just that we work hard all week and if we work every weekend too we get burnt out.

We can help market your retreat or event to bring in ticket sales and offer your experience to our audience, if it aligns with our audience.

We sell out all the tickets to our own retreats and events on a regular basis, so depending on how desired your retreat is, we could potentially sell all your tickets. 

The usual results we see is we sell 50% or more of your available tickets for a 15-20 person retreat. 

We can work with you to help gauge how our audience will respond to your offer and if it’s worthwhile for you. 

What You Get For Marketing:

• 5 Instagram story posts

  • Tagging you

  • Call to action of your choice

• 1 Instagram feed post

  • Usually a photo with text overlay where folks can find info about your retreat in the caption

  • Tagging you

  • Call to action of your choice

• 1 dedicated email blast

  • Links of your choice

  • Call to action of your choice

• 1 reminder email newsletter

  • Links of your choice

  • Call to action of your choice

• 1 dedicated page on our website

  • Links of your choice

  • Call to action of your choice 

• 1 dedicated link in our Linktree on social media

• General marketing tips, tricks and advice as to what we see is most effective and where to find more clients

How Much It Costs:

We would love to offer this for free but this takes a considerable amount of time to… 

• Create social media posts

• Post stories and feed posts

• Write sales emails

• Respond to emails and social media messages

• Write and create a web page for your retreat on our website

So to respect our time we have to have some sort of exchange. 

Our marketing package that includes everything above is $1000.

Which is pretty good, considering we usually sell 5-20x that in ticket sales. 

And you get to keep the new clients, social following, and emails that you gather from the campaign indefinitely. 

None of the above prices include food. Those are base rental costs.

Catering Costs:

Standard catering costs for events are $30 per person per meal. 

So say you had 15 guests for 2 nights. And fed them dinner on Friday; breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday; and breakfast on Sunday… 

You’re looking at 15 guests x 5 meals x $30 = $2250 

Food & Philosophy:

Our philosophy is wholefood, beyond organic, and as local as possible. 

We work with local farms, where we personally know the owners and growers, that are usually located within a 50km radius of us in our community. We will also be growing some of our own produce this year. 

For any fish that we source we aim to work with friends and family that catch it themselves. For any meat that we source we aim to use grass fed, hormone-free, and as high quality as possible from a local regenerative farm.

We link caterers up with our suppliers whether you bring your own or choose from our list.

Conscious Caterers:

Sign up on this page with your email and you’ll receive our catering options for you to connect with, or you can do your own food. 

All catering partners are conscious, aligned caterers.

Here is an example revenue and cost breakdown for hosting a 15 person weekend retreat with no add-ons.

Ticket Sales:

• 15 guests

• 7 accommodation tickets @ $1000/ticket = $7000

• 8 camping/RV tickets @700/ticket = $5,600

• Total ticket sales = $12,600

Main Costs:

• 2 night weekend rental @ fair access rate = $3500

• Catering for 15 guests x 5 meals x $30 = $2250 

• Firewood 15 bundles x $7/bundle = $100

• Total costs = $5850

Your Profit:

• $12,600 - $5850 = $6750

• After the new accommodations are built and you can upgrade more campers to accommodation tickets your profit would = $9150

The most common add-ons are marketing and hands-on help during your retreat for things like starting fires, helping guests, and ensuring things go smoothly. If you added those things…

Costs:

• All the regular costs listed in the above example, plus… 

• Marketing bundle = $1000

• Hands-on help for a 2-night or weekend event = $1000

Your Profit:

• $12,600 - $7850 = $4750

• After the new accommodations are built and you can upgrade more campers to accommodation tickets your profit would = $7150

So still a great profit, and makes things considerably easier for you.

50% deposit to secure your dates.

Deposit is only refundable if someone takes your spot, minus any transaction fees. This also applies to Airbnb, if you cancel, whatever Airbnb revenue we get during that weekend we’ll send back to you, minus any fees and costs. 

Remaining 50% is due 30 days prior to your event. This is non refundable. 

There is a $500 damage deposit.

We recommend you pass the same refund policy on to your attendees to ensure you’re covered. 

If something doesn’t work out and the dates have to be moved or the event has to be cancelled we will do our best to accommodate your needs in a good and fair way.

If you don’t have the money upfront and you’d like to choose open dates to hold your event, we can do a “soft reserve” so you can sell tickets to your event to help cover the deposit payment.

If someone else wants these dates and is ready to pay the deposit in full we will notify you and give you the first opportunity to get your 50% deposit in or at least some form of payment (we are lenient and can work out a custom payment plan). 

The Basics:

• Propane for all cooking appliances and propane fire pits

• Coffee and tea

• Assortment of spices

• Condiments (nut milk, oat milk, honey, maple syrup, salt, pepper, cooking oil, etc)

• Extra firewood if needed, but please bring your own

• High speed internet

Guest Communication:

We will provide you with an example “info sheet” that we hand out to guests when they book a retreat with us that includes address, directions, what to bring, arrival and departure times, etc. You can use that and edit it as you wish.

Possible Additions:

• Tours of the land including education on permaculture, native plants, holistic land management, natural building, Indigenous culture and community

• Whatever else you can think of, we’re happy to collaborate, recommend facilitators, etc

Guests To-Bring List:

• Firewood (2 bundles per night if they have a wall tent and if it’s spring or fall / if they want to use their wood stove)

• Flashlights

• Slip-on shoes are nice for the spa

• Lighters / matches

• Fire starters

• Towel

• Bathing suits (optional)

• Yoga mat (if applicable to your event) (we do have 5+ extra on hand)

• Warm blankets and/or sleeping bags (extra blankets are always recommended)

• Warm clothes (it does cool off at night, we are at a high elevation)

• If you can ask your guests to bring their own bedding (sheets, blankets, pillows/pillowcases) for a queen size bed that helps us a lot as we’re off-grid and doing laundry is difficult. We do have all the bedding though if you want your event to be more inclusive, so this is not a necessity, it just helps us out.

• Offerings (see below) 

Facilitators To-Bring List:

• All of the above for personal use

• Speaker for music

• Extra firewood (3 bundles per night for sauna fires and extra for guests)

• Any additional decor that you might want such as centrepiece decor, candles, etc if you’re gathering in circle or ceremony

It is a custom in Indigenous culture that when meeting Elders, gathering in circle, or being hosted by someone to bring an offering. Please send this to your guests as well. It is optional, but also for cultural educational purposes. 

Example Offerings For Elders:

Sage, loose tobacco (for ceremony), sweetgrass, organic coffee, quality chocolate (Elder Vern loves chocolate) or homemade treat, something from your alter, a special feather, crystals or precious stones, beads or mementos (often used for dream catchers, etc), or any appropriate small gift that you bring with good intention. If you would like feedback on your offering please let me know.

Offerings NOT to bring for Elders: Please do not bring any kind of state-altering substance like alcohol, weed, etc.

Elders do not live here. Offerings for Elders are specifically for retreats that have Elders attending.

Offerings For The Land:

Offerings for the land can be given to the stewards of the land, and as we are not Elders your offering can be a bit more broad. It could be any of the above, as we do use sage and other plants to burn in ceremony and smudging, but it could also be anything from food from your garden, to a book that you love and want to offer to the communal library, or anything you think that might be beneficial to the land with good intention. We are also happy without offerings, this is up to you. 

What If I Can’t Afford Offerings?

Offerings do not have to be purchased. In fact the best offerings aren’t, and it is usually a more meaningful gesture if they aren’t. However we know in the modern age and for those who are new to this type of thing it can be hard to find something, and sometimes it may take time or money, so if you truly can’t make it happen that is okay. Come be in community with a good heart, that’s what is most important.