Wellness business owner opens new venture under one roof in Lubenham

Charley Allsop has run Garden Retreat since 2016, having opened the business from a shed in her parents’ garden.

Now, after 10 years in Market Harborough, the mum-of-one has opened Retreat as a collection of complementary businesses under one roof.

The move came after years of running everything by herself, until she eventually burned out and signed off work.

The 33-year-old explained: “We’ve got to remember why we do it in the first place, and it’s because of the freedom. So what’s the point if we don’t have the freedom?”

Charley, who now lives in Husbands Bosworth, decided to buy a building on Main Street and transform it into a place where people can relax, unwind, grab a coffee and have treatments done in one place.

She said: “It just feels like it’s back to where it started and why I loved it in the first place, and a bit more like a community, family-based, lovely space and time.

“It’s almost having the freedom and the ability to run your own business, but in a way where you feel like you’ve got other people side by side.”

The premises are home to Garden Retreat for skin, massage and hair removal services; espresso bar La Place; nail services with Girl Code; Co Beauty for lashes and brow treatments; Bare specialising in aesthetics and semi-permanent makeup, as well as health and fitness help from Dan Brady Coaching.

The new site is still a work in progress, as Charley very openly admitted: “I fully ran out of money.

“I bought a premises, and I’m proud of that. I’m not embarrassed that I’ve run out of money.”

For Charley, making sure she prioritises being a mother has been central to her plans.

She said: “I think the way that I built the Garden Retreat in the early days, and how I invested my money, has given me the ability to have some time off with her, which is really, really important to me.”