For founders, heads of people, creative directors
A Slow-Living Offsite for Teams Who Make Things
A 1920s farm, fifteen minutes from Zwolle, an hour and a quarter from Schiphol. Bring the team — leave the laptops shut for the parts that matter.
In short
Strategy days that don’t feel like meeting rooms.
Sauna, fire circle, and a kitchen built for long dinners. Logistics handled — including the train from Schiphol.
A venue, not a corporate event space
No conference badges, no laser-tag package, no hotel banquet hall. The Hay House barn becomes your strategy room — heated floor, sound system, big whiteboards if you want them, fields outside the window if you don’t.
Most teams find that the work changes when the room does. The kind of conversation that needs hours instead of forty-five minutes happens because the room can hold it.
Logistics handled, transparently
Train from Schiphol to Zwolle takes one hour fifteen. We arrange transfers from Zwolle station, pre-stock the kitchen with what your dietary spread needs, and bring in catering teams who have done forty-person dinners here without breaking stride.
You get one point of contact, one invoice, and one place where everyone in the team is sleeping under the same set of roofs.
What 14 people get to themselves for two days
A full venue buyout — 14 beds across Horizon and Cosmos, the practice barn for sessions, the sauna and hot tub for evenings, the swimming pond when it is warm enough, the fire circle when it is not. Capacity goes up to 20 for sessions if you bring day-only attendees.
Bring 8, bring 14, bring a board. Pricing scales accordingly and we are honest with you about what works at each size.
Why The Makers Barn
1h15
By train from Schiphol to Zwolle — we handle the last fifteen minutes
8–20
Team size that fits — venue buyout, no shared spaces
1
Point of contact, one invoice, no surprises
A two-day offsite, sketched
A loose template several leadership teams have used here — yours is yours to design.
- Day 1 · 11:00Arrival, settle into rooms, kettle on
- Day 1 · 13:00Long lunch — slow start to the work
- Day 1 · 15:00Strategy session in the Hay House
- Day 1 · 19:30Catered dinner at the long table
- Day 1 · 21:30Sauna and fire circle
- Day 2 · 09:00Working session — second strategic block
- Day 2 · 13:00Walking lunch through the trees
- Day 2 · 15:30Closing circle, write-up, departure
Questions worth asking
Can we invoice this through one company invoice?
Yes. One quote, one invoice, payable in two instalments. We handle VAT correctly for EU and non-EU companies.
Do you have AV for presentations and workshops?
The Hay House has sound and we can bring in a projector and screen. Whiteboards, flipcharts, and post-its are stocked. Tell us your set-up and we will have it ready before you arrive.
What about facilitators or coaches?
We do not facilitate, but we work with a small network of facilitators and coaches in the Netherlands. We can introduce you to a few who fit your team’s shape.
Is the venue accessible by public transport?
Yes — Zwolle station is fifteen minutes by car or twenty minutes by bicycle. We arrange transfers for the team in one or two trips.
Planning the timeline?
Use our free 12-month launch calendar to plan phases, milestones, and the realistic timeline that actually works.
Open the launch calendarSpot the mistakes before you sign
Run the 25 most common retreat-host mistakes against your plan. 5 minutes, no signup, personalised risk report.
Take the 5-minute auditBring the team to a place that does the logistics so they can do the thinking
Tell us your team size, your dates, and roughly what kind of work you need to do. We will come back with a quote, a sample agenda, and a transfer plan.