Having met Eddie (read that here), its time to meet Jess and Greg. This lovely pair are the founders of Firelight, who are bringing wellness and feel-good experiences to Lopemede Farm. This conversation explores how Firelight began, what it’s becoming, and why it matters.
Jess & Greg answer a few questions:
Q1: What inspired you to start Firelight, and what personal experiences or values shaped its mission?
G: About 3.5 years ago we had moved from London to Haddenham. I was having a case of post wedding, post house buying blues where I felt a lack of purpose in life. I was doing any job for any money but I wasn’t contributing much to the world – I was feeling pretty lost.
J: We had just enjoyed the most beautiful day! We got back to the van, and were sipping a glass of wine around the fire. I was reflecting on what a lovey day we’d just had and Greg just could not agree! He was in a different place – he was so depressed. I held a proverbial gun to his head and we talked it out! “What the hell do you want to do with your life?”
G: I wanted to bring people together for good times and I wanted to be there to share them. That’s where it started. We trialled an event that included a little bit of everything in on our mind. Yoga in the field, ecstatic dance, a sauna ceremony. Then we cooked a feast for 30 of our friends and family. We listened to some music around the fire and it was lovely.
J: I twisted my ankle! The wind smashed all of the cutlery everywhere, tables flipped over! We persevered and just realised that we were being tested! Hah! it feels like we’ve been tested ever since. We started trialing a few smaller events. Yoga brunch, breathwork brunch and the like. Mini versions of what we do now; focussing on bringing people together to have fun in nature, and being there for it.
Q2: How did you come across Lopemede Farm, and what made you feel it was the right place for Firelight to grow?
J: One of my private student’s husband went to school with Eddie. She connected us after hearing that Eddie wanted some yoga in the barn. I went to see the barn and it was gorgeous. A fully sustainable space – an eco barn finished beautifully with underfloor heating. Eddie spoke about how he wanted wellness in the barn and things aligned. I had just spoken to a local chef about our first Yoga brunch event – all we needed was a space!
Q3: Can you share a bit about the array of events and sessions that you host, and how they make up the Firelight offering.
G: We host a big combination of events. How we set ourselves apart from retreat companies is that we really want to feel accessible to people who are new to the world of wellness, of spirituality. We do that by combining events that aren’t solely associated with a wellness space. We host a range of modalities. From ecstatic dance, medicine dance, breathwork, guided meditation, sound meditations – to events that are just for the joy of it! Live music nights or dining events in the field for example. Our hope is that we give people something that they want, but they take something that they need. So you might come for the dining, but discover a yoga session that interests you.
J: We also really want guests to come and meet us – that’s a big part of it. We want them to see how open and welcoming we are, so they can trust that whatever we’re hosting is worthwhile and focused on enhancing wellbeing.
Q4: What has been the biggest risk you’ve taken with Firelight, and what did you learn from it?
J: Buying the tipi has been the biggest risk – it took all of our life savings.
G: ..and some more money since! Maintaining it, set up, break down – storm straps. Not sure we could have done it differently but we worked with what we could. Perhaps an upgrade at a later time!
Q5: And on the flip side – what’s been your most rewarding moment so far? One of those “this is why we do this” kind of memories?
J: I know what you’re gonna say Greg!
G: Yes – our first Firelight feast – it was so amazing! It was the first moment where we put an event together and all of a sudden – wow! We stood back to see 75 strangers, sat around a big table, talking, connecting, outdoors – under the sun! Great weather graced us just in time for everyone’s arrival.
J: Literally 30mins before people arrived, the wind calmed and it was gorgeous. For me, one of my greatest memories was last year’s first sunset yoga, DJ and rosé night. Unbelievably amazing weather, and it was just such a vibe. It really captured the essence I always wanted my lessons to have.Fun, good music, time for us all to connect. It was so lovely to welcome 40 people who also shared the love for all of these great things.
G: It really encapsulated everything we aim to be in one event. A balance between the fun, the hedonism we enjoy in life, and wellness. Accepting and allowing the space for those things to exist all in one event, and for it to be validated by everyone who came. That’s become one of our most popular running events.
Q6: The idea of the tipi in summer is magical – what inspired that, and how does it add to the experiences you’re curating?
J: After trialing the first few events in the barn, we wanted to get people even closer to nature on the farm. We asked for Eddie’s blessing to have a tipi on the land. After visiting some of the beautiful fields, we found a spot that felt so right for it.
G: The idea is to lower the barrier between people and nature as much as possible, while keeping people dry! My experience in festivals taught me how much people love a tipi. They’re a wonderful structure to be in!
J: It enhances the experience, especially for those who don’t have much time to spend in nature, by offering activities like yoga right in the heart of it. The sides of the tipi may be open, or the sun shining through, or the birds chirping. Sometimes we even host the session outside. It gives them the wellness and wellbeing hit, but it also gives them time out in nature. It really adds to the experience.
Q7: What are your hopes or plans for the future of Firelight – either at Lopemede or beyond?
J: Well we’ve got lots of hopes and plans! We know lots of practitioners who offer different modalities, and we’d love to bring them to the tipi in summer to offer workshops and retreats. We’d love to make a broad spectrum of what we offer accessible to people. Even though we are close to London and Oxford, there doesn’t seem to be a diverse offering around here. It’s like when you go to festivals and there’s a whole array of really different practitioners. You might go into a workshop and try something you’ve never done before. Firelight is a festival inspired event space, and we want to bring that energy to the tipi.
We will continue to host our retreats abroad either side of summer. We have a baby on the way so that might pause for the coming year, but we’ll surely pick that up. (Update – Jess and Greg have now welcomed a beautiful baby boy!) Morocco, other locations in Europe, and also UK destinations around Somerset and Dorset. We might like to set up other Firelight tipis at different locations around the country but we want to take it all season by season, to see what Firelight can become.
Q8: Something I ask everybody who stops by the Soundbites Blog: What is the most important piece of advice you would like to share with our readers?
J: If you have a dream or if you have something inside you – deep down inside your gut – that you know that you want to do but you’ve rationalised it in your head that you couldn’t possibly do it – just do it! One of our motos, which is from a song, is “start small, grow tall”. Just take the first step towards it. Life’s too short to be doing something that you aren’t happy with – especially if it’s a full time job and you’re doing it for 80% of your life.
G: I think I’d add to that – these things don’t have to be all or nothing. You don’t have to quit your job to test something. A lot of people don’t know that, whilst self-employed, I still work to support us. It’s still a hell of a lot more fulfilling knowing that i’m doing good through Firelight at the same time. Test the idea, give it a go, get out there and you’ll reap the rewards of the fulfillment of doing it.
