Meet the London women who’ve founded a new wave of life-changing retreats

Discovering the transformative power of surfing is what gave brand founder Lindsey Holland, 36, the impetus to start her own retreats, Marnie Rays. “I was sitting in my favourite place — China Walls in Hawaii — during a surf trip thinking about how it’s changed my life and how it made me feel. I wanted to be able to spread that to other people,” she recalls.

She first went on a solo trip to try the sport three years ago after “having one of those really funny, vulnerable times in life. I felt: I don’t know if I have things that make me really happy anymore.” After a week of surf, yoga and some soul searching she felt revitalised — and wanted to go surfing every chance she got. “I just came back so refreshed and with this massive excitement,” Holland recalls.

Now Marnie Rays’ Portugal surf trips are in their sophomore year and the company has recently announced two new locations for 2024. One in Ubud, Bali for a unique combining surf, skate and breathwork, and another in North West Greece for mountain biking, hiking and paddle boarding. As well as high-end accommodation (a big step up from the “rough around the edges” hostels from the retreats Holland has tried), charismatic instructors and renowned chefs including Clare Cole from Towpath were on the