Founder
A personal journey
I’m Tamsin Jardinier, the founder of Little French Retreat, a home and sanctuary that has grown from personal loss into a space of creativity, healing, and meaningful connection.
The story began in 2005, when my mother bought this old stone house with dreams of an adventurous retirement in rural France. Just two years later, she passed away suddenly, and her absence left a deep imprint on my life. At the time, I was living in Brighton and working in luxury retail and interiors in London. Her death called me to re-evaluate everything. I felt the need to reconnect with what mattered: yoga, food as medicine, creativity, and the rhythm of nature.
In 2013, I moved here full-time and began transforming the house, not just physically, but energetically. Over the years, I’ve completely renovated the space, restoring and reimagining each room with care: decorating, refurbishing furniture, and layering in my own aesthetic sensibility. While the house began with my mother’s vision, it is now unmistakably mine, a reflection of my creative eye and way of life.
Little French Retreat became a place where others could also return to themselves, through rest, reflection, and seasonal living. What started as a place for group retreats evolved into something more intimate and aligned with how I now live.
In 2023, I returned to pottery, a practice I had set aside for many years. It rekindled something vital. That quiet, tactile connection to form and process has become central to my creative life. I now teach creative process and practice to professional potters at a local ceramics school, while also developing my own body of work from my studio at home.
This shift in focus brought a natural change in the rhythm of the house. What was once a retreat centre is now a hybrid residency, welcoming just two guests at a time. It offers the essence of retreat with the spaciousness for creative exploration, supported by optional yoga, seasonal food, coaching, and quiet companionship.
Whether you come to rest, to write, to make, or simply to listen more deeply to your own rhythm, this place invites you to settle in and meet yourself, surrounded by stillness, nature, and inspiration.
Approach to Yoga
My approach to yoga is rooted in stillness, strength, and presence.
Drawing from the wisdom of Traditional Hatha, Yin Yoga, and Somatic Movement, I offer a calm, centred practice that invites you to slow down, deepen your breath, and return to yourself.
Each session unfolds at a steady, grounded pace; slow, strong, and restorative, with a focus on spinal mobility, nervous system balance, and emotional regulation. Through gentle yet potent movements and full-spectrum breath, the practice supports your body’s natural intelligence and opens the way for inner clarity.
More than exercise, this is a ritual of reconnection, a way to feel both anchored and uplifted, attuned to your inner rhythm and alive to the present moment.
qualifications
YOGA
I hold a 500-hour teacher training certificate from Sivananda Yoga Vidya Peetham in Kerala, where I studied under the guidance of Swami Govindananda Saraswati. Rooted in an ancient lineage over 1,000 years old, the school follows the classical teachings of Sivananda Yoga and its five foundational principles, blending breath, movement, rest, diet, and meditation as a holistic path to well-being.
Before the pandemic, I spent winters in India to deepen my practice and share the experience with others, leading groups to Kerala and the Himalayas to immerse in the birthplace of Yoga and its transformative spirit. Though I haven’t yet returned, my practice continues to evolve, now enriched by the meditative science of Dr. Joe Dispenza, the introspective stillness of Yin Yoga, and the embodied awareness of Somatic Movement.
AYURVEDA
I am training under the guidance of David Frawley at the American Institute of Vedic Studies to become an Ayurvedic Life-Style Consultant. A 300hr course of this ancient healing system that originates from India. Ayurveda treats the physical body and its’ ailments and includes psychology and yogic spirituality as a holistic system of healing that considers our entire nature as body, mind and spirit for best health.
FOOD
A self-trained cook with a passion for vegetarian food and natural ingredients, inspired by Ayurvedic principles; that food is energy and medicine for healing. I have cooked in ashrams, on retreats and for supper clubs. For further information on my approach to food and online recipe book please visit HERE
COACH
I work with individuals and creative entrepreneurs as an intuitive coach drawing upon my experience as artist, wellbeing practitioner and entrepreneur to support creative and mindful approaches for those seeking to re-imagine life and work, as they represent themselves authentically and grow their vision for their life and work in a kind, expansive and inspiring way… please visit my coaching site HERE
inspiration
SWAMI GOVINDANANDA SARASWATI
They say your teacher appears when the student is ready. I had the fortune of meeting Swami Govindananda on a trip to Kerala in 2013 and have appreciated his guidance since. A true master of energy management and delivering Yogic philosophy in an uncomplicated and practical way to apply to our contemporary western lifestyles. He taught me the benefits of teaching and practicing slowly to feel a deep sense of peace.