We are so excited to be offering our second Jane Eyre pilgrimage, this time led by both Vanessa Zoltan, co-host of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text and author of Praying with Jane Eyre, and Lauren Sandler, co-host of Hot & Bothered: On Eyre, and a journalist and author. Together, we’ll explore Jane Eyre through the theme of hope. Each day, we will have a morning discussion about our theme led by Lauren and Vanessa. We will engage in sacred reading practices while reflecting on the text and our own lives. During the day, we will walk through the beautiful moors on guided hikes. Using the landscape as a source of inspiration, we will spend our days walking, reading, and joining in conversation.

Whether you are a longtime fan of Jane Eyre or new to the text, this trip can offer you time to reflect and relax, and to enjoy nature in a community of thoughtful individuals. We are so excited to gather together again and can’t wait to embark on this journey together.

We’ll meet in Manchester to explore the city where the first words of Jane Eyre were penned on the afternoon of the 3rd and then travel to the Yorkshire Moors, where we’ll visit Haworth and walk the paths that the Bronte sisters traveled across. Each day, we will make space for writing, reflection, reading, silence, ancient reading practices and of course, for walking.

Lauren Sandler

Lauren Sandler is co-host of Hot & Bothered: On Eyre, and a journalist and author. Her most recent book is This Is All I Got: A New Mother’s Search for Home, a 2020 New York Times Notable Book. Sandler’s journalism has appeared in dozens of publications including Time, The New York Times, Slate, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and New York. She has been on staff at Salon and NPR, a columnist at HuffPost, and has led OpEd Project fellowships at Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, and the University of Virginia. She lives in Brooklyn.

Vanessa Zoltan

Vanessa is the CEO of Not Sorry. She is on three of our podcasts: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, The Real Question, and Hot & Bothered. She founded Common Ground Pilgrimages in order to travel with brilliant faculty to beautiful places and talk about books with amazing pilgrims. It was a great trick she pulled off. She is also the author of the book, "Praying with Jane Eyre".

Vanessa was trained as a non-denominational chaplain at Harvard Divinity School. She is a proud California girl who currently lives in MA with her gorgeous, blended family. Her Romance novelist pseudonym, if she ever publishes a Romance novel, will be Lorelai Mason, as you can see in her profile pic.

Colette Potts

Colette is an educator, family therapist, and parent of three Harry Potter fans. She serves as chaplain on our pilgrimages, runs our HPST children’s classes, and shares a life with Matt Potts, the co-host of HPST. Colette has worked with families across the developmental spectrum in settings ranging from urban public schools to rural homes, to help parents raise loving children, using caring communities to make it easier – and more fun.

What's Included:

Five nights in a private or shared room in a wonderful country hotel: the Oakwood Hall Hotel
All meals from dinner on Monday night through breakfast on Saturday morning
Transportation within England from Monday, May 2nd in Manchester until Saturday, May 7th in Haworth
One-on-one chaplaincy
Private walking tours, picnics, and talks with local experts
Customized journal

Logistics:

Private or shared rooms are available.
We will reach out to the first registrants with a link to make an initial deposit within 72 hours of receiving their registration link.
The rest of the payment will be due eight weeks from the day the deposit is made for the remaining amount.
We are open to creating payment plans as needed. If you’re interested in a payment plan, please email commonground@notsorryproductions.com.
When you sign up through our registration system, it will act as a waitlist, and we will let you know via email once a spot has been confirmed for you.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at commonground@notsorryproductions.com.

COVID Policy:

We are so excited to begin traveling with you again, and as always, our first priority is to make sure that the trips are safe for everyone involved, including the communities we visit and the people who host us. To that end, we are keeping a close eye on the evolving COVID situation and will update you as frequently as we can if the situation with the pilgrimages changes.

Below are some potential expectations we could have in terms of covid safety. Only sign up for the trip is you feel comfortable following any/all of the below guidelines:

Wearing masks indoors or outdoors, no matter group size
Social distancing, both indoors and outdoors
Getting proof of a negative COVID-19 test within a certain number of hours before arrival
Getting a negative COVID test upon arrival at the destination
Proof of vaccination
Quarantining upon arrival to destination country

On our end, we will refund fully any payments made for the trip in the event that we at Common Ground Pilgrimages have to cancel due to change in travel restrictions, variants, etc.

By making a deposit, you acknowledge the above precautions and are willing to follow them, or any similar recommendations, when you come on the pilgrimage.

Refund Policy:

Please be sure you can attend the event before booking. If an unforeseen circumstance does occur, we will do our best to find a replacement for you. If we are able to get someone to take your place, we will refund your full payment minus a service charge (usually 10% of the deposit depending on the credit card processing fee). For cancellations within six weeks of the beginning of the trip, we are not able to find replacements. If you can find a replacement independently, we are happy to transfer your registration to them after receiving the new participant's payment and refund your purchase minus a 15% service charge. We strongly urge you to purchase travel insurance in the event of a personal conflict, health issue, or unexpected circumstance.

Charlotte Brontë: The West Yorkshire Moors, England

May 2-7, 2022