“All that is required to feel that here and now is happiness, is a simple, frugal heart,” says our host softly, looking up from her journal. “That’s a quote from the Greek writer and philosopher Nikos Kazantzakis. I think his words just about cover it, don’t you?”

It’s a late summer morning, and I’m sitting in the shade of a giant eucalypt beside three other women in the Border Ranges National Park in northern New South Wales. Our host, Ruth Walker, one half of the outdoorsy British husband-and-wife duo who run this new Rest and Restore retreat through their company Bower Camp Co., is guiding us through a nature-based art class.

We’ve been sent on a short bushwalk to collect pieces of nature - fallen leaves and nuts, mosses and twigs - and have returned to camp to draw, paint or write about what we’ve collected.
The soothing exercise works well with the Walkers’ aim: to reconnect frazzled urbanites to the simplicity of nature.

Recognising that we’re all feeling the weight of this time of great geo-political and ecological turmoil, the cost of living crisis, the constant competition for our emotions and attention and the pressure to work harder and longer, their goal is to return us to our “simple, frugal hearts” via the earth. As Ruth puts it, “we’re challenging burnout culture by providing rest and restoration in immersive nature camp retreats, where all the work is done for you.”

Their offering doesn’t qualify as glamping (no bathtubs, bell tents, or bathrobes here), but it’s not regular camping either, since there’s none of the heavy lifting. Arriving at Sheepstation Creek campground the day before I found my spacious tent already set up in a clearing beneath towering gums, and kitted out with a proper mattress bed and cotton sheets.

Soon after settling in, dinner was called, with Walker’s husband Bob - who previously owned a food business and is ever-ready with daggy dad jokes - dishing up a rustic alfresco Greek feast including barbecued marinated lamb, homemade tzatziki and lemon infused rainbow chard, followed by a fire-baked banana split. It was all served by candlelight under the stars, and was delicious and simple in a way that works well with our bush setting.

Simplicity is key to the Bower Camp Co. experience. After our art class and a breathwork session run by Northern Rivers-based artist and breathwork teacher Mia Taninaka, we head off on a bushwalk through the Gondwana World Heritage-listed rainforest. We thread past fizzing waterfalls, blooms of wild mushrooms and ancient Antarctic Beech trees, stopping for plunges in crisp waterholes and a picnic lunch of caponata, homemade dips and cheese.