Sisters Isobel and Lisa Webster are co-directors of The Space Burston in South Norfolk, a centre for wellness, health and fitness. Here, Izzy explains how recent lottery funding has enabled them to open up the space even more and offer free wellbeing activities
We are two sisters who had a dream, and that dream has been realised in setting up a rural wellbeing centre. Alongside this Lisa is a massage therapist and I offer yoga classes and massage too. We’re beyond proud of what we’ve accomplished. We hope all that visit love The Space as much as we do and feel the same sense of calm and clarity when you enter our café, studios or treatment rooms. Our goal was to create a space that welcomes all ages and life stages to feel a sense of belonging and wellbeing in their community.
When I qualified as a Yoga teacher in 2013, Lisa was looking for a new venue to give massage from, and our dad had the idea of converting the unused area of his work building in Burston for us to run a business from. Conveniently his work was commercial refurbishment and interior design, so he helped us to see our vision come to life. Since then, he has been our business coach and cheerleader, encouraging and helping us to expand in 2019 when we tripled our size to take on the whole building when he retired.
We grew up in the little villages of Redgrave and Rushall, both near to Burston. We travelled and lived abroad after university but are settled with our families in Norwich now. We love to travel to Burston to work. The friendly rural community and beautiful countryside surrounding us is a wonderful place to be.
We opened in 2014, so next year we are planning to have a big celebration to mark a decade as a family run business! Having completed an illustration degree in 2008, I was working in design in London until 2013. I had fallen out of love with life in London and the stressful industry I was working in, so had left it all behind to spend a year in India training as a yoga teacher, and a couple of months in Thailand training in Thai Yoga massage. I feel at home in the wellbeing world and find life more relaxing and fulfilling now. I am currently part way through my doula training and am passionate about supporting new parents through my pre and postnatal yoga sessions.
After working for a mobile massage company on the ski slopes of Val d’Isere in the French Alps for a number of seasons, Lisa had been running her own successful practice in Diss since 2010. She was feeling ready for the next adventure and had always dreamed of running her own wellbeing centre.
Since 2014 The Space community has grown from just two practitioners to over 30 and expanded from just one treatment room and studio to four treatment rooms and two studios. We are loving running retreat evenings, days and weekends so that we can welcome people into our beautiful space to really relax and unwind. Our favourite thing is to see all the rooms being used and to have it full of likeminded people having a wonderful time.
We both are mums with young toddlers, so we find we are busy spinning many plates as practitioners, parents, and co-directors of The Space. Now more than ever we find it’s important to take time for our own wellbeing where we can, whether that’s to enjoy a walk in nature or find time for some yoga or a massage if we are lucky!
The Space is a calm place to retreat to in the countryside, an award-winning wellbeing centre located in the heart of peaceful, rural Norfolk. Founded in 2014, our space has a lot to offer, including highly acclaimed wellness practices with treatments and therapies available such as Acupuncture, Counselling, Psychotherapy, Physiotherapy, Reflexology, Shiatsu, Women’s Health Nutritional Therapy, Menopause Support, sauna and ice plunge, Tarot reading, and more! We also have a variety of classes available such as Yoga, Boxercise, pre, post natal, baby and kids classes, Personal Training and HIIT and Pilates.
Designed as a place for people to gather as a shared hub with community at its core, there is something at The Space for everyone.
There are so many ways in which we can support those experiencing menopause, such as yoga classes, however our dedicated menopause nurse Victoria is an expert in this area. A consultation with Victoria will help you to dispel those myths around the menopause and learn to feel in control of your menopause journey.
Confidence coaching is a great tool – menopausal women can find their confidence at rock bottom. A few coaching sessions will help you build up your confidence and self-esteem once again.
We are over the moon to have received £9990 in lottery funding which is enabling us to offer monthly open days for the community to attend completely free! On 27th November on our second open day will be offering yoga, sauna and ice bath, a talk from Menopause nurse Victoria and free sports, holistic and Indian head massage. We welcome everyone who may benefit to come along and enjoy an activity or to simply pop in for a cuppa, a welcoming chat and some nutritious snacks. For booking for any upcoming open day please pop to our events page here.
We are creative people so we are always dreaming of how we can evolve and grow! We would love for the right person to open a wellbeing café within our beautiful plant filled café area. Please get in touch if that is you! It would be amazing to have nutritious food and drink on site and would really create the heart of the centre as a place for people to relax between sessions. We dream of having a forest school style outdoor play area in our green space outside, with a separate outdoor spa area including a permanent spa and cold plunge, and a teepee to relax in. We would love for it to be a place we can bring our children as they grow to teach them the joys of nature and all about wellbeing. As we are in the family phase of our lives, we would like The Space to become even more of a hub to support families through all stages.
The next Friendship & Health Hub takes place at The Space Burston on Monday November 27, from 1.30-5.30pm. The FREE wellbeing activities include a Menopause workshop, Sauna, Yoga and Massages. Visit thespaceburston.com, and follow on Facebook and Instagram. The Space is located on Mill Road, Burston, near Diss, Norfolk. IP22 5TJ
Featured image of Izzy and Lisa Webster. All images by Emma Croman and supplied by The Space Burston
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