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The most amazing people come to The Sequoia.  It's such a pleasure to support folks who are working to make the world a better place and/or changing their lives in meaningful ways.

Thank you to our wonderful Guests!

We recently held a Reiki Retreat at the Sequoia Retreat Centre, what an amazing place. The setting is just wonderful, they have made different areas where you can practice your meditations, tai chi or yoga. Sit in between the huge sequoia trees, walk to the waterfall, or practice in the meadows; so many beautiful options. The teaching room sits on top of the mountain and overlooks the valley, due to the design it lets in heaps of natural light which makes it the perfect room for meditation and healing.
The rustic cabins are set in between the forest so that the retreat participants can be in a peaceful and quiet setting. We highly recommend the Sequoia Retreat Centre as a place for holding your retreats, and we will be back ourselves again next year!

--10/2011 Frans Stiene - International House of Reiki - IHReiki.com

My son and his bride had their wedding at the Sequoia Retreat Center in September 2011, and everything about the weekend was magical.  Diane and Scott do a great job of making everyone feel at home.  The cabins are basic but clean and quite comfy.  The food was exceptional.   The setting couldn't have been more perfect.  I've never attended anything like it anywhere-- witnessing a wedding underneath a beautiful canopy of majestic redwoods.  Quite special!  

I found all the hiking around the property quite invigorating and rejuvenating.   This is a very special place, and I would love to have the opportunity to come here again sometime.

-- 9/25/2011 Posted on Yelp


We had a festive, happy 3-day Labor Day weekend wedding at Sequoia Retreat Center in Ben Lomond. 100+ family and friends ate excellent meals, slept in the comfortable well-furnished cabins, strolled the beautiful redwood forest grounds, danced Ceilidh (Scottish country dancing) in the Peace Park, played frizbees and on the water slide in the Meadow, and celebrated the wedding ceremony joyously  in the Redwood Amphitheatre, and enjoyed excellent meals, dancing and beautiful mountain views in Las Alas Lodge and the outdoor patios.

All ages from elderlly guests to raucous children of all ages enjoyed the beautiful grounds.
The owner and the staff were terrific, helpful and jolly.  Their suggestions for how to use the resources of the center were brilliant, and created a varied, and highly enjoyable time for us.

We highly recommend this beautiful, historic site in the redwoods to anyone planning a retreat or party!

-- 9/7/2011 Posted on Yelp but filtered out
 

Our organization rented out the Sequoia Retreat Center for an employee retreat. It was reasonably priced and offered a breathtaking environment, perfect for collaboration and rejuvenation amongst our staff. The intimate setting within nature was the largest positive aspect about the Sequoia Retreat Center. The staff there were also very accommodating, friendly, and helpful. On the evening of our retreat, we held a dinner with dancing and celebration, and it was refreshing to be able to have an entire area to ourselves and not worry about bothering other guests. As an aside, visitors should know that the walks between cabin areas and to the main lodge area can be challenging, so be prepared to bring comfortable shoes and appropriate clothing. Also, WiFi is only available in the main lodge area. Overall, this was a lovely place for a retreat.

-- 8/30/2011 Posted on Yelp but filtered out

 

Thanks so much, Diane! We had an amazing time. Although I have been there several times before, the beauty never fails to astound me...What a delightful place to spend the weekend! The experience was life-changing for many of our folks, some of which were from the inner city of Oakland and had never been on a retreat before. I am grateful for Alejandro, too, who was very attentive and helped to troubleshoot the few little glitches that came up....We made a family this weekend, and your place was the site of miracles.

Nichola Torbett
Director, Seminary of the Street
"At the intersection of radical love and justice

I was at the Sequoia Retreat Center in early November [2010] for a retreat, and had the pleasure of staying there for 5 nights.  As an east-coaster, I was SO excited to spend a bunch of time amongst lovely, huge trees - and my stay at Sequoia in no way let me down.  The property is beautifully maintained, and the curvy roads means that you get your exercise for the day just by walking around!  

As one of the people working on logistics for the retreat, I was regularly in touch with Sequoia staff regarding details of food, lodging, transportation, and programming space.  Diane was particularly impressive with her responsiveness, and always super happy to help.  She was flexible with our schedules and particular needs, and was a constant touchstone while we were there.  

Also, I want to mention how A-mazing the food was!  They put together delicious spreads, with super fresh and local ingredients, and were able to accommodate our vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free retreat participants.  And, they were totally able to offer some great snacks when we wanted a little bit of not-so-healthy food for our party!  I highly recommend the kale salad, along with all of there desserts.  

All of the cabins and lodges fit our participants nicely.  We were able to spread everyone out so that most folks only had one or two roommates.  In terms of mobility, we had to move a few people around who were less able to trek up the hills, so that's certainly something to be aware of when planning a retreat at Sequoia.  However, we all totally made it work, and Diana was especially helpful in

So, if you're looking for a great place to have a retreat near Santa Cruz, The Sequoia Retreat Center is totally the place to do it.  -- 12/21/2010 Posted on Yelp but filtered out

i work for a small non-profit organization, and we recently hosted our national conference (about 100 people) here. it was pretty much as good as we could have asked for!

the staff was warm, welcoming, and accommodating. anything we needed (and there wasn't much they weren't already providing before we even had to ask!!) they immediately made happen. we got along with them really well, and they helped us with any last-minute arrangements we needed, from an A/V projector to helping jump-start a car. the food got rave reviews from our conference attendees - and this is coming from a group that had every combination of gluten/dairy/meat/nut-fre e needs under the sun! highly impressive.

the space itself is gorgeous; the way the center is built into the natural world makes for a perfect combination of rustic beauty and comfort.

in short, i highly recommend it!  --11/30/2010 Posted on Yelp but filtered out

For me, it was 100% thrilling to be back at Sequoia to see how you have elevated it to even more beauty and usefulness. Pixie's Garden and all that terracing is spectacular.  I love facilitating the Dialogue in Las Alas with the young adults.  -- Love, from Libby and me, Len

All of your staff were very kind and friendly, and you obviously take great care in your hiring. It was a beautiful stay.  Thanks, Robert

Thank you for your wonderful hospitality!  We had a great productive meeting.  Your staff is awesome!  We loved the food and the setting. 'Til next time.  Monica, AFSCME Local 3299

I’ve been meaning to write you for weeks now but with the start of school, things have been crazy around here! I just wanted to thank you for hosting Keys School at your beautiful retreat center! From the moment we drove up, all of us were taken aback by the beauty and peacefulness of Sequoia. Everyone was talking about the quiet beauty of the place and the friendliness of the hosts that greeted each carload at registration. The cabins were cozy and inviting and the food was delicious. Las Alas Lodge provided such an inspiring and tranquil view; it was an absolutely perfect setting for our meetings. I’ve heard many of our long-term teachers, many who’ve been here over 15 years; comment that this was the best retreat location Keys has ever been to. We had such a wonderful time thanks to all of you and I’m certain we will be back!!

Thanks again!
Elyssa Bishop
Assistant Director of Admission
Keys School


What a huge success! We had a great retreat! Thanks so much!
Best,
Jolie, For EO San Francisco

"There were a couple of us literally screaming with joy when we got to Sequoia. It was a nurturing, restorative place to have our retreat around visioning, multi-culturalism and organization building. Many of us didn't want to leave."

Jennifer Wood-Taylor, PACT

"I wanted to convey how thankful we all are for the incredible welcome and hospitality you showed to CBE staff during our retreat.  Your space is so incredibly beautiful, but the experience is enhanced by the joy and solidarity that you both communicate so well.  Muchisimas gracias."

-- Bill Gallegos, Executive Director of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE)

We loved it!  We looked along the coast from Fort Bragg to Aptos for our wedding destination ,and the package at SRC was by far the best. We just got married here June 2010, and we could not have asked for anything more.

Diane and Scott were extremely accommodating whether it came to the layout, the timeline, changes in the menu (catered by SRC staff, and also highly recommended!), or to the details surrounding the wedding and events during the entire weekend. The beauty of the natural surroundings (from the grounds to the views) were the back drop for our wedding . You can have your rehearsal dinner here, your wedding, and all the guests can stay in walking distance.

For such a big moment in our lives we could not have been happier we choose Sequoia Retreat for our venue.  Thank you Diane and all your staff for creating such a cherishable weekend!

--Jennifer

We just got married at the Sequoia Retreat Center.  This is a VERY special place.  All of the wedding planning stress melted away when we entered the redwoods and our rustic cabin with the view of the forest.  It is so peaceful and lovely there, I think you would have to work pretty hard to ruin your wedding!  Diane and the staff did a great job running the bbq's and brunches, and were very flexible and accommodated several special requests.  The whole thing was just magical.  So many guests told us it was the best wedding they'd ever been to, and we have to agree with them!

--Laura, May 2010

We had a weekend wedding here in July [2009] - we took over the whole place; had the Friday night rehearsal dinner for 50 people outside at the Waterfall Lodge, the ceremony in the meadow, and the reception and Sunday brunch at the Los Alas Lodge. Most guests stayed in the cabins - we had a lot of folks from the East Coast and the UK.

Diane and her team were great and were able to meet our somewhat exacting needs. She set up a great website for booking the cabins that we were able to link to.

The location makes this a spectacular destination but a couple of things that make it truly great are -

* They have on site catering (we used it for the rehearsal dinner, breakfast and brunch),
* You can provide your own beer and wine,
* The cabins are relatively cheap for your guests,
* They have a tremendous bridal suite for rent that is a fantastic place for the Bride to prepare and for the newlyweds to retire to.

I would recommend that anyone having a weekend destination wedding utilize the services of a professional wedding planner - we were so grateful we did and I know she interfaced a lot with Sequoia and the other vendors.

Book early - I know they fill up.  -- Mark
 

I was the maid of honor for my best friend's wedding here on Saturday, June 6th.  Diane and her crew were so wonderful to work with and they made it such a comfortable, family atmosphere.  The staff sees to it that everyone is taken care of and they really put in the extra effort.  It makes you feel as though this is the only wedding party they have!

All you heard from the guests was "How did they find this place?!"  It's soo beautiful in a cozy, natural setting.  The view and the smell of the trees is the best.  What this venue has that others do not is you get to have the ENTIRE venue to yourself for the entire weekend!  That's unheard of (as I used to coordinate weddings and events in the Bay Area).  
You show up Friday, drop everything off, get settled in your individual cabins (yes, on-site), have the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, crash at your cabin, wake up and have breakfast in the lodge, get ready all day, wedding and dance all night, stumble back to the cabin, and have another great breakfast at the lodge Sunday.  It was a blast!!!

I definitely recommend this place as a gorgeous setting where everyone can be together in one spot all weekend!  Like Tamir said before me, the perfect balance of elegance and nature.

-- Charissa, June 2009

From October 2008:  It's hard to believe that it's only been 3 weeks since I was married in the spectacular beauty of the towering trees and rolling hills of the Santa Cruz Mountains.  The Sequoia Retreat Center was the perfect combination of natural beauty and creature comforts for my new husband and I to celebrate the beginning of our new life with our family and friends.  The property is huge and we were able to have a BBQ for all of our guests on Friday night, yoga in the morning, a picnic in the meadow for lunch, and then a gorgeous wedding reception in the Las Alas lodge on Saturday night.  

If you picture yourself being married in a beautiful natural environment and want to have your guests sleeping, eating, and celebrating together in one place for the weekend...you will probably love this place.  Our guests were blown away by the beauty of the trees here and had a blast sleeping in the super cute and cozy cabins.  Even the ones who might usually be a little less comfortable in nature enjoyed themselves and felt well taken care of the whole weekend.   Be sure to ask about shuttle transportation around the property on the day of your wedding...your guests (and their feet) will thank you!

Diane, Scott, and their staff are kind, considerate, and competent.  My husband and I commented to each other that it felt like they were as committed to our wedding being great as we were!  They were very flexible and worked with us patiently through-out the whole planning process.  In the end it went more smoothly than I ever dared to hope for.  My dream for our wedding weekend came true and I still get goose bumps all over just thinking about it. -- Erika

 

 “Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile,
and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” 
—John Muir

 Email us at diane@sequoiaretreatcenter.com. Phone us at: (831) 336-5060.
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"In the heart of the redwoods, while just 45 minutes from the Silicon Valley."