River Within
Where seasonal rhythm, Nordic ritual, and inner wisdom meet.
September 24th - 27th, 2026 season
Welcome to River Within
Let this be your invitation to return to yourself and bring more flow into your life.
Tucked along the tranquil French River, River Within is more than a retreat, it’s a seasonal pause, a deep exhale, and a homecoming. You’ll be welcomed into a space where the rhythm is slower, the air is pine-scented, and time feels generous again.
Here, nature is your co-facilitator. The river teaches presence and flow. The forest offers steadiness. Each moment is designed to help you soften, reset, and reconnect.
Your Guide
Jill Kantor
Founder, The Hygge Wellness Company
Jill Kantor is the founder of The Hygge Wellness Company and the creator of Hygge in a Box. A seasoned wellness guide and former corporate director, she blends Nordic wisdom, Positive Psychology, and holistic healing practices to help people reconnect with what matters most.
Jill holds dual certifications from The Flourishing Center as a Certified Practitioner in Applied Positive Psychology and a Certified Positive Psychology Coach. She is also a Certified Workplace Health and Performance Practitioner, a Sound Meditation Practitioner, a Traditional Wisdom Modern Kitchen Teacher, and a Morning Altars Teacher (Art, Nature & Ritual).
Her work is deeply informed by lived experience, including personal loss, resilience, and a lifelong journey of healing. Through seasonal retreats, The Hygge Lab, The Hygge Pantry, and her thoughtfully curated wellness experiences, Jill helps others rediscover joy, rhythm, and a grounded way of living. A life with calm, clarity and connection.
Whether you arrive carrying questions, fatigue, or simply a longing for something quieter, you’ll find space to meet yourself with gentleness. Through movement, ritual, nourishing food, shared stories, and solitude, this retreat becomes both a sanctuary and a catalyst.
This is your time. To rest. To listen. To flow.
What to Expect as a Participant
Each day offers a rich mix of meaningful experiences, forest walks, riverside rituals, group circles, sound healing, nature art creation and creative expression. You’ll have space for both solitude and connection, with everything offered as an invitation rather than a prescription.
This isn’t a performance-based retreat. It’s not about doing more or achieving a goal. It’s about allowing yourself to land, fully and gently, in the present moment.
Our time together is deeply grounded in Nordic principles like hygge (connection), friluftsliv (outdoor life), lagom (balance), sisu (resilience), and njuta (savouring). These values shape not only what we do, but how we do it, with presence, rhythm, and care.
Whether you’re stepping into a canoe, creating art from the river’s flow, or watching stars flicker above the pines, you’ll feel held by the land and the people around you.
2026 Package Options and Fees
Accommodations & Fees:
Please choose one:
1) Private Cottage
$2339 + gratuities (15%) + HST (13%)
2) Private Bedroom & Shared bathroom
$1901 + gratuities (15%) + HST (13%)
Enjoy your private bedroom, all to yourself, and share a bathroom with other guests. Tuition + accommodations for three nights + all meals
3) Shared Bedroom & Bathroom
$1790 + gratuities (15%) + HST (13%)
All cottages include:
Deposit / Cancellation Policy
A Day at River Within– Sample Flow
Useful information
Fishing
The French River, was a larder for millennia, for the First Nations peoples that fished its rich waters. Today, sport fishing is one of the French River’s main activities and attracts fishers for; muskellunge, northern pike, walleye (or pickerel as it is known in Canada), large and small mouth bass and other varieties of fresh water fish. Ask us about hiring a guide, bring your own boat or rent one from us.
Bird Watching
French River is home to many species of birds including; various warbler migrations, sandhill cranes, many species of duck, bald eagles, ospreys, merlins, coopers hawk, merlins, pileated woodpeckers, blue herons and many other varieties. Birding on the French River is a joy.
Hiking
Hike at Lodge at Pine Cove, on our well marked trails. From a 20 minute stroll to a 3 hour hike across the rugged Canadian Shield, you will find plenty of trails to interest you. Beaver ponds, large channels, cranberry bog, huge pine trees and plenty of flora and fauna. Hike Pine Cove and discover the French River.
Kayaking
The French River is an incredible kayaking destination. Huge expanses of flat water that you can paddle for hours, whilst exploring wild shorelines, islands, bays and channels. Bring your own kayak or we can outfit you with one. Discover the French River and it will keep you coming back for more.
Upcoming Events
May 18th to May 22nd, 2026 season
Body & Soul Retreat
May 26th, May 31st 2024 season
Write on the French
A Creative Writing Retreat at the Lodge at Pine Cove
September 24th - 27th, 2026 Season
River Within
October 6th - 9th, 2025
Embers of Grief
Grief isn’t something to get over. It’s something we learn to live with, and sometimes, that learning needs space.
October 3rd - 5th, 2025
Wild Soul Retreat
Come Away with me for a weekend of LUXURY in the WILD
September 1 - 4, 2025