It's been years since I really had time to read for pleasure. At school and university I always felt guilty reading fiction when I should have been studying. Since I started work I barely have time to read anything but emails and when I do actually sit down with a good read, it's late at night when I can barely get through a page without nodding off.
So I was intrigued to hear about a holiday where all you do is read: no sightseeing, no watersports, no family and friends to entertain – just serious time with a book.
Every month the Soho House Literary Salon – that's book club to you and me – hosted by journalist and Radio 4 playwright Damian Barr, meets in the private London members' club Shoreditch House. It is a testament to Damian's standing in the literary world that this is the only event at Shoreditch House that's open to non-members, where you can mix with journalists, authors and playwrights and listen to them read from their latest works.
The Reading Weekend is an expansion of the concept, a residential book club dedicated solely to the enjoyment of literature, and held in an equally prestigious setting, Tilton House in Berwick, Sussex.
Tilton House is the former residence of economist John Maynard Keynes and next door to Charleston, a stately home and once the country meeting place of the Bloomsbury Group. The Georgian mansion is now home to Shaun Treloar and Polly Moore, who regularly host retreats, from screenwriting courses to sculpture workshops and yoga breaks.
Polly and Damian were waiting for me on the doorstep – Damian in full pyjama and dressing gown ensemble. Inside, portraits of Keynes' ballerina wife Lydia Lopokova still adorn the walls, and books litter every surface. My bedroom had a traditional tartan rug and hot water bottle and a book on my pillow, which was mine to keep. For anyone who had neglected to bring their own reading material, the library was well-stocked with classics old and new. Once settled in, guests gathered for champagne by the fireside.
The company was, unsurprisingly, bookish; writers, journalists, screenwriters and publishers – though those who simply love to read are equally welcome. Damian had a brilliant ability to put everyone at ease – aided by his stock of Taittinger and homemade damson gin.
Dinner – a long, sociable affair – was chunky soup, crusty homebaked bread, salads and old-fashioned puddings served on the wooden tables in the kitchen. After telling us to turn off our phones and not use our laptops, Damian suggested we follow his lead and slip into something more comfortable, so we all returned to the lounge in our pyjamas and snuggled up on the sofas to enjoy that childish delight – being read a bedtime story.
Damian honed his "reader in residence" role at London's Andaz hotel, the first to add "bedtime stories" to its in-room menu, so he's well-versed in vocalising tales to pyjama-clad strangers. A description of Charleston was appropriate given our surroundings, and set the mood for visiting the house over the weekend, while Miriam, the haunting short story by Truman Capote, was all the more chilling given our isolated location.
Bad weather was forecast, so Damian suggested we next take inspiration from Mary Shelley – who famously invented Frankenstein after telling scary stories with Byron and co on a stormy night – and imagine our own monsters. We discussed possible characters, but with full stomachs, a warm fire and plenty of quince vodka in our bloodstream, the results were a little short on literary masterpieces.
I was up early on Saturday for my bibliotherapy appointment – a one-to-one session to diagnose guests' reading "difficulties" – with Ella Berthoud, bibliotherapist from The School of Life. Before the weekend, we'd been sent questionnaires for her analysis, and though I had confessed a love for the historical novel, Ella pointed out most of my preferred authors and titles fell into the magical realism category, and suggested some titles from the genre.
We also chatted about my life and she recommended my boyfriend and I read aloud to each other. I stifled a laugh at the thought of his face should I propose giving The Wire a miss one night to read to me, so instead she came up with a more realistic option of revisiting some of my childhood favourites by reading aloud to my little sister.
A leisurely stroll to the Charleston gift shop (the house is closed in winter) was followed by a mad dash back through torrents of rain, to be greeted by a steaming bowl of soup and the pleasure of having nothing to do all afternoon but bury my nose in a novel.
Penguin, the weekend's sponsor, sent along two authors that evening to read from their work and answer questions. Sathnam Sanghera read from his memoir, The Boy With a Topknot, and Naomi Alderman joined us for dinner in the library to read a steamy scene from her new book, The Lessons.
This meal was more formal than the others, set at a beautifully decorated table with delicious artichokes, guinea fowl and fig frangipane with pear mascarpone. After an evening of erudite conversation, we moved on to a game of charades, which after a fairly civilised start quickly deteriorated into something altogether less literary; we began with re-enactments of Bloomsbury Group classics, but it was Damian's hilarious rendition of Top Gun we'll remember longest.
The next morning saw several of our party slightly worse for wear, but still determined to tackle a country walk as intended. Welly-clad, we charged up the hill onto the South Downs Way for views over four counties.
At the end of the weekend my only disappointment was that I hadn't managed to do as much reading as I'd hoped – what with the lengthy game of Scrabble, visiting Charleston and going on the Sunday hike, the trip had been so much fun I had fallen into my usual trap of socialising rather than reading.
If your aim is to get through War and Peace, you might be better locking yourself in your bedroom.
• The next reading weekend hosted by Damian Barr at Tilton (+44 (0) 7711 306443, mrdlbarr@yahoo.com or tiltonhouse.co.uk/workshops) runs from 19-21 February and costs £385pp, inc accommodation, food and drink, bibliotherapy and guest author, David Nicholls. Berwick is served by Southern Railway (southernrailway.com) from London Victoria, £23.20 rtn
