Macedon Ranges, Victoria
Forty acres of eucalypt bush and two working gardens, one hour and fifty minutes north of Melbourne.
A retreat, run by clinicians.
We treat five things, and we have treated them together since 2019: burnout, metabolic syndrome, gut health, stress and weight. Not as separate problems, but as what is often the same problem wearing different clothes. A person arrives with a blood pressure reading and leaves with a sleep routine.
Your first two days are assessment only. No yoga, no treatments, no expectations. A doctor takes your history and your bloods, a naturopath takes your diet and digestive history, a psychologist takes the last ten years, and an exercise physiologist measures what your body can currently do. On the third morning the five of them sit together and write you one plan.
Nothing is scheduled until your bloods are back and your plan is written.
Programmes
Three ways to come.
5-Day Recharge
5 days, 4 nights
$3,500 per person
Two assessments, a written plan, and the beginning of a sleep routine you can keep. Nothing is rushed and nothing is left out.
Best for a first reset after a demanding quarter, or a first stay with us.
10-Day Transform
10 days, 9 nights
$6,800 per person
Two full assessment cycles, a twelve-week eating and movement plan, and weekly psychology sessions that continue after you go home.
Best for a longer reset where the markers we measure need time to move.
21-Day Total Reset
21 days, 20 nights
$15,000 per person
Three assessment cycles, the complete protocol including supervised metabolic testing, and six months of follow-up with the clinical team.
Best for chronic conditions, or a season you have decided to take properly.
Every programme includes
- All meals
- Your suite
- Full medical assessment
- Daily yoga and meditation
- Spa treatments
- Psychology sessions
- Naturopathic consultations
- A plan you take home
Everything, so you can stop calculating.
Every programme includes all of the following. There is no separate meal plan to buy, no therapy session billed by the hour, and no spa tier to upgrade to on arrival.
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All meals
Plant-based and chef-prepared, cooked to your plan and adjusted weekly as your readings change. Nothing comes in packets and nothing is frozen.
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Accommodation
A private suite with an ensuite and a view into the bush. Single occupancy as standard, with a connecting option for guests travelling together.
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Full medical assessment
Bloods, blood pressure, body composition and a full history with the general practitioner, taken over your first two days.
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Daily yoga and meditation
Movement on the deck at seven in the morning and guided meditation by the fire before dinner. Suitable for every level, and adapted for injury.
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Spa treatments
One hour a day on the five-day programme, two hours on longer stays. Remedial, relaxation or lymphatic, chosen with your physiotherapist.
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Psychology sessions
Weekly one-to-one with our psychologist, plus a small group session for anyone who wants one. Burnout, sleep and the patterns underneath them.
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Naturopathic consultations
Fortnightly one-to-one with our naturopath, covering digestive health, herbal support and the food protocol you will keep.
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A plan you take home
A written nutrition, movement and sleep plan, plus a review booked with the clinical team before you travel.
| Included | 5-Day Recharge | 10-Day Transform | 21-Day Total Reset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment cycles | One | Two | Three |
| Spa treatment hours per day | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Psychology sessions | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Naturopathic consultations | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Follow-up after you leave | One call | Three calls | Six months |
| Price per person | $3,500 | $6,800 | $15,000 |
Not included: flights, transfers from Melbourne Airport, and any specialist treatment beyond the scope of general practice. We arrange airport transfers at cost.
The team
Five people, one plan.
Your plan is written by all five and reviewed together every morning at eight. Nobody works alone on your case, and the doctor is accountable for it.
Dr Aileen Marsden
General Practitioner
Holds the clinical plan. Your bloods, your medication, your referrals, and the last word on every change we make.
Tomas Feld
Naturopath
Prescribes the herbal and nutrition protocol, and leads the digestive work.
Priya Nadar
Exercise Physiologist
Rebuilds strength and the capacity to keep going after you leave.
Marcus Oyelaran
Psychologist
Works with burnout, sleep, and the patterns that sit underneath both.
Yuki Harada
Executive Chef
Cooks to the plan, and makes it worth eating.
Clinical governance: Dr Marsden holds the treating relationship and signs every plan change. Each morning at eight the clinical team reviews every guest on site, and each change is documented. All five practitioners hold current AHPRA registration.
Select a portrait to read what each practitioner does.
General Practitioner
Dr Aileen Marsden
Dr Marsden has held the treating relationship at Wattlewood since it opened in 2019, and she signs every change to your plan. She takes your history and your bloods on the first morning, sits in on every clinical review, and writes any referral that needs to go outside the property.
She also leads the session on what a plan has to be able to survive once you are home, which is usually the harder conversation of the two.
- Leads
- Assessment, bloods, medical reviews, referrals
- Registered
- AHPRA general practitioner, current
Naturopath
Tomas Feld
Tomas takes your digestive history and writes the food and herbal protocol that the kitchen then cooks from. He runs the elimination and reintroduction work for guests with gut symptoms, and he is the one who adjusts the plan when a reading changes.
His consultations happen fortnightly on the five-day programme and weekly on the longer stays, because digestive work is slower than anything else you will do here.
- Leads
- Digestive health, nutrition protocol, herbal support
- Registered
- NHAA naturopath, current
Exercise Physiologist
Priya Nadar
Priya measures what your body can currently do before you are asked to do anything, then builds the movement plan from that baseline rather than from a generic programme. On the twenty-one-day stays she runs supervised metabolic testing.
She also handles every adaptation for injury and mobility limits, so nobody is put on a plan they cannot hold.
- Leads
- Movement testing, strength work, metabolic testing
- Registered
- Exercise scientist and physiologist, current
Psychologist
Marcus Oyelaran
Marcus works with burnout, sleep and the patterns underneath both, usually in weekly one-to-one sessions and a small group session that anyone can join. He is the person who decides what your plan says about the working week you go back to.
On the twenty-one-day programme he also sees you after you leave, which is where most of the follow-up work happens.
- Leads
- Psychology sessions, sleep, burnout, return-to-work planning
- Registered
- AHPRA psychologist, current
Executive Chef
Yuki Harada
Yuki cooks every meal from the plan the clinical team has written, which means the kitchen changes with your readings rather than working to a fixed rotation. Everything is plant-based and nothing is frozen or bought in.
She also runs the kitchen garden, which is where most of the produce comes from between December and April.
- Leads
- All meals, the kitchen garden, dietary adaptation
The five things we are asked for most.
- Burnout
- Running on adrenaline for too long. Sleep, cortisol and blood pressure all move before anything else does.
- Two-day assessment, then a light eating and movement phase before the intensive work begins.
- Gut health
- Bloating, reflux, irregular bowel. Often the first thing to change once sleep and stress settle.
- Naturopath-led elimination and reintroduction, with symptom tracking each morning.
- Metabolic syndrome
- Blood pressure, blood glucose, triglycerides and waist circumference outside range together.
- Bloods on arrival and at day seven, supervised movement, and a rewritten eating pattern.
- Stress
- Chronic tension, racing thoughts, the sense of being switched on with nowhere to go.
- Daily meditation, breathwork, and weekly psychology sessions.
- Weight
- Usually presented last, and rarely the reason people actually arrive.
- Addressed through sleep, strength and eating quality rather than restriction.
I came for my blood pressure and stayed for the first full night of sleep I had in four years.
What 418 guests reported back.
Retreat records, 2019 to 2026. Figures come from the six-week follow-up survey sent to every guest; 214 of 418 responded. Measurements are taken in the clinic on arrival and again at the six-week review.
reported better sleep within six weeks
reported a lower resting heart rate
reported less bloating or digestive discomfort
reported improved blood pressure readings
Measured change
Time to fall asleep
Resting heart rate
Waist circumference
Systolic blood pressure
Day one reading Six-week reading
Bars are scaled against the day-one average for each marker, so a shorter bar is always an improvement. Guests who did not return for the six-week review are counted in the wider group but not in the measured rows.
Two hours north of Melbourne.
A working homestead above the Werribee river in the Macedon Ranges. Eighteen rooms, a treatment wing, a kitchen garden, and forty acres of bush you are free to walk into at any hour.
From Melbourne Airport
One hour and fifty minutes by road. We collect you on arrival if you would like; there is no charge for the shuttle.
Nearby
Hanging Dam Reserve is fifteen minutes away, with walking tracks from the gate. Macedon village, with its bakery and chemist, is twelve minutes the other way.
On site
Eighteen suites, four treatment rooms, a heated pool, a movement studio, a consulting room and a kitchen garden. No shared dormitories.
A day, in order.
Guests choose their own pace. This is the shape most of them settle into by the second morning.
07:00
Warm water, a quiet glass of lemon, and a first check-in with your nurse.
07:30
Movement: yoga on the deck, or a walk on the track if the weather is kind.
09:00
Clinical session: bloods, a review, or a session with the psychologist.
11:00
The kitchen garden, a treatment, or a second assessment with the doctor.
13:00
Lunch, cooked to your plan, eaten slowly.
16:00
Your second consultation of the day, and a plan written or revised.
19:00
Dinner, then meditation by the fire, and lights out by nine thirty.
Begin your application.
Applications are read by the clinical team. We reply within two working days with availability and a short medical questionnaire.
- Your details and the programme you want.
- A short health history, reviewed by the clinical team.
- A call, then a confirmed date and a deposit.
Your health information stays with the clinical team. It is never shared with the kitchen, the spa, or the other guests.
Before you apply.
The questions the clinical team is asked most often, answered plainly.