Chez Boileau is a well equipped riverside former family house in a quiet neighbourhood on the outskirts of eastern Bergerac, where the complementary activities of sculling, yoga and cycling can be learned, practised and enjoyed in ideal conditions.

The garden has direct access to the river Dordogne. The top floor of the house contains a yoga room, RP3 erg practice space and dedicated video/photo/telemetry feedback coaching classroom.

So, rather than a hotel, we are a training venue where we aim to help with a holistic approach to your sculling, training and target-setting. We believe a sustainable healthy approach to overall wellbeing for athletes of all ages leads not just to progress, but to individuals thriving.

Who is this for? Is this right for me/us?

We have a huge range of people coming: from former Olympic and World Champion rowers and scullers, to total beginners (both young and old). Some people are coming back to sculling after many years away from the sport, or they want their children or partner to learn. Others are rowers wanting to transition to sculling or families coming to get some sculling time with gentle coaching. Others come, often with specific targets, wanting a hard training week and or to make big changes to their technique, fitness or flexibility. For individuals coming, we try to mix people with similar or complementary objectives and speeds. Having someone going for a university/school first boat, or national trials, does not normally want to be in the same week as a seventy year old beginner! So, if you are coming alone, for the first time, we often ask your level and objectives and then touch base with others who have been in touch but not yet committed to a week. This often works very well.

If you enjoy sculling and want a training camp, or just enjoy sculling on beautiful water, or want to learn more about your sculling stroke and how to improve it, this is for you. If you are a small group from a club and have not had much coaching, or have not had specialist coaching, we can help a lot. If you are a family wanting to introduce the sport to children, or to have the children move on technically… again, this works. We have also just got a a new single for smaller (40kg weight) children. I shall write about that after we have tried it a few more times.

Here is a link to an example schedule of a spring or summer session.

Bookings: 2026 : taken from mid-November ’25 (available slots potentially to be reduced & updated with news & new schedule from mid-November)

Sessions are for five nights, Monday arrival to Saturday (after an early morning scull) departure. We can also have shorter blocks, or consecutive bookings.

Bookings are full when all three rooms on the main floor are booked. Therefore group size can be up to six. If you want to come for longer or less, or with a larger group, get in touch. Some scullers have come for long training camps. The longest so far has been five weeks (after coming for just a couple of days the year before). We saw a major transformation! You can arrange your own accommodation in or near Bergerac for longer stays (and borrow a bike!).

We do not have en-suite bathrooms, nor do we currently have AC in bedrooms, but we are a good place for learning and training in sculling, yoga and cycling. You can reserve/save your place with a 50% deposit. If you book all three rooms, then you have an exclusive session!

We used to charge a single room booking supplement, for people coming alone and taking a room, but no longer do this.

For 2026 we have a single charge of £1850 per person for the five night block, plus a catering cost paid directly to Rita (details on this are currently subject to change … but will be confirmed from mid-November & we shall be taking bookings from then).

If you are two people coming together and are happy to share a room, either as a couple or in a twin room, then you each get a £300 discount. There is a further discount for returnees of 10%. Returnee groups (families or small club groups), or those making multiple bookings in the same year, have a further discount.

Please email about this. Again, when three rooms are booked: we are full.

What is included ?

• accommodation (five nights: arrival Monday mid-day, departure Saturday by mid-day)
• Bergerac airport / train station pick up and drop off
• coaching in single and double sculling with experience from beginner to world champion levels
• yoga and functional mobility sessions
• equipment use: Nelo, carbon rear-wing rigger boats or classic wooden & Carl Douglas boats; bikes
• erg (RP3) sessions
• video and photo sessions (you then get a folder of your images for your use)
• Telemetry use and analysis (for more advanced scullers, optional)
• laundry facilites (for your rowing and sports gear)
• All breakfastst

What is not covered?

• getting you to Bergerac (*flights, trains etc)
• one dinner out in Bergerac
• catering: this is paid directly to Rita, in Euro. The price depends on group size and starts at 500 euro per person for the first two visitors (and no other guests booked in). As the group size increases the price per person goes down. Her catering covers lunches, four dinners (lacto-ovo-vegetarian ayurveda and Ottholenghi inspired food from mostly organic locally grown fresh seasonal ingredients) – one night (see below) you eat out Bergerac where there is a huge range of restaurants and fend for yourself/yourselves).
• Insurance (due to Brexit we have some complications with our insurance and so ask you to take out your own sports insurance before arriving and agree that you are happy to accept that the activities we are undertaking (sculling, cycling, yoga) all carry some risk and that you are happy to accept these (if you are unsure about this, please ask… We aim to make these activities as safe and productive as possible, and fun, and we hope .. that you will join those who come again (and again); other than that… everything is covered!

Cancellation policy

• 60 days or more before your visit: 90% returned (half of the 10% retained to cover our costs can be credited to a future booking)
• 30~59 days before your visit: 50% refunded (half of any non-returned deposit can be credited to a future booking)
• Less than 30 days before your visit: you can still transfer your attendance to another sculler (up to a week before the start date), but no refund can be offered at this point. (Again, we can apply half of any retained deposit to a future booking)

2026 Camp Schedule/Dates: available slots potentially to be reduced significantly & be updated to new schedule in mid-November (new bookings taken from then).

Five night camps (Monday arrival Saturday departure) – sorry about USA style dates (I am dual!)

• April 6 ~ 11 Post Easter (Easter egg work-off week: LSD long slow distant (with afternoon cycling) training week) **
• April 13 ~ 18 Sculling with Yoga **
• April 20 ~ 25 Sculling with Yoga **
• April 27 ~ 2nd May Sculling with Yoga **
• May 4 ~ 9 Sculling with Yoga with * Meditation for Scullers (a focus on breath) **
• May 11 ~ 16 Sculling with Yoga **
• May 18 ~ 23 Sculling with Yoga ** (Fully-Booked Barnes Group)
• May 25 ~ 30 Sculling with Yoga **
• June 1 ~ 6 Sculling with Yoga * Brain Training for Scullers with Rita
• June 8 ~ 13 Sculling with Yoga
• June 15 ~ 20 Sculling with Yoga
• June 22 ~ 27
• June 29 ~ July 4
• July 6 ~ 11
• July 13 ~ 18 Sculling with Yoga (perhaps starting on the 14th due to Henley Masters in the UK)
• July 20 ~ 25 Sculling with Yoga & Meditation
• July 27 ~ August 1 Sculling with Yoga
• August 3 ~ 8 Sculling with Yoga (Fully Booked: Masters Scullers)
• August 10 ~ 15 Sculling with Yoga
• August 17 ~ 22 Sculling with Yoga
• August 24 ~ 29 Sculling with Yoga
• August 31 ~ September 5 Final Preparation for World Masters
• September 7 ~ 12 WORLD MASTERS BLED 9~13 September
• 14 ~ 19 Sculling with Yoga September (starting on 16th)
• 21 ~ 26 Sculling with Yoga (EAB to be racing Scullers Head, all being well!)

** this time of year can be absolutely amazing, but also has a small flooding risk: if the water levels are too high to scull in Bergerac, due to too much rain upstream that I have to cancel sculling on the river (this has happened on three weeks since 2015), then the option is: you take a full refund of payment to us (no longer going to refund air tickets as made a loss a few years ago due to one large group being cancelled and some expensive tickets!) or you come and get a 25% refund and we take one trip to the laned course in Libourne and spend time doing additional yoga, cycling and functional mobility. This has been the choice of the majority of people among the few people this unfortunate situation has presented itself to. One of these groups had never trained on a multi-laned course (only raced on them) and found the session there really really useful. Silver linings…

For bookings please fill in your details in the contact form and let us know the dates you are interested in and how many are in your party, and your level/experience and objectives. Thanks and hope to see you in 2026!