Dear Friend,
The Watermill 2018 website is now live!...
....with details about exciting new painting, writing and yoga tutors who are joining our ever-popular established Watermill tutors to bring you a wide choice of creative courses. It’s going to be another glorious season at The Watermill, nestled in the heart of Lunigiana, the unspoilt paradise in deep rural Tuscany.
We are delighted to welcome new painting tutors Paul Talbot-Greaves, Claire Warner and Vicki Norman. They’ll be joined by the regular and popular members of the ‘Watermill painting team’, Maggie Renner Hellman, Sandra Strohschein, Sarah Yeoman, Terry Jarvis, Rebecca de Mendonça, Mike Willdridge and Tim Wilmot. There will be one more painting course, in May, but we haven’t yet finalised the details. You can see more about all our painting tutors by visiting our 2018 Painting Programme page.
We’ll also be running three of our world-famous knitting courses in 2018, with inspiring knitwear designers and tutors Sarah Hazell, Marie Wallin and Lisa Richardson. You can see more about all our knitting tutors by visiting our 2018 Knitting Programme page.
And we are also delighted to announce the return of Jo Parfitt, journalist, teacher, editor and publisher, with her stimulating week-long residential creative writing course How to write your life story. You can see more about Jo’s course by visiting our 2018 Creative Writing Programme page.
Then there are two yoga and meditation retreats next year, with newcomer Dina Sheldon and old friend Claire Murphy. You can see more about our yoga tutors by visiting our 2018 Yoga Retreat Programme page.
And last, but by no means least, another of our unique Italian language weeks, with Giulia Balestri from the prestigious Langues Services language school in Florence. You can see more about Giulia and the language course by visiting our 2018 Language Holiday Programme page.
So, you can see we have an exhilarating season ahead.
We’d love you to join us – and now is the time to reserve your place on a course, for we have a special Early Bird discount offer, for those who book their places before the end of the year: you’ll get a £GBP 75 off (about $US 100, $CAN 120, AUD 120) the cost of your week-long creative holiday. You can read all about our lovely bedrooms and the all-inclusive costs of a creative week by visiting our 2018 Painting Holidays Costs page. (These are costs for painting courses, but the costs for knitting, writing, yoga and language weeks are the same.)
There’s been so much recent interest in the Watermill that we already have more than 85 firm bookings for 2018, so if you’ve a favourite tutor, a particular week, or a special bedroom that you like, please get in touch as soon as you can and we’ll set aside a place for you. Just click here, watermill.net select the type of course you are interested in (painting, knitting, writing, yoga and or language), find out more about your tutor, then go to the Booking Enquiry form, fill in as appropriate and send it to us.
The pictures above and below show some paintings by Watermill tutors, old and new. Above left is an atmospheric watercolour by Paul Talbot-Greaves, called Through the Trees, while above right is a detail from quick acrylic study of the Tuscan landscape, made by Maggie Renner Hellman during her course here this year. Below left are some stunning Fair isle patterns by top designer and Watermill knitting tutor Marie Wallin, while at below right is a watercolour, Café in Provence, by new painting tutor Claire Warner. Come and make you own memories. We’d love you to join us.
Looks interesting
from my point of view, too
An attractive offer for Early Birds
Why not join the Early Birds and spend the Autumn, Winter and Spring dreaming of your Watermill holiday!
Our Early Bird offer: if you book before 31 December 2017 there’s a £GBP 75 per person discount on all our 2018 creative courses. To enquire about availability and/or to reserve your place, please go to www.watermill.net, select your course and bedroom, then click on Booking Enquiry.
Or call us (UK no.) +44 20 7193 6246.
Come with your
partner or friend!
Bring a partner: there’s plenty for them to do
Why not bring your friend or partner? They don’t have to participate in the course, but they will be able to enjoy the wonderful hospitality of the mill and, whenever they want, to come out with you to our beautiful locations. We also offer a range of Alternative activities for partners on all our 2018 courses, as well as a generous £GBP 250 discount if they share a room with you.
Congratulations to Paul
Our new painting tutor Paul Talbot-Greaves has just won not one, but two prestigious awards at the annual Patchings Art Festival in England. He was first in the Artist category and he also won the Canson Award. And he also sold the painting, A Pennine Winter, (above left). Not bad, eh?
Paul is a professional English painter who works primarily in watercolour. He says: “I like to seek out compositions employing patterns of light, shade and contrast and I aim to achieve vibrancy in the colours that I use”. Paul adds: “I like to find interesting subjects in the least expected places. In this picture, I used simple dynamic shadows combined with contrast and appealing colours to create a quick impression of light streaming through the woodland”
An unusual angle
on a town square, Roussillon
As well as receiving many accolades for his work, like those above, Paul is also an inspiring and sympathetic tutor. As one of his students said: “You are immaculately prepared, but more than this you understand intuitively how people learn. All this added to the fact that you are an amazing artist makes you an inspirational teacher” Paul says: “I get an enormous amount of pleasure seeing people improve and enjoy their own work.”
Paul will be with us for his week-long course in watercolours from Saturday 28 April to Saturday 5 May 2018. But if you want to come, you’ll have to hurry. We have only one or two places left (for a single traveller, or for a couple or friends sharing a bedroom).
To learn more about Paul and his course at The Watermill, please visit his Profile Page
Painting holidays: the inspiring 2018 line-up
We are proud to announce the full line-up of our talented and inspiring painting tutors for 2018. We’ll be introducing then one by one in this and future newsletters
Paul Talbot-Greaves
28 April to 5 May 2018
Watercolours (and acrylics)
To learn more about Paul, his course at the mill and to see more of his pictures, please visit his Profile Page
New Tutor
12 May to 19 May 2018
Coming soon
To learn more about this Tutor,
information will be posted on our website in the near future
Maggie Renner Hellmann
19 May to 26 May 2018
‘Courageous Color Workshop’
To learn more about Maggie, her course at the mill and to see more of her pictures, please visit her Profile Page
Sandra Strohschein
26 May to 2 June 2018 and
2 June to 9 June 2018
Watercolours
To learn more about Sandra, her course at the mill and to see more of her pictures, please visit her Profile Page
Sarah Yeoman
9 June to 16 June 2018 and
16 June to 23 June 2018
Watercolours
To learn more about Sarah, her course at the mill and to see more of her pictures, please visit her Profile Page
Terry Jarvis
7 July to 14 July 2018
Watercolours (and oils, pastels and acrylics)
To learn more about Terry, his course at the mill and to see more of his pictures, please visit his Profile Page
Rebecca de Mendonça
1 September to 8 September 2018
Watercolours (and oils, pastels and acrylics)
To learn more about Rebecca, her course at the mill and to see more of her pictures, please visit her Profile Page
Mike Willdridge
8 September to 15 September 2018
Watercolours and drawing (also gouache and acrylics with an emphasis on sketching and drawing on location)
To learn more about Mike, his course at the mill and to see more of his pictures, please visit his Profile Page
Claire Warner
15 September to 22 September 2018
Watercolours (and oils and acrylics)
To learn more about Claire, her course and to see more of her pictures, please visit her Profile Page
Vicki Norman
6 October to 13 October 2018
Oils en plein air
To learn more about Vicki, her course at the mill and to see more of her pictures, please visit her Profile Page
Tim Wilmot
13 October to 20 October 2018
Watercolours
To learn more about Tim, his course at the mill and to see more of his pictures, please visit his Profile Page
Come and join us and enjoy the magic at the mill!
*** Why not bring your non-painting partner as well?
There’s a generous £250 discount for him/her if they share a room with you - and there’s plenty for them to do. Have a look at our Partner’s Activities Page for suggestions.
Use the 2018 programme link below to view the full list of our inspiring 2018 painting tutors
Fun-filled knitting weeks - filling fast!
The goodies on display.
The start of Marie Wallin's first knitting course this year
A guest on one of this year’s knitting courses said: “Such perfection, I am spoiled for anywhere else!” and everyone has seemed to have a lovely time on our knitting and La Bella Vita courses.
2018 Knitting courses
Here’s the 2018 line-up.......
Sarah Hazell - still plenty of places
5 May to 12 May 2018
Knitting and La Bella Vita
To learn more about Sarah and her courses at the mill, please visit her Profile Page
Marie Wallin - course full, waiting list open
14 July to 21 July 2018
Knitting and La Bella Vita
To learn more about Marie and her course at the mill, please visit her Profile Page
Lisa Richardson - three or four places remaining
29 September to 6 October 2018
Knitting and La Bella Vita
To learn more about Lisa and her course at the mill, please visit her Profile Page
Don't forget your partner!
And don’t forget that your friend or partner doesn’t need to participate in the creative course, whether it’s painting, language, knitting or yoga.
We offer them a range of Alternative activities for partners on all our 2018 courses, as well as a generous £GBP 250 discount if they share a room with you.
Relax and unwind on one of our yoga and meditation retreats
There could be few better places to relax and unwind than The Watermill at Posara, with its loving restored buildings set around a sunlit courtyard, surrounded by peaceful garden and the gurgling millstream and river Set in a gentle valley with mountain peaks in the background, the mill is a peaceful spot, with two environmentally protected areas nearby: the National Park of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and the Regional Park of the Apuan Alps, home of the marble mountains of Carrara. This is the heart of Lunigiana, in the North-west of Tuscany, a truly unspoilt part of Italy.
We have two relaxing yet invigorating yoga retreats planned for 2018, with our old friend Claire Murphy and a new yoga teacher, Dina Sheldon.
Seeing: Yoga & Discovering the Self through Portraits
Dina stretching
on a Watermill terrace
Dina Sheldon is from Michigan USA and her unique week will blend the essential elements of art & yoga to create a fabulous retreat called Seeing: Yoga & Discovering the Self through Portraits. It will run from Saturday 23 June to Saturday 30 June 2018.
The precise timetable will depend on the needs and desires of the group, but will include a variety of yoga techniques, NIA (Neuromuscular Integrative Activity) - combining dance, martial arts and mindfulness, toning your body while transforming your mind. And with artist Pamela Cohen also there to help and advise, there will be amazing guided self-portrait work to help you further to discover yourself.
Dina strikes a pose
at the gate to the
Watermill's walled garden
Currently owner of A2 Yoga in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, Dina Sheldon was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 when under 40 years old. Through cancer she discovered the depth to which yoga can transform life into the joy of living! Her approach is integrative & fun - body, mind, emotion and spirit.
Dina says: “To embody living yoga, we must be consciously aware. Every morning just by waking up and stretching, we are doing yoga. Everyday Yoga is opening oneself to the possibility of seeing the self as being special. Knowing that is yogic teaching. Yoga becomes accessible, and easy to approach with a willing heart and self-understanding.”
For Dina, Yoga = Life: “We are all born with the knowing of movement. We all come into this world on an inhale, and we will all leave on an exhale...let us learn that in life we live yoga!”
Nourish – mind, body, soul
We’ll nourish your mind, body and soul in a unique seven-day yoga and meditation retreat with Claire Murphy. It will run from Saturday 24 August to September to Saturday 1 September 2018.
We’ll nourish your soul on rural walks and visits to ancient walled towns and hilltop villages, castles and convents. You’ll also savour the relaxed atmosphere of la bella vita italiana in local cafes, shops, restaurants and markets.
We’ll venture a little journal writing and painting in The Watermill studio overlooking the river or under the shade of the vine verandah to nourish your mind.
And we’ll nourish your body with fresh, home-cooked, nutritionally balanced meals lovingly prepared by the Watermill cooks, with many of the ingredients freshly picked from The Watermill’s own gardens. There will be vegetarian options for every meal, of course. Private sessions with a local Shiatsu practitioner are also available, at cost, on request.
2017 Yoga retreat
There are still a few places left for Claire's 2017 yoga retreat. Please visit our 2017 Yoga retreat programme if you would like to join us.
Claire Murphy - one place left
9 September to 16 September 2017
Nourish - mind, body and soul
To learn more about Claire and her course at The Watermill, please visit her 2017 Profile Page
2018 Yoga retreats
Dina Sheldon
23 June to 30 June 2018
Seeing: Yoga & Discovering the Self through Portraits
To learn more about Dina and her course at The Watermill, please visit her Profile Page
Claire Murphy
25 August to 1 September 2018
Nourish - mind, body and soul
To learn more about Claire and her course at The Watermill, please visit her Profile Page
Write your life stories
Learn the secrets of writing your life story in our delightful setting in the heart of rural Tuscany – brilliant teaching and exquisite Italy all wrapped up in one fantastic week! This is the ultimate workshop on how to write the stories of your life, with journalist, teacher, editor and publisher Jo Parfitt. The Write Your Life Stories creative writing course is designed to help you produce your best work, to find your true writer's 'voice' and to write authentically. Among other things, you’ll discover the secret of SPICE, the seven steps to writing life stories, and put this into practice right away. The course will run from 22 to 29 September 2018.
Jo Parfitt has published 31 books herself, has helped more than 100 authors get into print and more than 1,000 people to begin writing. She's an inspiring, compassionate and encouraging teacher: her motto is 'sharing what I know to help others to grow'.
Jo says:"The course at the watermill will provide a safe haven in which to unlock your creativity, write from your heart and hone your writing craft. It will also help to remove blocks to your writing. Sessions at the mill will empower students to write in a compelling way that makes real experiences come to life"
She adds: “The class will include several methods and genres and is perfect for anyone wanting to write about their own lives for an effective journal, memoir or blog. If you would enjoy an injection of inspiration in a safe and supportive environment this course is for you. It is appropriate for students of any level”.
Jo Parfitt
22 September to 29 September 2018
Write Your Life Stories
To learn more about Jo and her course at The Watermill, please visit her Profile Page
A week-long language course, soaking up Italian and enjoying la bella vita
This really is a ‘course with a difference’. Not only are there formal lessons on the vine verandah (some 20 hours in the week), but we also make trips and excursions to savour the natural beauty of Lunigiana, the area around the mill, to explore its history and culture, to sample its traditional foods – and above all, to meet the people, speak Italian, and practise what you’ve learned.
The Watermill has teamed up again with the prestigious language school Langues Services in Florence, and their wonderful tutor Giulia Balestri, to design a week in which people can learn Italian in the most natural and enjoyable way. Next year-s course will run from Saturday 30 June to Saturday 7 July 2018.
Your immersion into the language and culture of real Italians will be customised for you, to suit your curiosity and your interests, helping you to treasure everything you learn and make it a seamless part of who you are.
This exciting language course is suitable for all levels of ability, because of the special approach of the Langues Services language school. Its philosophy and method are inspired by the work of Professor Bertrand Schwartz of Paris University, the educationalist who overturned the concept of teaching to adults, proposing an approach that develops not only theoretical knowledge but practical know-how as well.
The aim is to enhance the personal qualities of each student, tailoring the teaching to their needs and ambitions and establishing mutual, active and confident relationships, where the student is the true protagonist in the course. The motto is ‘action first, knowledge after.’
One previous course participant said: “A super language week: well organised, giving us a taste of the ‘real Italy.’ Despite the disparity in ability our tutor managed to help all of us towards a better understanding and production of the Italian language. The lessons were fun, interactive and helped me enormously” Another added: “Our tutor was fantastic and designed a course that we could all follow at our own level”
There was also an excellent article earlier this year in Britain’s prestigious Good Housekeeping magazine, written by the magazine’s Travel Editor David Wickers. David is full of praise for our course, not just the teaching at the Watermill, but the ability to practise the language and savour the true Italian lifestyle. He says: “Wherever we went, we had encounters with real Italians in the hopes of making ourselves understood in the real world as well as in class”
Giulia Balestri - four or so places left
30 June to 7 July 2018
Italian language week
To learn more about Giulia and her course at The Watermill, please click here
Everything's included in your watermill painting holiday, yoga retreat, creative writing holiday, knitting week or Italian Language course
Don’t forget that everything is included in the cost of a painting holiday, yoga retreat, knitting, personal development or language holiday: tuition, accommodation (including all linen and towels), pre-dinner aperitifs, all meals and local transportation (including transfers to Pisa airport; an excursion by train to visit the ancient walled city of Lucca or the stunning seaside villages of the Cinque Terre). All you have to do is to get to Pisa airport and we do the rest.
Whether you're travelling alone or with a partner you can be sure of a warm welcome, and that you'll be well looked after. We have built our reputation on the comfort of the mill and the care we provide.
Become a friend of The Watermill at Posara
Visit our Friends Website (Link below). Just follow the instructions to Register as a Friend and then Log In to enjoy special privileges. If you become a ‘Friend’ (it will cost you nothing) you’ll enjoy many exclusive benefits, including dozens of practical and inspiring tips from our international painting and creative writing tutors and recipes from the watermill’s mouth-watering menus. And there will be exclusive offers for Friends to make our courses and holidays even more attractive.
We very much look forward to welcoming you to the mill next year, and for those of you who have already tasted the many delights at The Watermill at Posara, we look forward to welcoming you back.
With very best wishes a tutti
Lois and Bill Breckon