Another Watermill way to keep your memories – and the place in your book
As well as postcards, we’ve also made four lovely bookmarks, based on pictures of the Watermill. The idea is that every time you read a book, you think of us!
And if you haven’t got a book to read, Bill will give you a copy of his detective story A Matter of Perspective, set in Renaissance Florence.
Timeless ‘buildings in a landscape’ by Terry Jarvis
We love the way our watercolour tutor Terry Jarvis captures the warm colours of the buildings in the unspoilt area of Lunigiana which surrounds the Watermill. Built largely of local materials, these ancient buildings fit into their surroundings in a way few modern buildings do. These are just a few examples from Terry’s portfolio. Terry’s course this year, in watercolours(and oils and acrylics), will run from Saturday 7 July to Saturday 14 July 2018.
Terry is one of our most popular painting course tutors at the Watermill. Here’s what one of our guests said: “I wanted to thank you for a most wonderful stay at The Watermill. Your treatment of us was terrific. Six stars doesn’t come close! I enjoyed every minute. Terry’s course was great. He is an excellent teacher – very encouraging and knows how to bring out the best in his students. He has a great personality.” Why not join him here for a fun-filled, sun-filled, inspiring week?
Pastel happiness is dirty hands!
If happiness is watercolour painting, as Sandra Strohschein says above, then part of pastel happiness is getting your hands dirty. That certainly seems to be the case for our pastel tutor Nel Whatmore. That’s Nel above, having just finished a floral pastel (picture above Right - the flower is Iris reticulata) at Harlow Carr RHS garden, the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden in North Yorkshire, England, where she is artist in residence.
The beauty of pastels is that you hold pure pigment in your hand,” says Nel, who ran a wonderful course at the Watermill last year with her colleague Rebecca de Mendonça: “The unadulterated colour has an intensity I can’t match in any other medium. The textures you can achieve and the gorgeous array of colour is just fabulous.”
Come and see Nel at work with their colourful pastels course, from Saturday 1 September to Saturday 8 September 2018. There are more details below.
We already have 11 bookings on this course, three of whom are non-painting partners, so we have room for three or four more painters.
To whet your appetite, here’s a picture of Nel painting on a Watermill terrace early in the morning as the sun burns off the mist.
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.
Paul Talbot-Greaves
28 April to 5 May 2018 - course full, waiting list open
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
Maggie Renner Hellmann
19 May to 26 May 2018 - one place left (or two sharing)
‘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 - course full, waiting list open
2 June to 9 June 2018 - course full, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about Sandra, her course at the mill and to see more of her pictures, please visit her Profile Page
Sandra Strohschein
9 June to 16 June 2018 - two places left
16 June to 23 June 2018 - still plenty of places
Watercolours
To learn more about Sandra, her course at the mill and to see more of her pictures, please visit her Profile Page
Andrew Geeson
23 June to 30 June 2018 - three or four places left
Watercolours
To learn more about Andrew, his course at the mill and to see more of his pictures, please visit his Profile Page
Terry Jarvis
7 July to 14 July 2018 - still plenty of places
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 & Nel Whatmore
1 September to 8 September 2018
- three or four places left
Pastels
To learn more about Rebecca & Nel, their course and to see more of their pictures, please visit their Profile Page
Mike Willdridge
8 September to 15 September 2018
- course full, waiting list open
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
- course full, waiting list open
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
- course full, waiting list open
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 - two places left
Watercolours
To learn more about Tim, his course at the mill and to see more of his pictures, please visit his Profile Page
Our Summer painter in residence,
Sandra Strohschein
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
Lisa’s Watermill-inspired knitting projects
Our knitting tutor Lisa Richardson’s name is instantly associated with the Rowan pattern house. In addition to her designer role, she manages the pattern editing process and mentors newer members of the design team. She says, “My biggest drive is to people create something that they will cherish for years to come.”
Lisa has just finalised her projects for her 2018 week: first, celebrating Italian floor tiles, a fairisle and textured cushion using rowan felted tweed (yarns above). The second project (above) is a textured and lace beret worked in the round using a beautiful cashmere yarn.
We have three knitting weeks this year, but only one place left, on Sarah Hazell’s week in May (see below). There are waiting lists on Marie Wallin’s and Lisa’s courses.
Here’s the current 2018 knitting line-up:
Sarah Hazell - one place left
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 - course full, waiting list open
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.
Bring a pencil (and a prayer?) on Jo’s writing course
We’ve still a few places left on one of Jo Parfitt’s inspiring Writing your Life Stories weeks. If you’re itching to write why not join us for perfect week of work and relaxation? And to inspire you more, here are some writing tips from the celebrated novelist Margaret Atwood (pictured above). They originally appeared in The Guardian newspaper in England and they range from the practical to the spiritual, from pencils to prayer...
Margaret’s tips:
- Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can’t sharpen it on the plane, because you can’t take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.
- If both pencils break, you can do a rough sharpening job with a nail file of the metal or glass type.
- Take something to write on. Paper is good. In a pinch, pieces of wood or your arm will do.
- If you’re using a computer, always safeguard new text with a memory stick.
- Do back exercises. Pain is distracting.
- Hold the reader’s attention. (This is likely to work better if you can hold your own.) But you don’t know who the reader is, so it’s like shooting fish with a slingshot in the dark. What fascinates A will bore the pants off B.
- You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality. This latter means: there’s no free lunch. Writing is work. It’s also gambling. You don’t get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but essentially you’re on your own. Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don’t whine.
- You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You’ve been backstage. You’ve seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore, ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want to break up.
- Don’t sit down in the middle of the woods. If you’re lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other road. And/or change the person. Change the tense. Change the opening page.
- Prayer might work. Or reading something else. Or a constant visualization of the Holy Grail that is the finished, published version of your resplendent book.
Why not bring a pencil and a prayer on Jo Parfitt’s creative writing week this August? Jo’s first week with us, from 22-29 September, is now completely full, so ‘by popular demand’, we’ve opened a second course: Her new Write Your Life Stories week will run from Saturday 18 August to Saturday 25 August 2018. You won’t regret it! As one student on Jo’s last course here said: “I can honestly say it’s been life changing for me and the setting could not have been more perfect.”
Jo’s creative writing courses are 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. 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.”
Jo Parfitt
18 August to 25 August 2018 - still plenty of places
22 September to 29 September 2018 - course full, waiting list open
Write Your Life Stories
To learn more about Jo and her course at The Watermill, please visit her Profile Page
Continuing Bill’s adventures with the Italian language
Coloratura or collutorio?
Bill’s adventures with the Italian language continue. In the local pharmacy recently he startled the girl behind the counter by asking confidently for coloratura. After looking around vaguely, she asked him to repeat his request. “Vorrei un pò di coloratura,” Bill repeated. The assistant looked around again but could see no sign of a lyrical soprano singer. Bill mimed raising a glass to his lips and gargling. Recognition dawned: “Ah! Collutorio!” Yes, that’s the Italian for mouthwash.
You’ll make no such gaffes if you join us on our Italian language course this Summer!
We’ve teamed up again with the prestigious Florence language school, Langues Services, and tutor Giulia Balestri to design a week in which people can learn Italian in the most natural and enjoyable way ever. There will not only be formal lessons under the vine verandah (some 20 hours in the week), but we’ll also be making trips and excursions to enjoy the natural beauty of Lunigiana, the area surrounding the mill, to explore its history and culture, to sample its traditional foods – and above all, to meet the people, speaking Italian, practising what you’ve learned.
A couple of comments from last year’s language course:
“We would like you to know how much we appreciated our stay with you at Posara. As hosts, you made us feel most welcome; and the combination of language lessons, food and excursions was excellently balanced. We were unaware of the Apuan mountain region – it is spectacularly beautiful. Altogether a unique and delightful experience. With fond memories of your lovely home and very personal hospitality.”
“What an amazing week. Thank you, Bill, Lois and your excellent team. Giulia was great, and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole trip. Can’t wait to do it all again....”
We’ve 12 people booked in for the week, one a non-participating partner, so we have room for two or three more people. Come and join us!
Giulia Balestri
30 June to 7 July 2018 - one or two places left
7 July to 14 July 2018 - possible course if there is demand
Italian language week
To learn more about Giulia and her course at The Watermill, please click here
Put those feet up before a good night’s sleep
As we told you in our last newsletter, we have a new yoga retreat with Amy Rogg and Joanne Brohmer, two amazing young American yoga teachers. Their retreat ‘Connection’ – to yourself, to others and to nature – looks like being magical and joyful. It will run from Saturday 25 August to Saturday 1 September 2018. And they’ve been communicating with potential guests with postcards, too (see below).
They have also been sending us simple but effective yoga tips for you to practise in your everyday life, like this one from Amy, which will help you get a good night’s sleep. Get those feet raised high!
Amy says: “One of the most restorative poses of all time is Viparita Karani, otherwise known as ‘legs up the wall.’ Extend your feet up a wall, perhaps putting a blanket under your back for extra comfort. Grab an eye pillow, turn on your favorite soothing music, and breathe deeply.
“This pose is beneficial for calming anxious/chaotic energy in the body and is wonderful to do right before bed. By allowing gravity to work in the opposite direction, blood flows towards the upper body allowing for better circulation and lymph drainage. When there is more blood flow in our lower energy centers–reproductive and digestive – the body’s relaxation response is activated. Say goodbye to headaches and insomnia too!”
You can find out more about our new American yoga teachers by clicking here. And to see a draft itinerary for their week, please click here.
2018 Yoga retreat
Amy Rogg & Joanne Brohmer
25 August to 1 September 2018 - still plenty of places
Nourish - mind, body and soul
To learn more about Amy and Joanne and their course at The Watermill, please visit their Tutor Page
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 this 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