Silently and unseen, the leaves have fallen for more than half a century in our bamboo glade between the millstream and the river, creating a cushioned pathway through the towering stems, adding  to a Zen-like sense of both permanence and change.

We’ll take you on a contemplative stroll through this magical place, where even the unrecorded fall of a leaf takes on a cosmic significance, symbolising the inevitability of change while illuminating the profound, silent, continuity of nature and existence.  There’s a sense of peacefulness and calm, despite the roar of the river and the rustle and crack of the bamboos.

But enough of this lyrical waxing! How did these giant bamboos, native to Asia, get here in the first place?

It all began more than a century ago, in 1920 to be precise, when a major earthquake altered the course of the river Rosaro and created a swathe of fertile alluvial land, which the villagers of Posara swiftly took over as new orti, vegetable plots. And, of course, they each grew a small clump of bamboos, to provide poles to support their tomatoes and beans. As time passed, however, and the older folk died and the younger ones had either emigrated or were uninterested, the orti were abandoned and the bamboo grew and grew, and grew, creating the glade, which today must be hundreds of metres long and dozens, wide. We reckon the abandonment of the orti began after the Second World War and there wasn’t a vegetable plot to be seen in the bamboo glade by  the time we arrived in the late 1980s.

You can enjoy the bamboo glade during a week-long course at the Watermill, and you can wax lyrical or not, as you please. Come and join us for inspiring creativity, warm hospitality, delicious food and wine, stunning locations and the convivial company of like-minded people.

Click here and join us on one of the Watermill’s world-famous painting, Italian language or knitting  courses.

And don’t forget our Early Bird 0ffer: £(GBP) 75 off the cost of any 2026 creative holiday if you book before the end of 2025.

Annabel Collis designed and made this stunning silk scarf, inspired by the bamboo glade. You can see it in the Watermill frantoio, and even purchase one as a special gift.