Dear Friend,

A large and heartfelt ‘thank you’ to everyone who came on one of our creative courses this year. We had a very successful season, with more than 250 guests enjoying the inspiring teaching of our creative tutors, and the hospitality and ambience of the Watermill.

Many of our guests have had complimentary things to say about their weeks with us, so thank you, too, for your kind words! Just a few examples:

• Best holiday I've had in years! A wonderful week spent painting watercolour landscapes with inspirational guidance and teaching.


• The Watermill is an idyllic setting for a knitting course - beautifully situated on the river, you are lulled to sleep in your comfortable room by the sound of the millstream. Bill and Lois are perfect hosts and your every need is catered for.


• It was just wonderful. The setting magnificent, food sublime, and our hosts charming. The attention to detail and beauty are a sure recipe for a wonderful stay.


• I had an absolutely wonderful time at the Watermill. I haven’t had such a stimulating time for years! I very much appreciated the fact that everything about the holiday had been so well thought out. It meant that I could relax and enjoy myself, in beautiful and friendly surroundings, doing what I had come for: painting.


• I have achieved my dream of painting in Tuscany and it was everything I hoped for and much more. The locations have been stunning, the attention to detail in all aspects of the holiday have been incredible, including amazingly supportive and considerate staff, the beautiful setting of The Watermill, the attentive tutor and even the food has been ‘Art on a plate’! I’ve had the most amazing time.

There are many more comments like this, but why not come and enjoy unique atmosphere of the Watermill for yourself? Bookings for next season are flowing in and already more than 160 people have reserved their places for a 2020 creative course.

So, as we always say at this time of year, now really is the time to book, to be sure of the tutor and bedroom of your choice. Booking now also enables you to take advantage of our Early Bird Discount Offer, of £75 (English pounds) off for every participant in our 2020 creative courses, if you book by the end of 2019. But, as you can see from the figures above, our courses are filling fast, so don’t wait too long to make your reservation.

We are also delighted to introduce a new knitting tutor for 2020: Renée Callahan, who is already working on two exclusively designed projects for her course with us next August.

We have hardly opened the course, but five people have already booked! So don’t miss out! More details below.

In this month’s newsletter there are stories on:

• Does artistic culture seep into Italian children by osmosis?
• Gorgonzola soufflés, a mouth-watering starter by Lois on Friday nights at the Watermill
• Introducing two of more of our new painting tutors for 2020: Brienne Brown and Chris Hughes
• Why writing guest, Caroline Rixon, is not a blockhead
• Why Bill yelled 'fatty bacon' at a pickpocket!

Happy reading....

The pictures above and below this introductory section show people enjoying themselves on Watermill creative courses. Top left: Jumping for joy while painting in the riverside gardens; Top right: Concentration in the courtyard; Bottom Left: Convivial company in the walled garden; Bottom Right: Learning Italian in the shade of the vine verandah.

Elizabeth, my love,
let us to Italy
and a week at the Watermill

Bring a partner: there's plenty for them to do

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 courses, as well as a generous £GBP 250 discount if they share a room with you.

Cultural osmosis in progress?

This picture of young children tripping through the Uffizi gallery in Florence in their school smocks proved to be one of our most popular blogs last month.

Isn’t it a wonderful picture? We like the idea that these young kids are surrounded by creativity hundreds of years old and we hope that, by some process of cultural osmosis, the ideas and emotions of the previous centuries seep into their young minds and add beauty and inspiration to their lives. But blow the philosophy: it’s just such a great picture. Thanks to The Florentine, Florence’s English-language newspaper, for publishing it.

Dish of the month: gorgonzola soufflés

After our farewell prosecco (on the vine verandah or during an impromptu exhibition in the studio during painting courses Lois serves these twice-baked soufflés, to universal acclaim. They are an Italianised (Italianate?) version of a Delia Smith recipe (Delia uses Roquefort instead of gorgonzola). They taste delicately delicious and look very impressive!

Ingredients (for four servings):

• 110g gorgonzola ‘piccante’ (more salty than ‘dolce’), crumbled
• 225ml milk
• 1 small onion, peeled and cut in half
• 1 bay leaf
• Grating of fresh nutmeg
• A few whole black peppercorns
• 25g unsalted butter
• 25g self-raising flour
• 2 large eggs, separated

To serve:

• 100 ml single cream
• A handful of cut chives (ours come fresh from the watermill walled garden)

You will also need four ramekins, well buttered, and a roasting tin.

Method:

Bring your milk to a simmer with the onion, bay leaf, peppercorns and nutmeg. Strain and throw away the soggy onions and seasoning. Melt butter in saucepan and blend in flour. Add the warm milk, stirring all the time to make a thick, smooth sauce. Then leave on a very low heat for five minutes to let the flour cook through. Remove from heat and add egg yolks and 3/4 of the cheese.

Whisk egg whites separately and fold in. Fill ramekins with the mixture, and put in bain marie (roasting tin filled with 1cm boiling water) for 15 minutes, at 180 degrees C. Remove from oven and leave to cool. Turn out individual soufflés onto greaseproof paper and, when you’re almost ready to eat, sprinkle with remaining gorgonzola and bake for a further 15 minutes at 200 degrees C. (Just enough time for an aperitivo!)

Serve straightaway, garnished with cut chives and a splurge of cream. Sophisticated or what?

Our Man Friday and Watermill creatures

Our erstwhile Man Friday, Nate Szekely, who did a great job looking after our guests in the second half of the 2019 season, was intrigued by the wildlife, large and small, around the mill – and in particular the small. At one time, he seemed to be posting a picture of a new bug every day on social media!

Here’s Nate’s picture of a mantis he saw one day. I love the colour but I’m not so sure I would like to meet a human-size version on a dark night. I don’t like the look of those front limbs!

Far more to my liking is the cute little guy next to him (her?), in the palm of Nate’s hand: a baby Mediterranean house gecko. He looks more like a jewelled brooch than a cold-blooded insect hunter.

Geckos are just part of the fascinating wildlife you can see around the mill buildings and gardens: there are lizards galore and, in the season, amazing humming-bird moths and elegant swallow-tail butterflies. And along the river and millstream, damselflies and pond skaters… all part of the abundance of nature in this ecologically protected area. And that’s saying nothing about the deer, the wild boar, the beech martens, the badgers, the porcupines...

It was a dark and stormy night...

Rose Diamond, who was on Charles Sluga’s painting week recently, sent us this lovely and unusual picture of the Watermill courtyard with a dramatic evening sky behind it.

Thank you very much for that, Rose, and for these kind words: “I want you to know how special it was to experience the Watermill at Posara. Last week was magical on so many levels...magnificent setting, accommodations and meals, day trips, and painting instructor.”

Why not come and share the Watermill experience yourself? You can find out more by clicking here.