Dear Friend,

Here we are, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, yet nature continues in its marvellous way, totally disinterested in the affairs of humans. While we all struggle to come to terms with the viral attack and the best way of overcoming it, Spring is beginning to, er, spring. And, as you can see from the pictures above and below this introductory section, the gardens and grounds surrounding the Watermill are looking as beautiful as ever. Flavio Terenzoni, our gardener, took the pictures just before he was locked down at home, and you can see a little Facebook slideshow of them, and more, by clicking here.

Florence is quiet, but as beautiful as ever.
Picture: the Florentine

Lois and Bill are ‘confined to barracks’ in Florence during the Italian lockdown, which has been going on for three weeks now and which, we hope, will soon be over. The Italians have been very good at observing all the stringent quarantine conditions, even though, like us, they are missing their evening passeggiata, the communal convivial stroll through their town or city followed by an aperitivo to prepare the tastebuds for supper. But life, although certainly very different from the normal, has not been too hard and we have found plenty of exhilarating things to occupy ourselves. (See below.)

Meanwhile our friend and Watermill manager Karsten Müller is confined to the mill (not the worst of prisons!) and has steadily been ensuring that everything will be ready to welcome our guests, whenever they are able to arrive for another season of creative courses. The major building works in the frantoio have been completed (See the story, Pointing the way, below.} and all the air conditioning units, in the bedrooms and public rooms, including the studio, have been neatly installed.

As you know, everything is now powered by our hidden array of photovoltaic cells, using the sun to generate electricity. So even in the summer months you will be Cool and Green during your Watermill creative weeks. This month we will be celebrating another milestone. Our photovoltaic system has now produced no fewer than 10,000 kWh of electricity and we saved seven tons of carbon dioxide emission. See A photovoltaic milestone below.

But there’s no getting away from it, the coronavirus has wrought havoc on the Watermill’s 2020 season. We have taken decisive action, postponing many of our earlier courses to later in the year and even to 2021. We have reason to believe that in a few months much will be resolved and hopefully will be able to run creative courses later in the season, but we are constantly monitoring the situation and will keep everyone informed as things progress. You can see our Coronavirus response in the story below.

Meanwhile, enjoy Flavio’s spring pictures above and below this introductory section. They are: Top Left: Primroses blossoming along the Millstream; Top Right: Trees beginning to blossom beside the riverside. Bottom Left: The millstream ambles towards the river; Bottom Right: The sun shines on the primroses in the mill garden.

• pointing the way to Summer
• an electricity generating milestone
• things we do during lockdown: Mascagni and Marathon
• beauty in simplicity with Mike Willdridge
• another lovely painting from a Watermill guest
• Chic and Stormy for Renée’s knitting course
• Who Dares Wins Better Writing
• Andrà tutto bene. All will be well.

Happy reading....

When we’ve slain this coronadragon,
let’s go to the Watermill:
Paolo Uccello - National Gallery, London

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.

The coronavirus and the Watermill

We hope you are well and in good heart in these difficult times for all of us.

In view of the coronavirus pandemic, which seems to change daily if not hourly, we have postponed our 2020 early courses, pushing them back to later in the year when, hopefully, the situation will have been resolved. Some courses have been postponed until 2021. We have been in touch with everyone involved. The painting, creative writing, knitting and Italian language weeks that we are now planning to run are outlined in the appropriate sections below.

Your well-being is our concern and we are constantly reviewing the situation, so please rest assured that if travel restrictions in your own country or in Italy mean that the course cannot run on these new dates, or that appropriate flights are not available, we will postpone your course again to later in the year or even until 2021.

Our coronavirus cancellation policy is as follows:

• If a workshop is postponed and you cannot make the new dates for the tutor you have chosen, we will offer you alternative courses with others of our inspiring tutors, either this year or next.
• If you still want to cancel despite those offers, our normal cancellation policy will apply. You can see these on our website under FAQs in each of the appropriate sections: Painting holidays, Creative Writing holidays, Knitting holidays and Italian Language holidays.

If you would like to support us and our business in this difficult period, we would be grateful if you would use any payments you have made as a credit for a future creative course, rather than requesting a refund. Your help in this way would be much appreciated.

We do hope you will be able to plan ahead for the time when we are through this difficult period and you are ready for a relaxing and inspiring break away from it all.

Please come and join us.

Pointing the way...

A couple of weeks ago we all but completed the external restoration of the old frantoio, the olive press.

On the left are our happy builders, Nico and Daniele, enjoying the sunshine and putting the finishing touches to the pointing of the ancient stonework overlooking the river.

It looks like they’re having fun, but as far as acting is concerned, we have suggested that they do not change their day jobs! They too, are now locked down, so they can practise their smiles in front of the mirror!

A photovoltaic milestone...

The picture to the left above, from our handy little photovoltaic monitoring app, shows that that on 28 March we had produced 10,000 kW of electricity from the sun. And we also saved more than seven tons of carbon dioxide production. To the right you can see some of our photovoltaic panels on the south-facing roofs of the 19th century mill, looking out towards the river.

As we said, we’ve now installed air-conditioning units in all our bedrooms and public rooms (the dining room, the sitting room and the studio) and we will be self-sufficient in electricity generation. You will definitely be Cool and Green with us.

Tranquil and beautiful memories help in difficult times

We had this wonderful email, just a week or so ago, from Lesley Pendlebury, who came on Jo Parfitt’s Writing Your Life Stories course in 2018.

She says: “I have just read Bill’s blog [about the reaction of the Italians to their enforced quarantine] and am so glad to have done so. It is a measure of our humanity that we can reach to others and keep going in such ways.

 “The Watermill is such a special place and means so much, I’m sure, to its many guests. It is comforting to think that, in the middle of our panic and concern, it is still there – and one day we may visit it again.

“Here in London we are only just beginning to understand what may lie ahead. The spirit of carry on and keep calm is there – but muted. The worst is separation from the ones we love.

“At times like this our minds protect us by creating images of places where our lives were happy. Thanks to its tranquillity and beauty – and the creative talent of leaders who, like Jo, you choose to run your retreats, Posara is such a place. Please continue to preserve this aura. I hope that you and your family and staff are well. Stay safe.”

Thank you, Lesley, for sharing those inspiring and uplifting comments.

Things we do during lockdown: Mascagni and Marathon

While we are ‘confined to barracks’ here in Italy, Lois and Bill have been trying to work on some creative ventures.

We are doing some research, for example, into the Italian composer Pietro Mascagni, creator of Cavalleria Rusticana, and the operatic heir to Verdi and Puccini. He is often regarded as a 'one-hit' composer, gaining international fame in his 20s, but although writing another dozen or so operas, never again achieving anything so good. Add to that he became mixed up with the fascists and Mussolini in the 1930s and ended up a petulant old man in a hotel room in Rome when it was captured by the Allies in 1944, and we think we have the makings of a fascinating novel or screenplay. So, Lois is beavering away reading all the contemporary papers and biographies of Mascagni.

But the music, as ever, is more than the man, notably the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana. If you'd like to see something goosebump-creating, have a look at this Taiwanese young people's orchestra, conducted by their (older) Chinese director of music. His sigh and smile as he leads the orchestra into the main theme of the Intermezzo (about a minute and a half in), is an amazing moment. Have a look at it by clicking here.

It stirs the heart in these challenging times...

Rounding Balcony Corner into Sitting Room Straight

Bill’s slowest Marathon

Locked-down and inspired by a man who recently ran the Marathon on his 7-metre balcony in a suburb of Toulouse, France, Bill counted out the steps on a walk around our Florence apartment, in and out of the balconies and round the sitting room, kitchen and bedrooms. Then he did some mathematics: the course, including Balcony Corner, Bathroom Bend and Sitting Room Straight, added up to some 200 steps and, at half a metre a step, that equals 100 metres.

Since the Marathon is a mere 42,195 kilometres, Bill reckons he will complete the distance in 422 laps or so. He is doing 20 laps a day, a couple of kilometres. So, he will finish his Marathon in 21.1 days! By the end of March, he had already done 16 km.

Elisha Nochomovitz, the French balconiste marathonaire who inspired Bill’s long walk, completed his task in six hours 48 minutes. Every kilometre of Bill’s takes about 20 minutes, so his total time is going to be 13½ hours or so! Is this the world’s slowest Marathon?,?