Our guests often comment on how well they sleep during their stay with us. It is not just the quality of our mattresses and pillows, nor the quiet tiredness at the end of a satisfyingly creative day. No, it also has to do with the sound of the River Rosaro gushing by, and the cascades of water that tumble through arches at the end of the millstream. The reason? They produce what the scientists Continue Reading
They’ve arrived! These special bottles will help the Watermill (and you) to be ‘plastic neutral’ this year
‘ Last week Lois and I had a very special delivery at the Watermill. Here's Lois to tell you about it. Yes, these are the Ocean Bottles* which are helping us in our fight to reduce the pollution of our oceans. As Lois says above, we have created a project to collect 450 kgs of ocean-bound plastic from the world's most polluted rivers and waterways this year, and to ensure that it is Continue Reading
Everyone knows that if you want to be a writer you should write some words every day. Nobody knows how many
There is no denying that if you want to be a writer you must write something every day. And it helps if you set yourself a daily goal. The problem is that no one really knows what the goal might be. Famous authors have a wide range of daily word production. Anthony Trollope, for example, wrote 3,000 words a day (pounding out 250 words every quarter of an hour, timed on his watch), while Continue Reading
After enjoying artistic ice-skating, come and be Cool (and Green) on a Watermill painting course
It’s been freezing in Northern Europe for the past few days, although it’s not so cold in Posara, where we have been monitoring progress on the building of a new laundry room, or Florence, where we have been cosy in our apartment -- and it’s certainly not been as cold here in Italy as Scotland, where we used to live. The chilly UK weather forecast on the BBC made us shiver in sympathy. Continue Reading
Paint with your favourite medium and perhaps try something new as well, helped by Fiona
If you join us for Fiona Graham-Mackay’s course at the Watermill this summer you can pick your favourite painting medium: oil, acrylic, watercolour, pastel. Fiona is skilled in them all. She says: “ Each one has a unique quality and I enjoy the flexibility of using a diversity of mediums.” So, don’t confine yourself to one medium. Paint with your favourite, of course, but perhaps try something Continue Reading
‘An architect of knits and purls.’ Come and be inspired by Georgia in beautiful Tuscany
Watermill knitting tutor Georgia Farrell says she likes nothing better than walking the city streets to inspire her designs. Her hero is the architect Le Corbusier, who was quoted as saying; “You employ stone, wood and concrete, and with these materials you build houses and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good, I am happy and I say: Continue Reading
Come and join us (metaphorically at least) at an ancient Italian spa town and paint along with Randy
In a wonderful piece of synchronous serendipity (lucky timing to you and me), Lois and I will have just returned from the beautiful small Italian spa village of Bagno Vignoni, the subject of Randy Hale’s next online, interactive painting session, which takes place on Thursday 2 February. The day before Lois and Bill will be enjoying the hot springs and Lois will undoubtedly be telling you all Continue Reading
How a Pope (and Achilles Gaggia) set Italy on the road to becoming the world’s coffee capital
Coffee didn’t arrive in Italy until the 16th century, brought to Venice from the Ottoman Empire. As usual, there were disapproving local priests, who denounced the stimulating new taste sensation as 'from the devil'. They called on Pope Clement VIII to ban it. The online Italian newspaper, The Local, takes up the story : “But, the legend goes, the pope decided to give the drink a try before Continue Reading
An artistic Summer romance. Rosina Ferrara and John Singer Sargent on Capri
In these chilly winter weeks, in the northern hemisphere at least, I thought I would add a romantic glow of brightness and warmth to your day by recalling the Summer romance between one of our favourite painters, John Singer Sargent, and Rosina Ferrara, a beautiful young girl from the Italian island of Capri. In the summer of 1878, John Singer Sargent ,aged only 22 and already achieving some Continue Reading
‘A gem of a place’ ‘Amazing luxury’ ‘Soulful food‘ Come and paint at the Watermill with passionate pastellist Mary Padgett and discover its delights for yourself
We had a tremendous feedback from pastellist* Mary Padgett’s first painting course here last year and we are looking forward to welcoming her again next Autumn. Here’s what some of the participants on last year’s course had to say: “I was so pleased with my experience at the Watermill. The attention to detail was impressive--well cared for property, clean rooms (all with own bathrooms) Continue Reading