Come the summer months, many Italians head for the seaside, il mare, leaving their hot and crowded cities for (slightly less) hot and (slightly more) crowded beaches. Yes, the seaside is packed with serried ranks of umbrellas lined up in military formation. It is, no doubt, great sociable fun, with seaside bars and restaurants, discos and nightclubs. We won’t be there! We will be enjoying Continue Reading
Medical inspiration for Helen’s amazing knitting
I never cease to be amazed at the skill and dexterity of our guests on our knitting weeks as they work away on the projects designed for them by our inspirational tutors. And do you know they often do it without looking! Not only that, they have amazing mathematical skills, able easily to make complicated calculations and to understand complex patterns. The end result is simply stunning. But we Continue Reading
A cheerful, yet watery, start to our creative season
Wow! No sooner had our guests for our first creative week of the season arrived, that the Tuscan heavens opened. (That’s not quite true, we managed a couple of hours of sunshine and a walk along the riverbank and millstream, but by the end of the evening, the rain was torrential. And today it seems settled in. But are we downhearted? No – and neither are the ladies on Norah Gaughan’s knitting Continue Reading
The geraniums tell us that it is D-Day minus one
It has been ‘all hands on deck’ for the past couple of days as the Watermill team put the finishing touches together, ready for the first of the season’s creative courses. We are delighted that, at long last, we are about to begin a full season of inspiring and convivial painting, creative writing, knitting and Italian language courses. We have 22 courses this year and bookings are looking Continue Reading
Another Cool and Green milestone for the Watermill
As you may know, more than a couple of years ago, we installed at the Watermill a hidden array of photovoltaic panels on our south-facing roofs, to produce electricity from the sun. These panels make us more than self-sufficient in electricity: we make much more than we have to buy during sunless periods. We sell the excess back to the grid, and even though they pay us far less than they charge, Continue Reading
We hope you are having a happy Easter
We opened up the large communal Watermill dining room for a special Easter lunch with friends yesterday. Daughter Lara took this picture of daughter Lydia concentrating on arranging little furry chicks around the table We hope your Easter Sunday was as convivial and loving all ours. Today is pasquetta (Little Easter; Easter Monday) in Italy, where families traditionally go out together into Continue Reading
Shorn and forlorn – but ready to burst forth mightily again
These ancient mulberry trees in the Watermill car park have just been given a ‘short back and sides’ by local tree surgeons. It may look a bit brutal, but it’s been so skilfully done that soon they will be sprouting mightily again. No one is quite sure how old they are. We joke with our gardener, Flavio Terenzoni, that they must be hundreds of years old, since he remembers coming as a boy to Continue Reading
Soaking up the sunshine and fresh air
Can’t you just see the smile on these guys' faces as they soak up some sun and fresh Posara air after we brought them into the courtyard following a winter of protective seclusion? These are some of our citrus trees -- oranges, lemons and kumquats --which will be enhancing the Watermill,, along with all the colourful flowers in our tubs and window boxes. It is just a little early to buy the Continue Reading
Waving the flag for our Watermill creative courses
I photographed this fine fellow, a flag iris, taking in the sun in the Watermill’s walled garden. How elegant he looks, how beautifully designed. Another symbol of spring, of course, and also an excuse to keep you up-to-date on availability on this year’s inspiring and convivial Watermill creative courses. Bookings are buoyant (should we say blooming?) but we still have some availability. The Continue Reading
A single devastating picture is worth a thousand words
All war is terrible, and we are daily horrified by the pictures coming from Ukraine. It is difficult to know what to do, and that feeling of helplessness and our concern at the suffering of the Ukrainian people is with us every day The horrors of war were again brought home to us by a lecture at the British Institute in Florence this week about two expatriate Americans who loved the city in Continue Reading