Ever wished you could have an Arvon writing house to yourself?
When I was Relief Centre Director at Totleigh Barton, I always dreamed about it. I love it when Totleigh Barton buzzes with writers and words, but I also wanted to know what it would be like to have the old place to myself, to write. I found out one week when there was no course. I stayed in one of the Goose Huts for a couple of days. I wrote from first light until dusk, breaking only to eat, have the odd glass of wine (I went well armed with supplies) but, even more important than satisfying the needs of the body, to allow my imagination free reign to commune with the natural world all around me. So often we drown it out with the demands of day to day living. But this time there was just me. The smell of dawn and the sound of thick night silence, as if covered with a cloak of black velvet permeated with the heads of shiny star pins were little short of miraculous, especially to a writer. Veils of triviality blew away during these magical gift days where I visited another realm of existence. When I left, I felt a physical pulling sensation such as I had never felt before. I had talked recently to Lindsay Clarke and I remembered something he wrote for Greenspirit: “we are all filaments of the planet’s intelligence and if we only open our senses clearly enough to listen, it speaks to us through the active imagination on the language of the soul” (from ‘Imagining Otherwise’).
So, what has all this got to do with Brittany? Only to say that I feel blessed these days to have my own Breton version of Totleigh. My husband and I moved here last May to a beautiful property in deepest, rural Brittany, the kind of place we only ever dreamed about. Because it evoked in me such similar feelings to those days at Totleigh, we decided to share it with writers. Part of our old farm will be open from Easter 2009 as a Writer’s Retreat. There will be no workshops and exclusive use for one writer to discover the language of the soul. But you won’t be isolated – we live just across the courtyard to cater for any needs you might have or just to share a little conversation at the end of the day. La Petite Maison is waiting…just for YOU.
Have a look at the website or give me a call on (0033) 2 97 74 46 99. Oh – and thanks to Philip for letting me share this through the wonderful Arvon blog!
