More yellow than red means green: supply easily outstrips demand

As of this week, we are proud to announce, the Watermill is becoming self-sufficient in electricity. We have just commissioned our new photovoltaic energy generation system and we are now happy to say that overall, thanks to the power of the sun, we are producing much more electricity than we are using.

Our sincere thanks to the architect Stefano Santini and his team, and our brilliant builders Nico and Danielle, who aesthetically incorporated the photovoltaic panels in our ancient roofs.

As well as helping to save the planet, our solar powered electricity will help to make our guests even more comfortable. We have already made a start on installing air-conditioning units in the Watermill rooms. There is now air conditioning in the studio and in the communal dining room (and in our industrial kitchen, to keep our cooks cool and calm as they prepare your delicious meals). We also now have units in the Lippi Suite and in the Brunelleschi and Donatello bedrooms. We will be working again in October to complete the whole system, so that by the beginning of the 2020 season we should have air-conditioning everywhere, all powered by the sun.

In the first couple of days of operation, as you can see from the picture at the top, we used some 90 kWh of electricity, half of which we generated ourselves and half of which we had to buy from the electricity company. But we also generated more than 100 kWh of extra electricity, which we fed back into the national grid, and for which we will be paid. (Of course, electricity companies pay less for the electricity we supply them than they charge for the electricity they supply us, but even so we think will make more money than we pay, as well as helping to save the planet. On today’s reckoning, we’ve already avoided the production of nearly 140 kg of CO2. A drop in the ocean, it’s true, but you have to start somewhere…)

Here’s a green snapshot of our photovoltaic production at the height of a sunny Tuscan afternoon:

Along with our moves to cut down on the use of plastic, notably with our reusable vacuum flasks and our delivery system for cool natural and fizzy water, we are working hard on the “greening” of the Watermill. Come and enjoy the fruits of our labours yourself!

This is Debbie Abrahams’ Tuscan Runner, the project for our inspiring knitting week at the Watermill. It was a perfect evening yesterday as we admired the work of our knitting guests. Our thanks to them for their support and to Debbie as an expert and enthusiastic tutor.

Our thanks too, to Judy Devlin, for this lovely photograph of the Watermill garden. The roses are now in full bloom, just waiting for our new group, painters under the tutelage of Sandra Strohschein, arriving to capture the beauty of our gardens and the unspoiled surrounding countryside all, we hope, basking under the Tuscan sun.

And the blooming roses are waiting for the painters, too:

We’d love you to come and see everything for yourself, joining us in our idyllic setting in unspoiled rural Tuscany: Secluded gardens, sun-drenched terraces, a cool vine verandah, a gurgling river, beautifully restored historic buildings … bright airy bedrooms with new en suite bathrooms, and lovely views over the river, the gardens or the mountains … delicious food prepared from fresh local ingredients…

Just some of the delights of the Watermill. We specialise in relaxing, inspiring and fun-filled painting, creative writing and Italian language weeks, with internationally renowned tutors. “The most wonderful week, in a most beautiful and unique setting. One of the best holidays I have experienced.”

To learn more, please click here.

Here’s the latest list of what’s available. It’s followed by details and links of the other courses that are currently fully booked. But there are invariably cancellations, so if there’s a tutor or a date in whom/which you are particularly interested, please don’t hesitate to let us know and we’ll put you on the waiting list. And why not bring your non-participating partners well? Not only is there a generous £250 reduction for them (sharing a room with you), but we have plenty of activities for them. Find out more about that by clicking here.

Sandra Strohschein
1 – 8 June 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
8 – 15 June 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about Sandra and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Mike Willdridge
29 June – 6 July 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours and drawing (also gouache and acrylics with an emphasis on sketching and drawing on location)
To learn more about Mike and his course at the mill, please visit his 2019 Profile Page.

Varvara Neiman
31 August – 7 September 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Water-based oils, acrylics and watercolours
To learn more about Varvara and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Maggie Renner Hellmann
21 – 28 September 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Courageous Color Workshop’ in oils, acrylics, pastels and watercolors
To learn more about Maggie and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

David Taylor
12 – 19 October 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about David and his course at the mill, please visit his 2019 Profile Page.

Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran
7 – 14 September 2019 Four or five places left
To learn more about Laurence and Maurice and to register an interest in their course at the mill, please visit their 2019 Profile Page.

Yes, it’s sunny at last. And above is a picture to prove it! Watermill guests Biddy and Clem Danin sitting in the warm Watermill courtyard, waiting to go out painting on location in the glorious Tuscan countryside. And here’s’s a picture of the newly renovated South facing watermill façade, basking in the early morning sun.Once the scaffolding had come down were amazed how large an area the façade is. It is the last but one major piece of restoration that we will undertake here. Next year we moved to the frantoio, the old olive press (below, suitably in the shade in the early morning when I took this photo), where Lois has wonderful plants to create a new sitting room with a terrace overlooking the millstream as it gushes down to the river.

Meanwhile, in the picture of the façade, you may just be able to spot the new photovoltaic cells which we have installed on the roofs of the restored 19^th century mill and on the studio. Here’s a close-up of some of them. We’ll be using the sunny days to produce our own electricity.

You will notice that we been able to save all the old tiles and replace them on the rebuilt roof. Now we are waiting for the Italian electricity company to connect our photovoltaic system to the National Grid. Once we are up and running, we think we’re going to be more than self-sufficient in electricity and hopefully, as well as saving the planet, will also have no electricity bills. We’ll wait and see whether that plan becomes reality: we have monitoring systems to assess just how much electricity we are making. As we get the photovoltaic system underway, will also be slowly extending our air conditioning system, which provides warmth as well is coolth. We have units in the studio, which proved useful in the unseasonably chilly weather in May, and in the dining room where, last night we needed to cool down! And we are keeping the cooks cool and calm in the kitchen! There are also units already in The Lippi Suite and in the Brunelleschi and Donatello bedrooms. It will be disruptive to try and do more during this season, but from next October onwards will move to putting air conditioning in all of the bedrooms. In the meantime, we will keep you cool as necessary with our highly efficient, good-looking, retro-design fans.

We’d love you to come and see everything for yourself, joining us in our idyllic setting in unspoiled rural Tuscany: Secluded gardens, sun-drenched terraces, a cool vine verandah, a gurgling river, beautifully restored historic buildings … bright airy bedrooms with new en suite bathrooms, and lovely views over the river, the gardens or the mountains … delicious food prepared from fresh local ingredients…

Just some of the delights of the Watermill. We specialise in relaxing, inspiring and fun-filled painting, creative writing and Italian language weeks, with internationally renowned tutors. “The most wonderful week, in a most beautiful and unique setting. One of the best holidays I have experienced.”

To learn more, please click here.

ere’s the latest list of what’s available. It’s followed by details and links of the other courses that are currently fully booked. But there are invariably cancellations, so if there’s a tutor or a date in whom/which you are particularly interested, please don’t hesitate to let us know and we’ll put you on the waiting list. And why not bring your non-participating partners well? Not only is there a generous £250 reduction for them (sharing a room with you), but we have plenty of activities for them. Find out more about that by clicking here.

Sandra Strohschein
1 – 8 June 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
8 – 15 June 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about Sandra and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Mike Willdridge
29 June – 6 July 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours and drawing (also gouache and acrylics with an emphasis on sketching and drawing on location)
To learn more about Mike and his course at the mill, please visit his 2019 Profile Page.

Varvara Neiman
31 August – 7 September 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Water-based oils, acrylics and watercolours
To learn more about Varvara and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Maggie Renner Hellmann
21 – 28 September 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Courageous Color Workshop’ in oils, acrylics, pastels and watercolors
To learn more about Maggie and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

David Taylor
12 – 19 October 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about David and his course at the mill, please visit his 2019 Profile Page.

Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran
7 – 14 September 2019 Four or five places left
To learn more about Laurence and Maurice and to register an interest in their course at the mill, please visit their 2019 Profile Page.

Evening shadows on the vine verandah, a painting by Keiko Tanabe.

After a wet and rainy couple of days, we have at last been able to get outside to paint and to enjoy our aperitivi under the vine verandah, serenaded by a couple of young local musicians as we sipped our Watermill cocktails and gins and tonics. Hooray!

Undaunted by the weather

As I surveyed the group, I noted that this is our most international gathering yet. We had no fewer than 8 different nationalities gathered for Keiko Tanabe’s painting course: Japanese, Portuguese, Israeli, American, Canadian, Swiss, Italian and British. Our reputation is spreading! A few years ago, we calculated that people from 70 different countries had visited the mill. We haven’t done a count recently, but it must be many more by now.

Sunny, at last!

Another tremendous figure yesterday was that our bookings for 2019 have reached a record 250, beating the previous total of 232. So, our heartfelt thanks to everybody for supporting the Watermill. We enjoy your company and would like to meet many more of you in the future.

Which brings us to our final fascinating figure today, 25. That’s the number of people who have already booked for our 2020 courses. That’s not least because of the wonderful tutors who are coming next year but also because we have a special offer: if you book one of our 2020 creative courses before this September, you can enjoy it at 2019 prices. For a preview of next year’s courses and the link for you to reserve your place, please click here.

In the meantime, we still have a few places left on our painting and writing courses in 2019. There are details and links below. We’d love you to join us in our idyllic setting in unspoiled rural Tuscany: Secluded gardens, sun-drenched terraces, a cool vine verandah, a gurgling river, beautifully restored historic buildings … bright airy bedrooms with new en suite bathrooms, and lovely views over the river, the gardens or the mountains … delicious food prepared from fresh local ingredients…

Just some of the delights of the Watermill. We specialise in relaxing, inspiring and fun-filled painting, creative writing and Italian language weeks, with internationally renowned tutors. “The most wonderful week, in a most beautiful and unique setting. One of the best holidays I have experienced.” To learn more, please click here.

Here’s the latest list of what’s available. It’s followed by details and links of the other courses that are currently fully booked. But there are invariably cancellations, so if there’s a tutor or a date in whom/which you are particularly interested, please don’t hesitate to let us know and we’ll put you on the waiting list. And why not bring your non-participating partners well? Not only is there a generous £250 reduction for them (sharing a room with you), but we have plenty of activities for them. Find out more about that by clicking here.

Sandra Strohschein
1 – 8 June 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
8 – 15 June 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about Sandra and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Mike Willdridge
29 June – 6 July 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours and drawing (also gouache and acrylics with an emphasis on sketching and drawing on location)
To learn more about Mike and his course at the mill, please visit his 2019 Profile Page.

Varvara Neiman
31 August – 7 September 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Water-based oils, acrylics and watercolours
To learn more about Varvara and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Maggie Renner Hellmann
21 – 28 September 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Courageous Color Workshop’ in oils, acrylics, pastels and watercolors
To learn more about Maggie and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

David Taylor
12 – 19 October 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about David and his course at the mill, please visit his 2019 Profile Page.

Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran
7 – 14 September 2019 Four or five places left
To learn more about Laurence and Maurice and to register an interest in their course at the mill, please visit their 2019 Profile Page.