Archives for August 2019

As well as its reputation for inspiring creative courses, the Watermill is also becoming well-known for the quality and variety of its food, prepared by Lois and our local cooks, Arianna and Mirella, using the freshest local ingredients. Our aim is to serve Italian cooking at its best, not just traditional dishes, but modern ‘takes’ on la cucina italiana. We plan to give you some of our recipes in our blogs and newsletters over the coming months, but today we thought we would tell you about the famous Watermill Sunday lunch.

Here’s the menu:

• Finocchio al forno (fennel braised in a white wine, cream and cheese sauce); 
• Bresaola (air-cured beef)with parmesan shavings, olive oil and rucola (rocket);
• Panzanella (the watermill’s own version of a classic Florentine recipe);
• Uova ubriache (drunken eggs: hard-boiled eggs with mayonnaise and capers);
• Insalata verde (green salad, from the Watermill garden in season) with edible borage or nasturtium flowers and a mustard and honey vinaigrette dressing.

Add to that fresh fruit in season and soft almond biscuits with your tea or coffee and it’s a meal to remember.

Why not come and taste our cooking for yourself? For more about our 2020 creative courses, please click here.

As Jo Parfitt says, she doesn’t do this very often, but when you get fabulous feedback on your performance as a teacher from a university professor, “you kinda gotta shout about it, right?”

The professor in question is Dr Corrine Glesne, Professor Emeritus at the University of Vermont in the USA, who came on Jo’s Writing Your Life Stories course earlier this year. Corrine writes “With exquisite skill, Jo creates an atmosphere where class participants feel comfortable to delve deep into their lives and to experiment with different writing techniques.

“She listens intently as participants read their work; then recaps phrases, images, or other examples from that work to provide specific meaningful and supportive feedback. Her ability to perceive the potential of a story and guide its improvement continually impressed me.”

Yes, we have had wonderful feedback for Jo’s courses over the years and we are looking forward again to welcoming her here next year. Jo’s next course will run from Saturday 9 May to Saturday 16 May 2020, and we already have four people booked in for her week. If you would like to join her and hone your writing skills, enjoying the unspoiled Tuscan countryside and the hospitality of the Watermill in the company of like-minded people, now is the time to book your place, too. We have a special offer of ‘2020 courses at 2019 prices’ which runs until 1 September, so you have a couple of weeks or so to take advantage of that. You can find out details of all our 2020 creative courses – writing, painting, knitting and Italian language – by clicking here. We would be delighted if you could join us.

 Here is another comment from a participant on Jo’s course this year, Sue Reed: “It was just wonderful. The setting magnificent, food sublime, and our hosts charming. The attention to detail and beauty are a sure recipe for a wonderful stay. This week has been an absolute delight. Your hospitality has known no bounds, and Jo has been an inspirational teacher. I am heading home with a head full of writerly plans.”

Our knitting weeks at the Watermill have proved incredibly popular over the years, and it looks like 2020 is going to be no exception. We’ve only just announced the two weeks we are running next year and already 19 people have reserved their places. These include three non-knitting partners, so we only have room for another half a dozen or so knitters on the two weeks.

I know we always say it, but if you’re keen to come, now really is the time to place your booking, especially as we have a ‘2020 courses at 2019’ offer, which expires at the end of this month.

We call these courses Knitting and La Bella Vita, and the Italian Good Life is just what you’ll be savouring when you take one of our wonderfully relaxing and inspiring week-long knitting holidays in the beautiful Tuscan countryside.

In our first knitting week next year you will work on projects with top designer Louisa Harding and in the other week, in our first-ever Knitting Retreat, you’ll bring your own knitting projects and simply enjoy being pampered by the outstanding Watermill hospitality. We have nine people booked in the Louisa’s week in May, and 10 for the knitting retreat in July, including those non-knitting partners.

As well as sessions at the Watermill, you will also be knitting at a privately owned ex-monastery and in the grounds of a fabulous hill-top restaurant. You will be treated to an all-day excursion to the delightful fishing villages of the Cinque Terre or the beautiful Italian city of Lucca and enjoy a morning’s ramblings through the market at the nearby walled medieval town of Fivizzano. Everything, literally, is included in the cost of your holiday, from the time we pick you up at Pisa airport on the first Saturday until we drop you back there again a week later.

You will have the perfect opportunity to make new friends in the company of like-minded people learning new knitting techniques and tips from our tutors… and enjoying unspoilt Italy and, of course, fantastic food and wine.

You can see more details of our 2020 by clicking here. We’d love you to join us: hurry now while places last!

This vibrant pastel, of the River Rosaro, which runs beside the Watermill, is by Anne-Marie Furze, a guest on Sue Ford’s painting course earlier this year.

She calls it Early Morning Light and she says: “I loved going down to the river before the Watermill was awake as it was so peaceful and the light was amazing. To capture this angle, I had to stand in the river which believe me was freezing but worth every minute.”

You don’t have to get your feet wet to enjoy a Watermill painting holiday and we are already taking bookings for our 2020 courses. And if you book a place now (before 1 September) you can enjoy any of our 2020 creative courses at 2019 prices.

ou can see a preview of all our 2020 creative courses by clicking here.

Nearly 90 people have already booked their places and as we have a total capacity of some 250 or so, you can see that, even though it’s very early days, our 2020 bookings are beginning to flow in. So, if you have a favourite tutor, a favourite medium, a particular bedroom or a specific week, it really is the time to make sure you have the holiday of your choice. We would be delighted to welcome you here.

We haven’t really started marketing our 2020 creative courses yet, but already more than 80 people have reserved their places by sending us a £250 deposit. Thank you all very much.

If you reserve your place before 1 September 2019, you can enjoy any one of our 2020 creative courses at 2019 prices. Details of all the courses are to be found by clicking here.

I’ve just made a little Facebook slideshow of the first half a dozen or so painting courses, which you can see by clicking here.

We will tell you more about the other painting courses, as well as our creative writing, knitting and Italian language weeks, as the week progresses. Watch this space!