The Potting Shed
Eight or so years ago we renovated our potting shed – adding a platform bed and a kitchenette. From the moment it was ready it began its life as a retreat house and home to a succession of inspired and talented friends. First came Ivan McBeth – charismatic megalith builder who built the stone circle for the Glastonbury Music Festival and another in honour of Joe Strummer. Ivan started the MODs – the Megalithic Order of Druids – and now teaches Druidry in Vermont. You can see his website here.
Then came Chris Park who played the bagpipes in our garden, built a sauna and mud bread oven and brewed such strange concoctions the house still smells of his occupation years later. Chris is a musician, artist and educationalist whose website is here.
Then came a whole family – Matt, Anna and their delightful son Oran. Matt is a carpenter and Anna a herbalist who was a great help to us as we worked on The Druid Plant Oracle. Having Oran around the house and garden was like having a little Taliesin roaming freely!
Then came Jim Hindle, who lives here now, whose book Nine Miles is an inspiring read. You can learn more about it from his website here, which describes the book as follows:
‘Nine Miles’ describes the fight against the Newbury bypass and other road protests of the British Isles in the mid nineteen nineties. It was a fight characterised by extreme cold, fire and community, cider, drugs and living simply in the woods. It was a fight to preserve our natural inheritance, to make the case for sustainable transport in the face of powerful vested interests and, in a wider sense, to stand up for the earth herself at a time when our lifestyles are often grossly out of balance with the natural order of things. Ten years on, that fight has lost none of its urgency.
We’re looking forward to Jim’s next book!