Gardoussel  Retreat Newsletter June 2008

30940 Saint-André de Valborgne, France
tel : +33 (0) 4 66 60 16 78 www.gardoussel.com

Dear friend,

Well, it’s been a rainy start to the summer but the good weather finally seems to be upon us. Here at Gardoussel, we are definitely ready for the current spell of sun and warm evenings. Fingers have been itching to get deep down and dirty in the soil as we have a whole new garden to landscape and plant up.

This will be a private garden for our new guest room, the Pivert, a four-person accommodation space which has since March been receiving its first guests. Its baptism marks the completion of the renovation of our outbuilding, la Bergerie, which now contains three en-suite bedrooms. It is the final phase in our conversion of all the empty building spaces in the main area of Gardoussel.

The idea with the garden is to have a kitchen herb garden filled mint, basil, thyme, marjoram, nasturtiums and lavender as well as purely ornamental plants. There will be a small eating area in the shade of our mulberry trees, the whole thing encircled by a low stone wall we have already had built. The top on the wall on the near side we have left hollow to a depth of about 15cm to be filled with more plants.

Talking of our rooms, Frances – in-house artist and massage therapist not to mention co-chef of all our delicious Ayurvedic meals – has painted a series of pictures of birds for the doors of each of our guest rooms. All of our nine rooms are named after local birds and now, thanks to Frances’ handiwork, each is now adorned with a painting of the relevant one. They make a really beautiful touch and are a fitting show-case to Frances’ artistic talents.

Just this week we have seen the installation of our new yoga deck. This octagonal deck, which at 110m2 is much bigger than our previous one, has been erected next to the river which passes through the foot of our property. It will be a magical space for yoga, dance and other body work, with stunning views across the meadow and the mountains which lie at the far end of the valley. It sits directly below a semi-circle of poplar trees which will provide shade for daytime classes. See photo attached.

The deck will also come into use for a day of music we are holding at Gardoussel for the first time on 2 August. This will be a gathering of anyone who enjoys music, be they musicians themselves, or friends or family. Throughout the day (and night) there will be performances, jamming and simply enjoying the summer weather to a musical backdrop. We’ll use the deck as a stage for the PA system and musicians / bands. If you fancy joining us, bring along your instrument, a picnic, and a tent if you fancy staying the night, and let’s make this valley sing!

Two new faces at Gardoussel who I’m sure will be kicking back and enjoying the music that day are Frodo and Perle, our much-loved new donkeys. The pair have been with us for just over a month now, and are proving to be wonderful companions. A large chunk of the spring was spent overseeing the building of a stable and paddock below our house. One wet day in April they moved in. Every day since has been a learning experience. Although Perle came to us already fully trained and able to be ridden, Frodo was a bit of a wild boy when he first arrived. Fortunately, he has been a pleasure to tame and we have had the good luck to have had several people passing through who are skilled in the art of ‘donkey whispering’! As a result, Frodo is slowly revealing himself to be a bit of a pussycat. If all goes well, we are hoping to take them off for an overnight hike sometime this summer.

That reminds me, Alex and I have recently launched blogs on our website. There’s a link from the homepage for anyone interested in the inane ramblings and navel-gazing that Alex and I occasionally pen from our little mountain hideaway in this corner of France.

We have finally received full planning permission for the yoga hall and workspace we are hoping to build on the meadow. We are still investigating the various eco-construction techniques and materials on offer, while we wait for building quotes to come in. This is proving an exercise in entente cordiale and extreme patience for the French way of doing things. In other words, very V-E-R-Y slowly. We’ll keep you posted.

Otherwise, this summer’s workshops are filling up nicely. Our first writing event, Finding Your Voice in Writing, is happily proving very popular and we will be a busy little group of scribes that week under Crysse Morrison’s tutelage. There are still a few places left so sign up soon if you want to attend this workshop from 9-16 August.

There has been a change of program to July’s cooking event. Basically, we have added yoga and other activities to the recipe and have re-titled the event ‘Yoga, Rest and Recreation’. This will be a very informal week. Among the various optional activities on offer are Ayurvedic cookery classes, yoga, hikes and a market trip. This event will run from 5-11 July in tandem with the Ayurvedic Clinical Diagnosis workshop.

We still have a few weeks free for self-catering gite rentals this summer - enquire for dates. Note that due to popular demand, vegetarian evening meals delivered to your gite during your stay are now possible. These delicious offerings are prepared by our usual chef Frances according to Ayurvedic principles of healthy eating, and are available by prior arrangement.

Finally, don’t forget about the various therapies available at Gardoussel – Ayurvedic massage, Swedish massage, craniosacral therapy and Ayuvedic consultations among others. For full details of these and all of our events, visit our website www.gardoussel.com.

In the meantime, have a great summer and we look forward to seeing you sometime soon…

Sharon and Alex