Springhead
Every year in late February or March for the last five years we have treated ourselves to a weekend retreat in the lovely surroundings of Springhead, Fontmell Magna, Dorset.
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Every year at the beginning of March we indulge ourselves and go away for a weekend together. This is held at The Springhead Trust, Near Shaftesbury in Dorset.
It is a lovely old mill, with accommodation arranged in what used to be the stables and outbuildings. The main house has a huge sitting room, two rooms that we use for working in and an enormous kitchen. The dining room becomes our wet room, when we're not eating, which isn't often! The set up is ideal, as there is plenty of room to move about, plenty of natural light and there are no neighbours so we can come and go as we like.
The gardens are beautiful and very inspiring. There is a mill stream and lake with snowdrops and daffodils growing wild all around. The view from the workroom is wonderful - straight across the lake with the swans and geese providing entertainment. We also try to make time to have an energising walk on the Dorset hills, breathtaking!
Janet's partner, Frank, comes and cooks the most superb meals for us. All we have to do is sort out our own breakfasts. He comes along and makes gorgeous home made soups for lunch and then reappears in the evening with a three course meal, with 2 items for each course! It really is the best part of our whole weekend. The cooking is great and it frees us all up to make the most of our “playtime”. He is an absolute godsend and any of us would be so pleased to whisk him home with us!
The weekend is spent experimenting with new techniques and fabrics. The teachers amongst us lead informal sessions, showing us how to use unusual fabrics, tools and such. We have played with colouring fabrics, using discharge paste, different paints, dyes and threads. We screen printed fabric, worked with glues, acrylics and so much more. We all help each other and give constructive feedback. Anything goes and there are no boundaries.
We never try to come home with a finished item, although this does happen occasionally. It is more for the stimulation that we get from working with each other and bouncing ideas around the group. We don't work together on our collaborative pieces and they are absent from the retreat weekend.
After our first stay we issued ourselves a challenge to make a postcard piece, inspired by our stay at Springhead. We were to include some of 2 different fabrics that were given out, one a green striped silk and the other a fantasy transparent fabric with gold print. Any techniques were allowed. Some are still not finished but others are shown here.
Our retreat has become an important part of our group. We have become closer as a result of the time spent together and look forward to having fun as a group and letting our hair down. I would recommend it for any like minded individuals.