Settling In

The library nook window - when the sun shines in it is heaven!

Here is my ‘go to ‘ place, curled up on the Dartington Hall library seat, catching a glimpse of the sun. In all the chaos of the rainy welcome week, this haven with its familiar comfort of books and ideas is a portal into the world of alchemical magic.

It feels like I’ve stumbled into the set of one of the Harry Potter movies; a library complete with 900 year old walls held in place by ancient tree beams and a feature stone fireplace.

That sun beam was fleeting as the sky didn’t stay blue for very long. Our first real taste of wild, wet and windy weather hit us as we mounted our new (second hand) bikes the second day after we arrived at Dartington Hall in south Devon. We had to ride home from the Totnes train station after picking up our UK residency permits in Exeter. By the time we got back to the campsite my gloves, pants and jacket were dripping wet and our boots squelched through the mud to our little home on wheels.

After four days the rain has now eased, the washing is finally dry and I’m starting to feel like we are settling in. It’s been a steep learning curve moving to another country, even for a short time after our bumpy start in the motor home.

Now we are here at Dartington Hall which is like a journey back in time. This amazing 14th century building was purchased in the 1920s by American millionaire heiress Dorothy Payne Whitney Elmhirst (1887–1968) and her UK husband Leonard. They had an utopian vision of a setting up a farming and educational community embracing innovation, craft and creativity.

Their legacy continues on with the Dartington Trust encompassing Schumacher College and Dartington Arts School where I am currently enrolled as a post graduate student. Next week we start in earnest, learning about artist residency models in preparation for our first assignment on Arts & Place.

I feel the ghosts of luminaries who have worked, studied or visited this site over the past 100 years. Writers Aldous Huxley and Bernard Shaw, composer Imogen Holst and musician Igor Stravinsky amongst others. Now I am joining a small group of artists and musicians as we adventure together on our learning journey. More to come…

The impressive Dartington Hall (the library is in the west wing)