Sheldon Community

All set ready for the Craft Retreat guests arriving today. Meanwhile outside a lot more digging of trenches for the new electricity cables, so we're grateful for the continuing dry weather

Thanks to Clare and Ainslie, the Art Shed has had a major clean up/clear out/re-stock and generally tidy. All ready for more creative dabbling any time ...

Sheldon's trustees have just given the go-ahead for a 35KW array of solar panels to reduce our carbon footprint. We have started digging in the connecting cable to the substation. This is critical infrastructure on which we can build further decarbonising over the next few years. Meanwhile, an autumnal R5 enjoying time to walk, read, play in the Art Shed and generally rest and relax

The Order of the Cross have just held their annual retreat at Sheldon. Lots of laundry to be washed and dried ready for the R5 which starts on Sunday. Looking forward to getting creative in the Art Shed with Sue, and an afternoon on the labyrinth with Clare.

Looking forward to the arrival of guests for this week's R5 with added Labyrinth and Art Shed sessions. It's currently raining hard, for which the garden is grateful, so I'm glad I cut these yesterday in the sunshine

Imagine looking out of this window next week? We have some late availability for people in ministry on a "pay as you wish" basis https://www.sheldonretreat.com/specials

Very many thanks to Paul and Sue who have done a great job looking after Sheldon for the last two weeks while Community had some down time. Found new ways of dispensing drinks and cooking fish while I was away, something new for the Fat Pigeon and the kitchen maybe?!

A good week on the R5 - lots of fun in the Art Shed with Charmaine, a labyrinth workshop with Clare, days out on the train and to the beach, and restful days at Sheldon. Our Greyface Dartmoors got the second haircut of the year thanks to Dan's skill with the shears

Help, the courgettes are getting the upper hand in the veg patch!
Meanwhile, settling into silence for Simon Parke's retreat themed around Meister Eckhart starting today

Looking ahead to September and seeing we have a few places left on the R5 (read, rest, retreat, relax, recuperate) 22nd - 27th. Includes optional extended facilitation with Clare Callanan if you want to dip in to labyrinth history, make or join a shared labyrinth walk. Just £440 for 5 nights full board. 20% discount. And £50 discount voucher on our Specials page (when it's gone it's gone so snap up quickly if you want it).

Among the day to day running of a retreat managed to fit in weaning the lambs off their mothers now they are old enough to thrive on their own, and ewes get time to rest and rebuild before the Autumn. They were surprisingly co-operative!

Rounded off Work Week and Community Rededication with a Summer Party evening with family, friends and staff. Delicious hog roast supper thanks to Neil and Roland! Many thanks to all the Work Week volunteers for their hard work. Lowering the volume today as we welcome guests to a silent retreat on Julian of Norwich, led by Ian and Gail Adams

Hay all baled at last and another dry day ahead for the work week team

A different aspect of Sheldon as the open air theatre kicks off with Pure Queen. Staffed by the fabulous Work Week team and enjoyed by an audience of several hundred all having a good time

Beryl has been poorly, so we've been tempting her appetite with treats. However, here is the sheep equivalent of friends visiting you in hospital and tucking into your grapes and chocolates - very bad manners!

There's an accidental sweet pea growing in Carl's greenhouse - no idea how the seed arrived there, but the flowers are lovely and Dawn has included them in all the posies for guest rooms today. Lots of arrivals for Margaret Silf's retreat "the wisdom years".

Beginning to harvest from our veg patch and look forward to feeding the produce to guests, in one form or another

It has been such a privilege to host the ordination retreats, firstly for priests and then deacons, from the Diocese of Exeter. We will continue to think of them each Monday at Morning Prayer when our intercessions include prayers for all those in ministry at whatever season of life.