hollandhouseretreat

belu water for Holland House

hollandhouseretreat — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:35:36 +0000

Forget gold, silver or precious stones, one of the most precious natural resources on earth is fresh water. Only 3% of all water on earth is fresh, and the majority of that is locked into ice or trapped in lakes far below the earth’s surface. Because salt-water levels are rising, increasing amounts of fresh water are being lost, and we’ve only to look at images of the current drought in parts of Africa to see the suffering and devastation loss of fresh water causes. Yet we take water for granted in the UK and waste millions of litres every day on washing cars, hosing drives, and leaving dripping taps.
At Holland House we’re doing our best to conserve water – we’ve put “hippos” in our toilet cisterns and collect rainwater in butts for the garden. Our latest effort is to find an ethical source of bottled water (it’s a long story but direct access to tap-water is difficult in some parts of the house due to the infrastructure).
We’re delighted to announce we now stock belu water. Belu water is sourced in the UK, and the bottles are 50% recycled plastic (no other retailer does this). A 100% carbon neutral company, “all its profits help fund clean water projects around the world”
So when you enjoy a bottle of water at Holland House, you can be certain that your helping others access that most precious of all things – fresh, clean water. Check out www.belu.org .
Holland House – In harmony with creation.

Open day at Holland House – have fun and discover something fabulous

hollandhouseretreat — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:17:45 +0000

On Sunday afternoon, August 21 between 3-6pm, Holland House is inviting anyone who’d like to, to visit the House and grounds. We’ve got some lovely things lined up for people to enjoy, bouncy castle and garden games (e.g. a massive jenga!) for the young ones, boat trips up the river Avon from our landing stage, a forge where a fabulous young smithy will be creating artwork in metal, a choir, a honeybee exhibition, as well as cream teas, plants and gifts for sale.
I’m looking forward to it because I love to see new faces as well as old friends at the house. When people visit for the first time they always wonder why they hadn’t heard about us before, and book to come again. Some folks have been coming here regularly for over 30 years and tell me their relationship with Holland House has brought them much blessing. So it is with God sometimes. I’ve spoken to people who’ve discovered God afresh and wish they’d made the discovery earlier. It’s a great day when we discover love and purpose in our lives, but a fabulous day when we realise it’s been waiting to be discovered all the time. God rejoices to be found, and Holland House delights in the prospect of helping people discover that for themselves.

Dinner with Lazarus

hollandhouseretreat — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 09:04:42 +0000

Last night I had dinner with Lazarus. At least he was there, about 10 feet away to my left, dressed in white linen with an arm around a friend helping to steady him. Not a surprise, after all he’d been dead for several days beforehand – some folks (rather rudely but I guess with some justification) were worried about what he might smell like. Just to the side of Lazarus a man was holding a blanket up in front of a young person, sheilding his eyes from what was potentially a horrifying sight. But he needen’t have worried, Lazarus was looking pretty good, all things considered.

Zizi’s is a very nice restaurant situated in Cheltenham, and my family and I were booked in to celebrate a birthday. The food was Italian, and very good too – but what made the restaurant unusual was the venue, situated as it is, within the now defunct St James Church, Suffolk Square. Taken to our table we parked ourselves and shuffled the menus between us – a different kind of “order of service”, and passed around with rather more excitment than is often the case with the usual sort to be found in a church building (sadly).

I took a moment to look around – the place was buzzing, and I thought had been converted rather well. I noticed the huge pizza / bread oven and wondered at its placement – in the sanctuary. “I am the bread of life ….. take, eat” said God. And many clearly were.

Then I noticed to my left, just above me, a large Victorian stained glass window depticting St John’s version of the calling of Lazarus (Chapter 11 of his gospel), all the characters were there including Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha, St John, and of course Jesus. Jesus is pointing toward the white figure of Lazarus with his two fingers (indicating his place in the holy trinity), and along the bottom of the window are his words “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”.

This church building is now a restaurant – filled with people enjoying one another’s company, being served by polite and attentive staff, and eating good food, including bread from the sanctuary. I’m always tinged with sadness when I see church buildings converted into housing, offices or restaurants – I guess I feel a whiff of failure on behalf of the church, that we just couldn’t sustain the worshiping community there. But perhaps this old church / new restaurant are saying something important to the rest of the church – that it’s task now, more than ever, is to feed people. Perhaps St James’s church, Suffolk square even “though it’s dead, yet shall it live” – and through the silent echoes of the prayers of the faithful departed, the architecture, beautiful windows, bread from the sanctuary, good food and shared love, continue to proclaim Gods loving presence and his deep desire that all should be fed (Matthew 14:16-21)

Glow worms, darkness and faith

hollandhouseretreat — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:42:35 +0000

I went down the garden last night, to the grassy bank near the river in the hope of seeing the glow worm. It was such a dark still night, no sound at all from the tall poplars on the other side of the bank – even in a slight breeze they whisper and chatter to each other, but not last night. Occasionally, from somewhere along the inky-black river a soft “splosh” punctuated the stillness, it was so quiet I could hear the bats wings flap as they came within just a few inches of my head.The stars came out, but no moon.
I stared at the grassy bank, straining my eyes – no little light. I kept looking, but nothing. I went for a short walk, like last time, hoping that repeating the previous experience might conjur up the same result. It didn’t.
So where does that leave us? Either the glow worm has perished without finding a mate, or she may have found a mate, in which case she’ll have stopped glowing but perhaps laid eggs, securing a future.
The point is, I just don’t know. Waiting in faith and hope is not something we’re very good at – especially in “developed” countries. We’re more used to getting answers by return. We don’t like the empty space waiting creates – it makes us uncomfortable, anxious, increasingly terrified.
But faith call us to be faith-full. St Paul says “for we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Indeed, we can’t live without faith – faith in our partners and friends, faith in the goodness of our food, faith that the sun will come up, faith that love will overcome all things.
So the experience of the glow-worm has brought me much blessing – the wonder of her capacity to overcome so much, and her beauty, and the space her darkness has created for faith to increase, enriching life.
I’ll not be going down to the grassy bank in search of glow worms now. There’s no need. I very much hope they’ll multiply and fill the bank with their wonderous lights as the years go by. But even if they don’t, just one of them has blessed me abundently enough.

Common Lizard

hollandhouseretreat — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:20:29 +0000

Just to add to our growing list of interesting creatures sharing our gardens with us, Julian (whose been tending our lovely garden for over 30 years) discovered a lizard under a tray of plants. We checked it out via the website www.herpetofauna.co.uk, and discovered it’s a Common (or Viviparous) Lizard “Lacerta vivipara”, a native species. We also suspect that it’s a young female, which again is exciting because it may mean there are more of them around with potential to increase in numbers. We intend to put some roofing felt in various places and hopefully attract them to those warming-places, and perhaps we can start counting them. We’re hoping to attract the slow-worms too, which have been seen in the garden but are incredibly shy.

I mentioned all this to someone the other day, and they said “it’s like the garden of Eden”. I like to think that perhaps this little corner of Worcestershire can reflect something of Gods lavish love in Creation, from Slow-worms to Lizards, Owls to Kingfishers, Glow-worms to honey bees. What a feast for the eye and spirit!

Glow worms pt 2

hollandhouseretreat — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:23:11 +0000

The Government are asking the nation what makes us happy. I dont know why they’re asking really, because we all know what makes us happy – we need to be loved, and we need to love. We all need to find someone / something to give our love to, and we all want to recieve love – then we’re happy. Every other form of joy, satisfaction, feelings of well-being and of peace, rest on the foundations of love, given and received.
What has this to do with glow worms? My last posting was written shortly before heading off into the gloom of the garden, just before 10.00pm, in search of glow-worms. I was to be disappointed. Having met with Dr Paul Smith who gave us the glow worm larvae we searched around where we’d left them 2 years ago, but there was no sign. The garden was dark with no tell-tale pin-prick lights. I went for a walk along a nearby path and found nothing. Rather despondently I walked back to where we’d begun the search, and glanced up at the bank of grass on my left. And there, to my astonishment, a tiny tinker-bell light blazed from the tangled grass – a glow worm! I can’t tell you what a thrill it was. That little light emitting creature has survived two winters (it was -19 here in January), strimming machines, birds, badgers and foxes and countless other dangers. And now she blazed away, her last two weeks of life given over to igniting her little body with wonderful light in order to attract a mate. I do hope she does, and that in the years to come we build up a little colony of glow worms that will thrill and enchant our guests in the same way as that single little creature thrilled and enchanted me. And what of happiness and love? I’ve discovered that I’m falling in love again – that is, falling for the wonder of the natural world, of what Christians call the Creation. It’s just so glorious, so beautiful, so awe-inspiring, a shimmering reflection indeed of the Creator God who continues to “so love the world” (John 3:16), suprising and enchanting us with his love. Am I happy ? You betcha.

Glow worms

hollandhouseretreat — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:46:53 +0000

About two years ago, a good friend of Holland House, Dr Paul Smith, asked me if i’d like some glow worms. Not the sort of present you get every day. I said “yes please”, and so Paul brought 207 (to be precise). The “glow-worms” weren’t quite glow worms though, they were glow worm larvae, and looked a lot like ladybird larvae only a bit bigger. If you’ve ever seen a ladybird larvae you’ll understand me when I say that you’d never put the two little creatures together in a million years (no evolutionary pun intended). Anyway, we placed them in a spot where glow-worm larvae might like to live (somewhere a bit damp with lots of cover / leaves / sticks etc, and snails – they love to eat snails apparently. Got me thinking why we can’t buy them to control snails – brilliant environmental “pest” control, and they look fantastic when they glow too). Two years have passed and tonight’s the night. Paul tells me that Worcestershire glow-worms glow like crazy on the evening of July 25th (I told you he was precise). So now I’m off down the garden to have a look. I’ll let you know how I got on tomorrow (provided I don’t fall in the river – I seem to remember the preferred site was rather close…..)

East Africa food crises

hollandhouseretreat — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:06:18 +0000

I recieved an email from Christianaid recently asking if I’d like to donate some money to the East Africa appeal. Of course I did. But it always seems so little, like providing a single crumb to a starving multitude – it feels inadequte. Reflecting a little I thought “perhaps lots of crumbs can go some way to providing something to eat” – it’s a good thing to help in this way and I urge folk to log onto www.chrisitianaid.org.uk and make a donation of some sort.
Continuing to reflect on the issue of food and justice, it seems to me that we (those of us who don’t worry about where our next meal is coming from) need to radically change our relationship with food. It’s far too precious a thing to be consumed without serious thought. 10 million people are starving in East Africa (850 million world-wide are struggling to find adequate food), yet we wander around our packed supermarkets picking stuff up, putting it down and ho-humming about what sort of pasta we might buy.
I was in Tesco the other day (sorry – I’m as hopeless as many others) and couldn’t find a single British Apple – plenty from New Zealand though. There are British apples around – there’s a tree in Holland House’s garden which is full of lovely ripe fruit, and the BBC said today that it’s a bumper year for British apples, many varieties being ready early because of the warm weather. Needless to say I certainly DIDN’T buy from Tesco.
Food isn’t a luxery item (no VAT on it) it’s a necessity – but it seems to have become so in the West (read the hype on the packets – even some cat food is “connoisseur”).
It seems to me that we must renew a much more respectful attitiude toward food and take an active interest in where it comes from, how it’s produced, who produced it, how it’s transported, how it’s packaged and so on. And we mustn’t waste it.
At Holland House we ask people to book if they’re coming for a meal (lunch or dinner). There are several reasons for this, but one is that we cook food to order – 10 people means 10 lunches – not 15. In this way we hopefully dont throw away much un-eaten food, although we can compost some of it (in our Green Johanna compost bin – try www.originalorganics.co.uk)
On September 21st Holland House is hosting a one day retreat entitled FOOD MATTERS. It’s going to be a very interesting day with contributions from Mike Rayner (Oxford University) on what the Bible says about food, and Graham Gooderham (Transition Town movement) on what we can do locally. More details on our web site and on the John Ray Initiative website too – www.jri.org.uk)
Donating money to Africa is a good thing to do, but we need to do much more – we need to RADICALLY change our attitude toward food because in doing so we’re fullfilling Christ’s command to love our neighbours as ourselves, and playing a part in helping humankind “have life to the full” (John 10:10).
I intend Holland House to play a small part in helping us reconsider food, faith and justice in the years to come. I hope you’ll come and join us – you’ll be very welcome

Holland House on Songs of Praise

hollandhouseretreat — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:35:23 +0000

Holland House is very pleased to have been selected to appear on BBC1 Songs of Praise recently (July 10th).
The experience of having the BBC film crew here, along withthe delightful Diane Jordan was an exciting one, and gave us an opportunity to showcase a little of what Holland House is about.
The BBC wanted to hear from some guests about why they came here, and it was lovely find some who were willing offer their special stories about this place. Although each one was different, they all had something in common – that Holland House has become for them a significant landmark in their journey through life. It is here, perhaps in the scented rose garden, or down by the slow river, or in the peaceful chapel, that an encounter with a memory or a feeling, a songbird or a flower – brought them into an awareness of a greater love than one they thought they’d lost or never found. Here it is, that people discover something deeper about themselves, or others, or God. In its own quiet way, Holland House provides the space for folk to reflect upon their experience of life and discover something new, something rich, something loving. I’m indebted to the guests who were brave enough to appear on the programme, it’s not easy to offer such personal stories. The fact that they did bears testimony to humankinds deeply rooted desire to offer one another good news – news of healing, of refreshment, of new hope. Good news indeed of Gods eternal and unquenchable love for them, and for you too.

Footprint-Awards win

hollandhouseretreat — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:36:15 +0000

Well who would have believed it? May 19th at 6.30pm I was in the Royal Institute of British Architects building in London, at a black tie event, sponsored by Nestle and organised by Footprint-Awards. Holland House had been nominated for the Community Vote Award, one of 34 businesses up for the award based on our efforts to live and work sustainably. In this particular category though, it was the public whose votes counted (a sort of “strictly come dining” category).
At about 8.30pm, the winner of the Community Vote Award was announced, and rather amazingly it was us. I was in such a daze I approached the stage from completely the wrong angle and rather than walk up the stairs, had to leap onto it from the front. Luckily I didnt trip over and cause a scene. That said, a chap dressed in black, wearing a dog collar and leaping onto the stage was probably enough to make some take another look at the alcohol volume of their wine.
I was delighted to accept the award on behalf of Holland House, all those who voted for us, and all who love this place.
I’m especially delighted to win for the sake of Christians everywhere, and our beautiful faith. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. The world is beloved by its Creator, and we have within our faith this very important message – that God created it through and for love, and was willing to die for it for the sake of that love. Therefore the world is of ultimate value, not because humans live on it, or indeed anything else – but because God created and loves it. The one called “love” (1 John 4:8,16) loves all he has made, and as his heirs (Rom 8:17) we’re called to love it too.
I hope this award, born from a secular concern for the environment, won by a Christian love for Gods world, encourages other people of faith to do what they can and to proclaim that the “earth is the Lords, and everything in it” ! (psalm 24:1) See some video and photos of the awards on www.footprint-awards.com