Gates of Autumn – Wildways on the Borle – 20-22nd September 2013.

Tags

Autumn, druid, event, myth, spirituality, story, storyteller, Wildways

We headed off to this new weekend event with very little idea what to expect.

It was titled “Gates of Autumn”, filling a lull in the wheel of the festival year, marking the changing season.  I knew there would be like minded folks with druidic leanings there so hoped it would be relaxed but stimulating, interesting and enjoyable. I knew there was to be some music and a story walk.  I hoped it would be a time apart to enjoy, with a good connection to nature, and to the others in the temporary community who formed.

It exceeded all those hopes and every expectation I could have had of it.  It reached parts I didn’t know needed a hand in moving on and growing; and it was super fun with lovely, lovely people, intelligent, creative, sensitive, fun people all.

For starters the site it is based in, Wildways, is wonderful all on it’s own.  The lovely wooded valley with cosy clear meadows, babbling river, overhanging gorge edges and amongst all this subtly scattered artworks and special spaces.  The woodland is managed wonderfully inobtrusively, just enough to help you appreciate that people are living in harmony with the land there, but mostly just feeling spacious and natural.   Just when you least expect it there are occasional inspirational lines casually placed on little tranquil, natural boards.

If you’d missed quite how wonderful the site was on the first evening in the dark when much of the time was spent in the exceedingly cosy and comfortable, snug and holding yurt then the story walk made sure we were all engaging with the land as we squelched through the bog of despondency and transformation or as we noticed the troll turned to stone in the hillside, mouth open, so like a small cave, or the rocks he threw at the middle son by the pond-lake home of the serpent, and the monster in the undergrowth.  The power of a well crafted story, told by a talented bard, wove not only the adventure of the newly created mythology into the landscape, but over it’s telling during the walk it wove each of us into the whole.

The various speakers over the weekend kept a very casual and relaxed air to the proceedings.  Each talking about their specialist areas of knowledge and helping us all find common ground and learn something new in an informal style.  Journeying to explore questions with the aid of power animals had a variety of responses, all of them in some way significant to the travellers.  As for the sound bath, I can barely describe it – it was a totally awesome wrap up. I have experienced a few different gong baths and sound therapies in the past, but this really was a tremendous journey of healing joy.

At some events alcohol plays a significant part, here we were high on the land, on the sounds, on the experiences, but even so, we didn’t let that stop us sharing a little home made mead around the fire on the second evening, in much the same way as we had been sharing the tasty pot luck food in the kitchen & dining areas through the rest of the weekend.

This was one of those short events which packed in what felt like weeks worth of wonderful experiences without there ever being a sense of being rushed or bustled.  A wonderful time of being utterly present in all of the experiences so well crafted together.

At the end I had heartfelt thanks to offer to Wildways’ guardian: Elaine,  our story guide: The Travelling Talesman/Cliff Eastabrook, Phillip Shalcrass and his wolves;  Leo Rutherford; all the musicians and artists, the wonderful guests and participants I met there, especially Harriet for her lovely crumble, the most seasonal food you could ask for helping connecting us to the land, (more special than you’d imagine) and last but by no means least: Massive thanks to Steve R for causing this excellent festival and celebration, a superb ritual for transition, which worked on me at many levels, to come into being in the material plane.

May our memory hold what our eyes and ears have gained,

because it was so very much.

I can but hope that I am able to attend next years “Gates of Autumn” and again contribute what I can with the other lovely souls gathering to mark the seasons turning, and our own growing,  in an awesome location.

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Review of ODE Cafe’s First Birthday Event

Last Sunday’s first anniversary celebrations at ODE Cafe in Shaldon were a demonstration of how a little English Summer Rain (that inevitable contribution to so many outdoor events) can’t spoil your day if you don’t let it.

It was a lovely day out.  The relaxed but busy atmosphere was a great way to counter the intermittent light showers and our day started with a far nicer wet – a good cup of fresh and tasty, rich, hot coffee.

The storyteller, The Travelling Talesman, told the tales of the king of the fish to a rapt audience of adults and children, for the second tale the adults were still listening, some  keenly, by now some of the children had the bug of activity in them.  It was quite impressive seeing the storyteller continue in his flow, whilst making passing adaptations to his stories referencing the line of small children who were now running in a tight circle around him.  A novel performance addition.

As he finished the childrens energy was fast drawn to the various games on the lawn for them to play with which seemed to provide all day entertainment for many of them, certainly at the end of the day I saw a number of children still grasping wooden blocks or bits of rope from the various activities.   Little ones were also drawn to the lovely cheerful real lemonade stall on the lawn (raising funds for the local pre-school) and the  visual element of the massive bubble making.  I enjoyed sitting back and watching the relaxing liberty of the very few bubbles which escaped small fingered popping as they drifted off up into the sky with a background of deep green trees on their way.

Whilst others took in the wonders of the brewery tour, we chose to sample the brewery’s produce and some of the wonderful looking food we had been watching being delivered to the other eager customers.  Our party chose the classic fish and chips and the more unusual venison burger.  The fish was local pollack, chunky and moist and meaty, cooked to perfection with a wonderful even swirled batter that was light and crisp all round with not a single soggy or gooey spot to be found.  The venison burgers  were moist, juicy and incredibly tasty: utterly delicious with the chilli jam. The rich thick garlic mayo was clearly freshly made and complimented the perfect golden fries, which really were perfect.  By our standards all fries should be, crisp and golden on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside.  These were. Perfection.  Refreshingly the selection of leaves served with the meal was more than the usual sad trimming on the side and was a tasty and well thought out element in it’s own right, a good balance to the red meat.  It was a pleasant surprise to find an old friend, the great quality Luscombe ginger beer (and other flavours) on sale too.

 

ODE ale was a real treat: gently tasty, smooth and friendly with a bright refreshing aftertaste.  I was very aware on the first sip some caution would be needed as it was so very remarkably drinkable and fun as it might have been to give in to temptation I’m no longer young enough to knock back a pint at speed at lunchtime without it having a noticable impact on the rest of the day and however pokey the coffee earlier I didn’t want to spend the afternoon napping on the benches, even if they are recycled from Eden.

Sitting outside we had been admiring the sedum roof and reading all about ODE’s eco awards, we rapid concluded they were well deserved, everything about the place seemed to be at once both efficient and relaxed, friendly yet professional, ecological and yet centred around delighting the customers.  Tim has struck a great balance in what he’s done with the place, and clearly it is much appreciated by the regulars who all seem to know him and many of the staff by name.

Adjourning inside thanks to the rain for more stories from the sea, including an appropriate tale which urged anyone who doubts we can save the planet/all the starfish to do what we can, when we can, with what we have, we were able to enjoy the open barn space, which thanks to the use of windows through to the lawn one way and the brewery the other, is pleasant and light, yet at the same time cosy.  It had space enough to fit in musicians who entertained us with music for much of the afternoon and even had some people dancing, and more still foot tapping or singing along as orders of more delicious looking meals and puddings arrived.

Much entertainment was had watching long benches full of kids trying to eat sugary doughnuts without licking their lips.  Then another brewery tour happened and just when you were ready for a last sit down there were more stories from The Travelling Talesman, in the barn at the end of the entertainment.

We rounded off our visit to ODE cafe with a delicious treat – Rose, Almond and Cardammon icecream, not in the least bit over floral or perfumed as my partner feared, but just as the rest of the day had been,  just right for a perfect day.  Rich without being sickly, gently spiced and clean tasting, and served in an awesome crunchy ginger biscuit cone.

Our whole day out was finished off with a recommendation from the ever helpful staff – that we couldn’t go home without taking a walk down the Smugglers Tunnel to the beach, which we dutifully did and were suitably impressed.

ODE true food Cafe (to give it it’s full title) is a delightful cafe, with lovely staff, delicious food, excellent drinks, and to know all this is done with a respect and reguard to the environment, and using local high quality produce, really boosts the enjoyment of it all.  I have been finding myself recommending them to various people since as a lovely place to visit for the sake of visiting for a lovely meal, not just if you’re in the area, but worth the trip in their own right.

I was very glad to share their first birthday with them and wish them very many more happy returns (and very much hope to return there soon myself).