This week has been nose to the grindstone. I've lived solely on chicken and broccoli (diet), tapped out 11 hour days and a zillion, billion words on the laptop (attempting to write something coherent), wrestled with skull splitting headaches (caused by tapping..), cats with attachment disorders (missing my parents) and ex RAF (now AA insurance) men on a mission. By Thursday I was ready to kill and so decided it might be an idea to meet up with a friend of mine from this half of the country and get some Fresh Air. God bless her, she agreed and so we arranged to meet half way between this, my temporary northern residence, and her home in Inverness.
With gale force winds and horizontal rain lashing against the window this morning, I had little hope that the prearranged 'bimble' along Findhorn beach with said friend, hereafter known mysteriously as 'M' would actually materialise - but as I drove towards Elgin - delighting in the power that is a car less than 5 years old (I've stolen my mums while they're in Portugal), the sun was beginning to break through the cloud. By the time I turned off for Kinloss it was windows down and radio up weather and at Findhorn itself, I was greeted by wall to wall sunshine and quickly stripped down to just one jacket! In April?! In Scotland?! I know!
Findhorn Bay is a place of outstanding natural beauty and quite unlike anywhere else on the east coast of Scotland - M and I were trying to figure out what made it so special. Is it the quiet? The stunning scenery? The trees right to the shore? The wildlife? God knows but its one hell of a place.
Its no wonder really that Eileen and Peter Caddy set up the Foundation on its shores really. The Findhorn Community was started in 1962 by Peter and Eileen and their friend Dorothy Maclean. All three had followed disciplined spiritual paths for many years and they first came to northeast Scotland in 1957 to manage the Cluny Hill Hotel in the town of Forres, which they did remarkably successfully. Eileen received guidance in her meditations from an inner divine source she called 'the still small voice within' and Peter ran the hotel according to this guidance and his own intuition. In this unorthodox way – and with many delightful and unlikely incidents – Cluny Hill swiftly became a thriving and successful four-star hotel. After several years however, Peter and Eileen’s employment was terminated, and with nowhere to go and little money, they moved with their three young sons and Dorothy to a caravan in the nearby seaside village of Findhorn.
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| Findhorn Bay looking over the Moray Firth towards the north of Scotland |
Feeding six people on unemployment benefit was difficult, so Peter decided to start growing vegetables. The land in the caravan park was sandy and dry but he persevered. Dorothy discovered she was able to intuitively contact the overlighting spirits of plants – which she called angels, and then devas – who gave her instructions on how to make the most of their fledgling garden. She and Peter translated this guidance into action, and with amazing results. From the barren sandy soil of the Findhorn Bay Caravan Park grew huge plants, herbs and flowers of dozens of kinds, most famously the now-legendary 40-pound cabbages. Word spread, horticultural experts came and were stunned, and the garden at Findhorn became famous.
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| Universal Hall at the Findhorn Foundation |
That's how the story goes anyway. Choose to believe it or not, its grown since then to a good sized eco village with its own shop, activity centre, arts centre and even supports various small businesses such as woodturners and potters. It is a major spiritual hub and I spent a lot of time there in my twenties, eager to 'find' myself. I didn't (I'm still looking and enjoying the search ta!) and to be honest, I became a little disillusioned with the whole set up. I think the original idea was honest and wonderful but like a lot of things, they change over time - and not always for the good.
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| Path mosaic at Findhorn Foundation |
Whatever my, or your, thoughts on the place, its well worth a visit. After a stomp along the actual beach setting the world to rights, we intrepid explorers summited a sand dune to get our bearings and set off for the Foundation - had a gorgeous lunch from the Blue Angel cafe (may I recommend in particular the Almond and Chocolate torte..), a peruse of an exhibition by John Hodkinson - digital prints and mixed media work exploring ideas and themes found in the stories and recollections of Scotland’s Travelling people and then a wander through the eco-village itself. I'm particularly interested in buildings at the moment as I'm researching for The House that Jo Built so we took a tour round some of the self builds there.
Its a little like a flat northern Norway really. A jumbled mix of wooden built houses with a definite scandinavian feel. I was happy. Its the look I love and the style I will...or more accurately, the builders (I've seen Grand Designs, I've seen what can go wrong if you try and build yourself!!) will be building one day.
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| I really loved this one... |
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A house built of bales....
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| and one built of barrels (big ones...) |
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| I loved the blue one |
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| and this one reminded me of Bristol Airport.. |
We rounded of the afternoon, and our circuitous meanderings by walking along the tide line of the bay and taking arty photos (none of mine came out anything like they did in my head). I didn't really want to leave but I had a prior engagement with my brother who needed to discuss Ice Road Truckers and so I set off, a little bit weary, a little bit sunburnt (or might be sandblasted - not sure yet..) but very, very happy.
As they say in Clwyd...
Grand...
