Now the holy bits

Colwich Abbey


The nun's choir and the sanctuary (spot anything missing?). The choir was built originally to be the ball room/banqueting room for the hunting lodge. I took the picture from what was then the minstrels' gallery and is now a place where you can sit and hear and follow the services if you are sick in the infirmary.


The long cloister.


St. Benedict


Among the many treats in the house is the clock room. You go into a bathroom and a little door, about three and half feet high, opens into a little anteroom containing the clockworks. When you are standing over it watching the works, the chime will make you jump out of your skin!



Having a bath in the bathroom right next to the clock is quite an experience. The picture is a bit dark, but if you look closely, you can see the pendulum as it swings.


The Christmas holiday between Christmas day and Epiphany, was described to me as "the silly season" in which the sisters have lots of tea parties and little dos, fancy dress and plays. I was assured over and over that the rest of the year is much more nunny.


from the left, Mother Prioress and Mother Abbess.


The house from the south end of the garden. The mysterious little doors you see in the foreground are the entrance to the "grots" the underground vaults that once were to serve as stables and wine cellars and food storage for the aristocrat who built the big house.


Taking the dog for a walk after Morning Office


the back door.


The grounds with a bit of house

The community was founded in Paris in the 1650's to pray for the conversion of England. The nuns were arrested during the Terror and fled back to England where they pioneered Eucharistic Adoration for this country.


Our Lady of Walsingham still reigns. The shrine to her in the garden had a candle lit all night. This is also the favoured spot in the summer for the sisters to take recreation.


More grounds.


And more grounds.


And more grounds. The view from the community room window.


The community room (which they call the "work room") decked out for a Christmas buffet.


Reverend Mother Abbess Gertrude Baker, saying good bye in the refectory on my last day.At 4'7" and after nearly 60 years of religious life, one of the tiniest and most delightful people I have ever met.