Photograph by George Angus When we moved to Barrowfield last year, we did so with too much stuff (See Matilda’s post Moving heavily ). There were mitigating circumstances as we stated before: it was years of living, by four different people and in different locations coming together – Matilda, me, Oupa Frans and my dad. There were two workshops, one pottery studio and four houses with all the tools and possessions associated with each. Add to that my father’s reluctance to move and our efforts to take into account that his belongings acted as a security blanket and all could not simply be taken away from him and you end up with all that arrived in Wakkerstroom and here on the farm at Barrowfield. And that despite everything that has indeed been sorted, discarded or sold. Too much. That is not the way we want to live. There is a dissonance between our possessions and our spirituality. We want to travel much, much lighter. Gradually things have settled in these past few ...
The Restory is a Retreat Centre nestled against Tafelkop, a singular mountain head near Wakkerstroom, South Africa. Here we live a simple life as contemplatives. It is a place of re-connection: with ourselves, people, Nature, Silence and Creativity. Our retreats are aimed at this. Our conversations, writing and art centre around the univocity of life. We need a place that reminds us that we are all one. The Restory hopes to be such a place and space.