Kit Berry's Blog, page 5

The grand facade of Llangoed Hall
The lovely Morning Room

Wonderful proportions of the staircase -and note the hat-rack!

The metal fire-curtain - a strange coincidence


Mr B and I recently spent a weekend at a beautiful hotel in the Brecon Beacons - Llangoed Hall. The place has a very interesting history and was apparently originally Llangoed Castle, possibly the place of the first Welsh parliament and documented since the year 560. The mansion dated from 1632 and changed possession many...

Lipstick in the black marble bathroom - reminiscent of Magus' room!
View from Centre Point across London - including the London Eye
Kit signing up with Piers Russell-Cobb

Piers anticipates success with Stonewylde!
Last night I spent an exciting evening which may just change my life! After three months of discussion and negotiation, I zoomed up the dizzying height of Centre Point in Tottenham Court Road, London in a swishy lift to sign an author-agent agreement with Piers Russell-Cobb of The...

Daffodil with a snow hood - courtesy of Mary of Mullion
The Stonewylde image for Imbolc - the Maiden Huntress
Copyright Helixtree


Brigid's Cross in the snowdrops
Courtesy of Cornmother

Today is Imbolc, a Celtic cross-quarter festival later subsumed by the Christian Church into Candlemas, or the Purification of the Virgin Mary. It is the time of the Maiden, the awakening of the Earth in her rebirth after the darkness of winter. The ancient symbols for this festival, so important in an...

Fun in the park

Trying to get to the shed to find the spade - guess what happened when I opened the door!

Icicles and snow from our kitchen window
Icicles in the forsythia

I noticed that in 2009 I made 51 blog entries - on average, almost one a week in fact! Sadly though my last entry was well over a month ago and I'm sorry to all those who read my blog about this long silence. I came back from the Schumacher College very happy and excited, and feeling spiritually energised. But less than a...

A room at the Schumacher College - inspiration for the Galleried Hall at Stonewylde


The labyrinth and Dark Goddess figurine - part of the Darkness and Transformation course



Sunrise at the Dartington Estate taken during my daily dawn walk
I have just returned from four days at one of my favourite places on earth - the Schumacher College on the Dartington Estate near Totnes in Devon. Anyone who's heard me giving my talk will remember that it was at this place that I had my epiphany back in...

A fantasia of fans - wearing four varieties of Stonewylde T-shirt!
Our lovely spot at Kernowkopia

Moonshadow the Barn Owl - from Porfell Wildlife Sanctuary

The brilliant staff at The Sands Hotel, Newquay eating their breakfastPhoto courtesy of Cornmother

Last week was a West Country treat for me. I spent Thursday with Chris Salisbury of Wildwise on Dartmoor, learning about the Earth Walk and chasing rainbows. On Friday I appeared on Judi Spiers' show on BBC Radio Devon, which was great fun...

Pagan Music's latest album
Kit and Damh the Bard in 2008 at Wessex Gathering near Swanage

I first met Damh the Bard at the Wessex Gathering back in May of 2008. It was a very hot and sunny day (hence the awful squinting in the photo above) and I arrived in a bit of a fluster to do a talk in the marquee and sign books with Jerry and Diane Bird at their bookstall. I knew that Damh the Bard was going to be there - and that he wanted to meet me as he loved Stonewylde. It was an exciting...

Beautiful beech trees in November

The leaves are almost gone now, and in fact I'm quite surprised there are still any about after last weekend's storms. Beech trees, as pictured above in a wood near me, really are my favourite. It's their variety of colours - from that brilliant impossibly lime green in May through deeper shades of green, then gold, russet, yellow and finally ... nothing. Although they make a thick golden brown carpet all winter.

It's a strange time of year now, this bit in...

Kit Berry and Simon Key at the Big Green Bookshop

I spent a lovely evening at the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green, and it was great to meet Simon Key and his business partner Tim West at last. Simon found the original e-mail I sent him back in April 2008, not long after the shop had opened, and it made me realise just how long I'd been hoping to visit this special shop.

I was made very welcome and plied with wine right from the start. Tim even presented me with my own blue glasss goblet...

Two blokes, one bookshop, no idea ...

Time to celebrate - the grand opening

Tim West and Simon Key open the shop to a great fanfare!

Simon Key enters the world of Stonewylde - from which there's no escape(All photos courtesy of the Big Green Bookshop)

This Friday 6th November I'll be spending the evening, from 7pm, with Simon Key the celebrity bookseller in his very special shop. I'm so honoured! I was telling him tonight that I'm more nervous about this event than any of the others I've...