In the old refectory, I imagined a large table seating lots of little girls, their laughter echoing into the garden through the beautiful stone arch.
The little dining space is still there….
The enormous fireplace houses a pretty wood-fuelled heating stove.
A singular ‘niche’ in the shape of a shell, (perhaps the trace of some lost pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostella?) has been carefully restored and now awaits its pieta .
The stone walls were sanded and then polished one by one: they give out a real feeling of softness and the different nuances of colour are revealed. Where the stones were too damaged to recover, the walls were covered over with sand and lime which I shaped and moulded with a trowel to create soft round borders between the two different materials.
The floor was recreated using “bards”, (thick stone slabs), which were originally on the first floor. These were sanded and laid according to their willingness to be relocated!.. then jointed. A tribute must be given to the artisan who carried out this remarkable work. |
