My New home by Jen
I used to live at William Morris and then somewhere in Chard before moving to Camphill Devon.
I found moving a bit stressful as I don’t like change. I first moved into Merlin house where I was
made very welcome and made friends quickly. I have now moved to Pendragon (which was
the plan all along). I first had lunches at Pendragon on a Wednesday and Friday and then
eventually I stayed for a whole day and then a night, and now I live there! I am enjoying living
in Pendragon and everyone is being really nice to me. Christoph is taking care of me and I am
going out with him on the weekend. I also have just been to Germany to visit my brother and
his wife and 2 children, with a 3rd on the way. We had a good flight and I went out on the tram
and to Mc Donald's. I like my bedroom in Pendragon they decorated it nicely for me with good
colours and the bed is very comfortable. I like the staff at Hapstead they are nice, polite and
very helpful. I am very happy and I like it here.
Recently our Farm Manager Rory managed to take
some wonderful aerial photographs of Camphill Devon
showing our solar panels. Here is one of them.
A wonderfully
carved pumpkin by
Guinevere house
Autumn newsletter
Waiting
We are doing some waiting at Camphill Devon at the moment… not that we are sitting back
waiting with our feet up of course! We are waiting to hear the results of the planning application
to have a new building at the side of Merlin. We are expecting to hear something any time now.
Also due any day now is a Care Quality Commission inspection for the “registered care home”
i.e. Hapstead, and a separate inspection for the supported living service. We are actually
overdue, so we have been in a state of readiness for a couple of months. The new inspections
are more detailed than before with more inspectors staying for longer. It will be interesting to test
ourselves against the new expectations, or “Key Lines of Enquiry” as they are called.
Elsewhere in this newsletter you will read about an adventurous trip to the summit of Mount
Snowdon. It was not an official Camphill Devon “event” but the initiative of a group of people
who wanted a more active holiday. Everyone paid for the trip for themselves, and in addition
gained sponsorship to raise money for their chosen charities: Children in Need and Camphill
Devon. The money is still coming in and is already adding up to several hundred pounds. Well
done to all, and to those who helped by organising the trip.
On a light note an unidentified vehicle arrived at Hapstead in the dead of night several weeks
ago. It seems to be some kind of eco vehicle as it is now connected to our charger for electric
vehicles. We have been looking out for the driver, who seems to be no more than two feet tall,
but my guess is we will be waiting for a long time before anyone discovers the culprit.
Enjoy this issue
Hapstead Village
Buckfastleigh
Devon, TQ11 0JN
Phone: 01364 642631
Fax: 01364 644188
E-mail: [email protected]
Registered charity no. 278173
Please help us to save on postage: to receive regular
Newsletters from Camphill Devon Community please
email [email protected] requesting
‘Newsletter’
Mystery car
John
Feline good by Maureen
I am a volunteer at ‘Animals in
Distress’ and work with the older
cats on Thursday morning. I enjoy
cleaning the cats home and
mopping the floor. Sometimes I go
to see the kittens in their home.
Maureen mopping the floor
One of the
kittens
The cats new
outside space
Farm-tastic! By Sylvia
Welcome to Anna
I collect the eggs in the morning and I work on the farm in the afternoon. We have a new hen
house that we built, which has special doors with a light sensitive device which opens when the
sun comes up, and closes when the sun goes down and the hens are all safely tucked up for the
night. (This is safer and more fox proof than in the past). We have 35 new black hens that are
proving to be good layers; the record number of eggs so far is 44 in a day.
Anna
Hi, I am Anna Ambridge, the new Weavery lady! I started in July so have
been here a few months, so not so new now. Thank you to everyone I
have met for the lovely welcome you have given me. I am enjoying
working here, and I am thinking of new things we can make. If anyone
has any old jumpers or scarves made of wool that they no longer need,
could you please drop them off at the weavery? We are hoping to felt
them and then we can make them into soft toys! But they must be wool
please or it won’t work.
What a load of old jumpers!!
Snowdonia
On the 14th September 6 residents with support chose to go on holiday to Snowdonia and as
part of their trip they wanted to challenge themselves to do a sponsored walk to the summit on
Mount Snowdon. Everyone did really well and made it as far as they could but Havey and
William both made it to the top which was a tremendous achievement. Money is still pouring in
but so far they have raised near to £1000 for their chosen charities, Camphill Devon
I think this red coat
and Children in need. Well done Guys!
maybe Joey with
Walkers
The train
Base camp
Gate to the summit
William who raced
ahead
The farm has also been working on drainage. Which is a good thing as we had 33 millimetres of
rain the other day, and we could be looking at a wet winter. We have a rain gage for interest
but also to monitor the water levels, you ideally need 4 millimetres a day. Due to a hot dry
period this summer we didn’t have enough which directly impacts on the amount of silage we
can produce. A pipe has been opened up to stop flooding around the hall area and work is
being done to help the water run off the hill and not come down into the lower farm and cow
yard.
New Hens arriving
Freshly laid eggs
New Hens
New hen house
Hapstead Woods
In 2013 a 10-year Plan for the management of Hapstead Woods was approved by the Forestry
Commission. The woods are classed as Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland, meaning it has been
mostly oak trees since before the 1600's and native to Dartmoor. "Dart" means oak in the
ancient British language.
Rocky path
View from the summit
Getting steep
Yet another successful TRAIL exhibition
David looking
very proud
The walking group came to visit
Thomasin and David with some of their work
at the TAAG centre in Teignmouth raising over
£1000 for Camphill Devon. Everyone in the
workshops worked very hard and it is lovely to
be part of an exhibition which is all about
recycling and the environment. Everyone
enjoyed visiting the exhibition and seeing their
work as well as helping to steward. We have
now got work being sold at
The Funky Aardvark across the street from
TAAG on an ongoing basis.
Over the years, other trees have invaded or been introduced into this oakwood; conifers,
beeches and rhododendrons. The Plan involves removing most of
these and then selectively thinning the remaining oaks so they
can grow stronger. This will let more sunlight onto the woodland
floor and encourage woodland flowers and wildlife.
Last year, small conifers were thinned and removed by residents
and staff at Hapstead and this autumn 55 mature larch trees
were felled and extracted with the aid of a horse.
Horse at work
A welcome contribution
Earlier this year we received a donation from The Worshipful
Company of Skinners, we used this money to buy some much
needed storage, mugs, a gazebo for off site fairs and some
lovely new workshop aprons. This donation as all, is greatly
appreciated and put to good use. Thank you.
New aprons