“Within this quiet world often something comes, whether that is a thought or painting, song or paragraph. I want Boath House to be a sketchbook for all that.” The application process couldn’t be simpler: “Email [email protected] stating what you do and why you would like to come,” explains Jonny. In return, the resident is asked “to leave something behind.”

This creative freedom extends to the food offering. In the 400-year-old walled garden is a café that seats 24 (in warmer weather, there’s a pergola that seats another 40).

“Here you’ll find our chefs, Philip and Kathrine, often cooking dishes from the fire oven,” explains Jonny. “Their focus is the garden produce and the immediate surroundings. Pulling from the jars in the larder fermented rhubarb and pickled carrots. Last year’s harvest locked in time.”

There are plans afoot to open the dining room in the main house on Fridays and Saturdays. “Here, the food will be more complex,” says Jonny, but still with a focus on “our forests, rivers, sea, and soil.”

Collaborations, markets, performances, residencies, and exhibitions are all happening at Boath House in 2023. There’s space for family fun, too, says Jonny: “In the summer, I want the garden to be wild with kids, life, and outdoor movie nights: sausages on sticks, burning fires. Late night ping-pong; the pop of a new bottle.

“We are all very conscious of the pace of the house and how we can enable the slowing of time through little rituals here and there,” he adds. “Nothing is rushed. We aren’t pestering guests. It is their home, not just for the time they are here, but hopefully it remains theirs after they leave, too.”

For more, head to Boath House.

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