Wherever you go, there you are. Just because we bid adieu to life as we knew it, Zen tranquility has not descended upon us. Thomas is a man of unstoppable energy; here at Lescure he wakes up to 44 hectares of new possibilities every morning. No wonder his energizer bunny mode goes into total overdrive. I, for my part, can’t imagine not resisting change or fearing the unknown, so the endless opportunity of the estate leaves me mortified half of time. But then there was Wendy. During her visit, our friend and yoga teacher helped us stop the chatter in our exhausted minds and gave us a taste of what it’s like to just be still at Lescure and let it all flow past.

Our days were filled to the brim as always – here’s a yogini who knows about installing electricity and doesn’t think twice about driving an old Land Rover to collect wood, but we also made time to appreciate the sunlight, wander the grounds and sit beneath ‘the cathedral’, our biggest cedar tree. In the castle, which is still very much a building site, she used newspapers to eliminate the cold fireplace draft, gathered socks and blankets and set the scene for a guided meditation every night. It did wonders for our creativity and peace of mind. In mysticism a castle is a metaphor for the soul; I like to believe that our inner work seeped into the space around us, each conscious breath filling our hearts and Lescure with positive energy and silence. Thank you, Wendy!