Finally cold weather is on its way, they say, and all we need now are a few crisp blue sky days to allow our minds to turn to… skiing!

The early, crazy, days are the best – when there are hurricanes of wind in your sails and the waiting rocks matter not a jot. When we started, in 1993, we had no idea how challenging it would be to visit each and every place. Back then we had to miss out a place or two, but now we can proudly say that every place on our site has been visited by us.

to be naked at work? Nicola Crosse ponders the question...

Ahhh - lovely! A post-cycle dip works for Alastair

Before you go off on a tangent imagining that here at Sawday’s we encourage nudity, we don’t! Although Alastair loves nothing more than stripping down to his trunks and diving into our little pond. For years, too, he used to startle newcomers by emerging from his mezzanine office in a little towel on his way for his post-cycle shower. The rest of us were used to it. Now that we have more than one shower we are spared this vision, but the point is, he still thinks nothing of it – stripping off at work - especially if the pond beckons on a sunny day.

Some of the Sawdays on holiday

We are obsessively private as a society, are we not? Borne down by terror of our neighbours, or by sheer exhaustion, or paranoia about strangers, we retreat into our shells. We are less community-minded than we once were, so it is not surprising that we miss the rowdy, congenial, amiable company of our larger social groups – extended family, circles of friends, even neighbours.

I am happy that it's so popular for large groups now to play together on holiday; it challenges my curmudgeonliness. And it is good that so many magnificent houses are NOT being broken down into smaller, more private, units but are simply tarted up to receive gatherings of the good, the young, the old, the grand and the less grand. 

Keeping the quirk and the fun

Alastair outside our eco-barns

The world of regulation is mad in parts, and encourages uniformity. We are a fiercely independent, passionate bunch, and so are our owners. We have fun with them and encourage them to be themselves; we want them to avoid destructive norms, to cook, serve, and converse, entertain in their own way. If we support them in this then together we can resist the pressure to behave like sheep.

The Slow Movement started with food in Italy when a fast food chain threatened to compromise all that Italians loved about food. It urged Italians to turn their back on the encroaching fast food culture.