Newbold House

Newbold blessing

Newbold House is a five-minute walk from Cluny Hill. It was built in 1893 for a retired army colonel-cum-tea planter and his wife. It was converted into a hotel 60 years and two well-healed owners later. This grand hotel became a convenient watering hole for one or two Cluny Hill members of an evening and an occasional breakfast venue for a member from Texas who preferred a fry-up to a ‘healthy’ bowl of Community cereal. Another Cluny member would occasionally help the hotel owner in the extensive walled vegetable garden. Eileen too felt connected to the place and predicted that it would, when the time was right, become part of the Findhorn Community.

By the late 1970s the Findhorn Community membership exceeded 300, spread between The Park and Cluny Hill. Community accommodation was small and tight, particularly at Cluny Hill where members with their children and babies had, out of necessity, begun occupying bedrooms normally reserved for guests. Peter Caddy declared Cluny Hill was no place for children and that they and their parents should be rehoused, suggesting nearby Cluny Bank as a suitable family house. Cally Miller (then called Maggie), Head of Cluny Homecare and Foundation member for two years, told the founder: Cluny Bank for my family? No way! I have my sights on Newbold House Hotel.

Newbold House with wisteria shrub in blossom

Some months later the 14-acre hotel was offered to the Community. Purchase was out of the question, instead a renewable six-month rental agreement was worked out between the owners and The Foundation. Cally was told by Peter: There, you’ve got your Newbold! Cally with husband Harley and their 14-year-old daughter together with Cluny fellow members Gene Flete, Sue Parr and Augusta Lumley moved into the house on 3rd May 1979. The project was managed as an annex to Cluny Hill, providing meeting rooms and bedrooms for the Foundation’s guest programmes. The Newbold rental was high, and as winter approached the Foundation realised that continuing the tenancy during the low guest season was unaffordable and Harley and Cally were asked to assume rental responsibility on the understanding that Newbold could host one high-paying Foundation guest programme booked for February followed by a series of programmes through the summer months. The couple wasn’t at all enthusiastic and saw that they might soon be returning to Cluny Hill.

The autumn of 1979 wasn’t a good time for the Community. Peter was finally letting go of the reins; there was a serious black hole in the Foundation’s coffers following the enthusiastic purchase of Cullerne House, Station House and assuming custodianship of the Island of Erraid. It was a very worrying time, so much so that one evening all parts of the Community were summoned to an emergency meeting and each member was asked what they could personally do to prevent the Foundation going under. There were some useful offers of help including Harley and Cally undertaking personally to assume financial responsibility for the Newbold project with outgoings of £65,00 annually and its continued management.

The new venture was reidentified as an associated project of the Findhorn Foundation whilst remaining aligned with its aims and purposes. In 1982 the Newbold Trust was established, which one year later purchased the house and seven acres of grounds. From the outset Newbold ran its economy according to a system of donations, which proved highly successful and offered a persuasive alternative to accepted business practices. Buoyed up by the generosity of its guests, Newbold was paid off within 10 years and has been self-managed since under the guardianship of a Trustees group, plus the management and operational skills of a resident team of core members.

Harley Miller