The House

Built in 1752 and added to in the Victorian period, this beautiful Georgian house and its estate now provides the main locus for the School. Rooms in the house are devoted to study, meditation and conversation, with a library, a large dining room and of course the kitchen. 

Caring for and improving the facilities for students and visitors is ongoing, and hospitality as a spiritual practice is deeply embedded in the ethos of the School. 

Room preparation in Chisholme House is, as any other works undertaken in the school, a practical way to understand the principle of the unity of existence. Reality is one, and therefore a person arriving to a room is not separate from this reality, but an aspect and a unique expression of it. This means one tries to approach the work of preparing the space for them with due respect and care. Equally this respect and care applies to oneself, the one who is performing the task. One is partaking in the unfolding of the relationship of the guest and host, the reality of which is that they are one movement.

If the meaning of Mohammed's saying "God is beautiful and He Love's Beauty" is to be appreciated, even the simple task of room preparation can be followed in a way that reflects or aspires to reflect that beauty.

As this is a school in a truly holistic sense, it isn't that one learns these ideas first and then merely applies them to the physical work, but rather, more often, the work itself can inform, remind and deepen the understanding, and so is an essential part of the education.

Hiroko Apthorp
Former Housekeeper at The Beshara School Chisholme