When guests first arrive at Copper House, the biggest FAQ is, “Do you actually live here?” Because the room may be set up for sound bathing, mindfulness movement, a painting experience, or a big meeting room, they don’t immediately recognize the space as a home. The image above is what our living-dining room looks like when we are not hosting retreats.
One of the first steps in getting ready for many retreats is to completely clear the space. We have many hiding places (some in plain sight) so that we can easily and relatively quickly transform the space into whatever the occasion calls for. In the following two photos, you’ll see the decks cleared–and then turned into an extraordinary sound-bathing experience with John Muraco for twenty guests.
When we’re not hosting events, we are constantly working on the Copper House building and grounds to improve the experience of our retreat attendees. Between our last two events, we spent days gathering boulders and stones from around our eleven acres–yes, we build all of the beautiful stonework you’ll see at Copper House–and built a new wall as you approach the house. Two days before our event, we hadn’t quite completed the project as planned, so we quickly tucked all the unused stones behind the wall and then moved on to all of the rest of our pre-game chores! (Would you ever guess that wall was under construction and still needed additional attention?)
Of course there’s all the menu planning, shopping, and prepping to get ready for an event. Some preparation–like the dough for pizza–I do two to three days in advance so the dough can ferment. In the photo below, that’s me pulling the doughs from the fridge–sixteen for this particular event!–an hour before they’re transformed into pizza. And in the second photo, you’ll see homemade biscuits, wraps, and spinach-filled potato cups ready for the oven, all of which I prepare the day before, and then assemble and bake shortly before guests arrive.
We love for guests to enjoy what we call our outdoor rooms as much as possible. We find people love the soothing sounds of water. There’s a stream on the grounds, but even closer by is our fountain circle. Because the weather was so beautiful on this particular day, we set it up for breakfast, complete with cushions for people to sit and connect with their colleagues and take in all the sights and sounds.
While guest are enjoying breakfast, David is busy splitting wood and getting the oven fired up in the outdoor kitchen, which will be hot enough for pizza making in a few hours. The fire needs to be started well in advance so that there’s plenty of time for the oven tiles to not just get hot, but to thoroughly absorb the heat. When the oven is heated properly, we can churn out a pizza in just a couple of minutes!
And finally, if you recall the big glass room set up for sound bathing in the early in the morning, it experiences yet a second transformation into an art studio after lunch. As soon as sound bathing is over, instruments are packed up and whisked away, blankets are folded and returned to their closet. We roll in round tables, which get covered and set up for an art workshop with Roey Ebert. Today’s attendees were veterinarians, so what choice did they have but to paint cats and dogs!
Behind the scenes we work very hard to make Copper House welcoming so that when you ask if this place is our home, we can respond, “Yes, we live here, but today it’s your home.”
Copper House Strawberry Shortcake