31 Mar March 2025 Digest

Welcome back to Mucknell Abbey, where we’ve been enjoying the (slightly) warmer weather and longer days. We’re deep into Lent now, with both our community and our personal observances to keep us on track as we continue to seek God, and to prepare with joy for Easter. That said, we’ve had a bit of a mid-Lent break this past week, with the feast of the Annunciation, a birthday and then Laetare Sunday within 6 days giving us an abundance of cake and other delicious things. Read on to see what else we’ve been up to this month.

Introducing Noah!

We have all been entertained over the last few weeks by the arrival of a new robot lawnmower, which was speedily christened Noah the Mower by the community (we have something of a habit of naming pieces of machinery…). Noah was a very generous gift from a friend of the community, and he has been busily at work mowing the orchard and the lawn behind the community building, as well as the area out the front of the monastery. He does occasionally get stuck on various slopes, or in dips in the ground, and need rescuing, but he’s otherwise very self-reliant, taking himself back to his charging station as needed. The local wildlife has seemed fairly unfazed by his arrival; the wagtails have cottoned on that he is not out to get them, and so mostly ignore him. Rocky (our cat) has been observing from a distance; we’ve yet to see him investigate more closely. Here’s a little clip of Noah doing his thing:

The Roundhouse Project

As mentioned in last month’s blog post, we are currently fundraising for a new meeting space for the monastery, The Roundhouse. We have been blown away by the generosity of so many people; at the time of writing we have raised somewhere in the region of £29,000, or about two thirds of the total. Donations are still more than welcome, so if you haven’t yet had chance to read about the project and to donate, head to the link above to find out more.

Signs of Spring

It’s been lovely these last couple of weeks to see the beginnings of spring; we’ve noticed various birds returning, and being more active around the place, and we’ve also had a pair of geese around. We think these may be the same geese who nested here last year and produced some very cute goslings. We’ll keep you updated. We’ve begun planting in the kitchen garden; the greenhouse is slowly acquiring trays of seedlings, which will make their way into more permanent homes in due course. It always seems to me like a little miracle that what starts off so tiny ends up feeding us an abundance in just a few short months.

Rocky’s Roamings

Rocky had to go to the vet this month for his annual health check and vaccine boosters. Here’s how it went, or

How to take your cat to the vet in three eighteen easy steps.

1. Lock the cat flap the night before the vet appointment so that the cat can get in, but can’t get back out.

2. Feed the cat first thing in the morning, as usual.

3. Go back to check on the cat (who may be unhappy at being locked in) after Office of Readings.

4. Find that the cat has disappeared. From a shut room. With a supposedly locked cat flap.

5. Contemplate having to call the vet and explain why you have to cancel the appointment.

6. Decide to go for a walk down the drive, just in case the cat is within earshot and feeling friendly.

7. Get to the end of the drive and find the cat at our neighbour’s place. Be grateful that he comes when called.

8. Pick the cat up and carry him all the way back to the monastery. He will wriggle, but will be unable to escape a tight grip.

9. Put the cat in the the sitting room, which has only one door and no cat flap. Close the door. Ignore his unhappy meows.

10. Go and fetch the cat basket.

11. Return to the sitting room and try to encourage the cat into the basket.

12. End up putting the basket on one end and dropping the (somewhat unimpressed) cat in.

13. Go over to the office to get the car keys. While in the office, basket in hand, notice with a start that it is suddenly several kilos lighter.

14. Find the snapped leather strap that the cat has broken off. Be grateful that all the doors leading out of the office are shut.

15. Find some string, re-insert cat into basket, tie the door shut in several places. Watch as the cat realises that escape is now impossible.

16. Get to the car, put the cat basket in, drive to the vets.

17. Be grateful that the cat behaves himself well at the vet, and be very grateful for expert vets who are good at dealing with unenthusiastic patients.

18. Return home, release the cat from his basket, and make a large cup of coffee.

Rocky has been rather camera shy this month, but I did come across him in one of his little hiding places, the cupboard under the stairs. As you can see, he is, in characteristic fashion, not in the least repentant.

And finally…

As we enjoy the signs of spring all around us – the sights, sounds and scents – I am reminded once again of Lent as a time of preparation for the joy to come at Easter. The seeds that we are sowing as it were into the darkness of the soil of our lives contain within them the potential for the new life that will come forth from them in just a few short weeks. As any gardener will tell you (including me!), watching seeds sprout and plants grow is like seeing a hundred little miracles. I pray that those miracles, that fruit, would bloom and blossom forth from all our lives as the remembrance of resurrection draws near.