Dream Monastery

[Sibling Chatty]

A compounding room for homemade soaps and lotions and creams, scented with our own homegrown herbs and flowers.

Deep covered porches and balconies.

A completely up-to-date media room, with very thick doors and lots of soundproofing.

A roll-in therapy pool.

[Griffin NoName]

Need roll-on-off therapy pool.

[Aggie]

Someone built my dream monastery - or close to what I'd want in Canada...!

http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid800.php

[Kiyoodle the Gambrinous]

Someone built my dream monastery - or close to what I'd want in Canada...!

http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid800.php

So, when are we moving in?

[Opsa]

Toadily Awesome, Duje!

Below is a shot of the Sanctuary, where I spent part of the weekend with The Nice One and our significant otherses. It is a place where shell-shocked people (mostly soldiers) and their families go to recouperate.  We got to stay overnight in exchange for gardening chores because Nice One knows the project owner. Sweet!

It would make a nice Monastery as well. Note the other side of the roof sticking out to the left of the pine tree. This place was pretty big. Also note the pool in the garden in the foreground.

[Pachyderm]

Can I get a trouser press?

And we definitely need a thermal spa spring. Just been to one in Turkey at Pamukkale. Water is warm, bubbly, and coolest thing of all, used to be a sacred pool in a temple of Apollo. Some of the columns are still in it....

[Swatopluk]

Still working on the design for the squid tower. That would require the monastery to be half up a mountain on the coast.

[Opsa]

You'll get no objections from me for such a location. Sounds great!

If we can't find mountainous/beach frontage with a thermal spa, can we create an artificially heated spa? Solar powered, perhaps?

[Aggie]

If I ever go ahead and pick up a site in the Kootenays, there are tons of natural hot springs.  I'll be that we could tap a thermal aquifer, and use the runoff from the spa to heat the greenhouse (maybe even the main building).  Not sure what one does with post-use spa water - not sure if it's wise to reinject into the aquifer.

Also could use a closed system geothermal heat exchanger that took the heat from the earth, or a combo system that permitted periodic pumping from a hot aquifer, and then kept hot using an exchanger.


May have mentioned this already, but I did find a lovely site a while back, halfway up a mountain from the sea (oceanview, although it's probably several kilometers away) that might work for Swato.  About 5 acres, and close but not too close to a decent-sized city; going for about $14,000.  Did I mention that it's in Korea?  Lovely area near the southwest coast.

[Swatopluk]

I have a few locations in/at the Lysefjord in Norway in mind (google "prekestolen" for infos and pictures of the scenery). There are orchards too (and interesting marine wildlife).

[Swatopluk]

Unfortunately that area I have in mind is not very sharp on Google Earth but if you want to check:
58°56' N, 6°6'East and surrounding area. The land North and West of the small islands would fit the profile.
There are lakes on the plateau about half up the mountain.
The climate is mild (good enough for fruit trees but probably not for tropical varieties)

[Opsa]

A self-suffient farm is a very good idea. 

[Swatopluk]

Global warming may even allow the growing of vines in the not too far future.

Hm, maybe we should design the label for the bottles now.

[anthrobabe]

can the roll in and out( even a lift too), solar (or natural hot springs)heated both deep( like an oriental soak tub) and shallow with a waterfall and grotto(but no going totally Hefner except on alternate Wednesdays maybe), fountain in the middle so the toadfish stay warm( do they do well with moderate warmth- not talking heated water or anything- totally seperate system) and close at hand for visiting, pool also be
indoor and out with a swim through?

sort of like here- but BIGGER
http://poolspanews.com/2003/042/042half.html
you know on a sutibly grand scale

[Aggie]

We'd need to find a way of responsibly treating the water - all those nasty chemicals need to go somewhere (even with a saltwater pool the effluent is full of nasties).  An oceanside location could probably be rigged to have a seawater pool which flushed through with the tides. Hmmm...

Ocean Intake -> Filters -> Geothermal heat exchanger (closed system) -> Pool -> Conservatory (floor troughs for heating and humidifying) -> Constructed mini saltwater estuary (biofiltration & cooling) -> Outfall

Depending on the size of the pool and water turnover rates, this may be safe to swim in without chlorination.  We might need a separate small-capacity pool for immune-compromised guests just in case.  Need some heavy-duty windmills or solar cells to drive the pumps, though.

Indoor/outdoor would be nice, but limited by the location (bad for winter).  However, having some canals through the monastery so that one could float from the pool room to the pub would be a good idea.


EDIT:  WANT those exterior glass pocket doors for dividing living space and conservatory.  Didn't know such a thing existed.