Visiting North Wind Manor

A couple weeks ago while in Nashville I got to stop by the North Wind Manor. I was so excited for the opportunity to find out what this place was really about! We went there Wednesday afternoon and I was able to get some cool photos for this post.

Get ready to tour the North Wind Manor! Today’s post will be relatively short in size, but includes lots of pictures of the Manor! 🙂

About the North Wind Manor

You might not be familiar with the North Wind Manor yet. To be honest, I didn’t know very much about it until we went, so that’s to be expected.

The North Wind Manor is a house that has been renovated by the Rabbit Room to become a place of fellowship and writing. The building is a large white farmhouse with a large wrap around porch and lots of room for gathering and community. In the barn outside you can find the Rabbit Room’s store house, and a place to purchase the books.

I was very excited to go because, as I said above, I have no idea what it would be like. Now I can’t wait to share the experience with you!

A Quick Tour of the Manor

As we explored North Wind Manor we were among many of my writing friends who had also decided to take advantage of this chance to visit. I think being around so many people I knew made it all the more of a welcoming and friendly environment.

There are many wonderful details around the Manor. When you walk up a steep set of stairs to the porch and through the front door you will enter an open room. Straight in front of you is a wide space of couches and chairs. There are books scattered about over the end tables and coffee tables, and a hidden reading room behind a bookshelf.

Directly to your left are doors to the large porch outside, with more area for sitting. On your right is the kitchen with snacks and yummy things to eat spread out on the counter. People sit in chairs at the tables working on art or writing.

In the very farthest corner to the right is a little area of books. This is my favorite part of the whole manor because of the cozy, bookish feel surrounding it.

Apparently the fireplace actually belonged to J. R. R. Tolkien. That’s an interesting bit of information if I ever heard some! I’m actually reading his work for the first time right now, so that made it all the cooler!

On the other side of the bookish corner there is a shelf dedicated to just books owned by Madeline L’Engle. I was so excited about this shelf! I love Madeline L’Engle’s writing, and to get to see all these books that had been ones she read was very neat. Seeing the book collections of well read writers always makes me want to build and gorw mine all the more.

Did you notice the bundle of quilts to the side of that shelf? I don’t know why, but it makes me so happy. 🙂

Behind the Manor there is a wooden swing. It was in use when I was there so I don’t have any pictures, but I thought it was definitely worth mentioning. There are such wonderful stories and poems that have been written thanks to a good swing like that!

The Rabbit Room Storehouse

The Rabbit Room is not only a wonderful website and ministry, but they also have an amazing selection of books. So not only is it great because of the ways it helps writers and artists, but it is also a wonderful place to find good books! I love to look through all the books for sale on their website and find new reads.

Outside of the North Wind Manor is the Rabbit Room’s store house and shipping place. There are so many good books collected in that one place! A lot of them I am familiar with, but it was cool to look through the ones I hadn’t heard of before, admiring their gorgeous covers and pretty illustrations.

Some books you’ll find at the Rabbit Room (the store and online 😉 ) include Every Moment Holy (I purchased this while at North Wind Manor), The Lost Tales of Sir Galahad (a blog post on this is coming soon), Adorning the Dark, by Andrew Peterson (one of my favorite books), and many high quality classics such as The Chronicles of Narnia.

Final Thoughts

The thing I love most about the Rabbit Room is the way it inspires and encourages community in art and writing. As they put it on their website “The Rabbit Room cultivates and curates stories, music, and art to nourish Christ-centered communities for the life of the world.”

That is such a beautiful mission. As people, we need to know that there are people with the same passion and love as us. I experienced a closer level of this several weeks ago with some writers (I wrote a blog post about it last week here), and it gave me a greater appreciation for the Rabbit Room.

I’m so glad I had the chance to visit North Wind Manor. It is such a wonderful thing that has come out of a wonderful ministry. I wish I was able to go more often and spend more time in that place, but as it is I am thankful for just a small visit. 🙂

I hope this post was interesting to you! Have you been to North Wind Manor before? What stuck out to you? Let me know your experience in the comments!