We welcome sanctuary seekers and volunteer ‘hosts’ to enjoy the house and garden together in any way you wish for a day, a weekend or a week at a time.
Daily experience in the city for anyone without basic security is hard. People who have fled conflict or persecution in their country of origin can often feel anxious and overwhelmed by the difficulty of securing protection in the UK. If granted refugee status it is still a struggle to settle in to a strange culture and a new country that can sometimes be unwelcoming or actively hostile.
The beauty of the Cotswold countryside, of Hill House and its garden, allows friends to relax and feel at home, and to reconnect with more peaceful times in their lives. We trust that after a few days here, visitors will return rested and resourced for the next stage of their journey.
If you or your group is interested in using the house in this way, please contact me!
A Local Welcome
We hear about the hostile environment that the government has tried to create towards migrants. But it is so good to see how, from the beginning of this project in 2016, local residents in surrounding villages have responded generously, supporting the intention to help people find safety in their midst.
Friends drop in to prepare meals, assist with transport, take visitors on local walks, join shared meals, or do garden or craft activities together.
We meet as equals in the present, and hear as much or little of each others stories as we wish to tell. Guests to the house, who are seeking safety in the UK, are touched and encouraged by the welcome they find here. Over a few days, together with people who have had to leave their first home, we create a sense of family, in just a few days together.
Hill House Retreats 
What a grand idea and so good it has gone way beyond words to action. I am a BHN host and also support or, more accurately have acquired a Pakistani daughter and grand-son who are waiting to hear news of their appeal. I would love to be able to come with one, two or all of them but I use a wheelchair and would like to know if your home is wheelchair accessible please.
I am also going to hopefully be working with a number of people and organisations to look at what needs to be done to meet the needs of disabled asylum seekers and refugees. Their needs have been completely overlooked by the state system and so there is currently a piece of work being done by Rebecca Yeo, a Phd student to log the issues and remedies. You probably know her or, at least of her and the excellent conference she was instrumental in organising, you may even have been there as well as the various articles she has written for the Guardian. Apologies if I spoke to you but didn’t register it. So, knowing whether somewhere is accessible and if so in what ways, would be invaluable.
I look forward to hearing from you.
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Hi Ceri
Lovely to receive your comment. I’m sorry – i see that you sent it 3 1/2 years ago!!. I am a website newby without much help, struggling to keep up with everything that needs to be done to make this project work! I didn’t even realise there’s a commment section until now, whe I happened upon it. Please accept my apologies.
The house is partially accessible, and I’m working on improving that. So outside the ramps in the garden are offically tto steep (currently about 1 in 7/8) and the ground floor is accessible if assisted, but downstairs toilet is not ideal for accessibility. There is a facility for sleeping downstairs but no shower room. It’s a pretty old house and I don’t have the means to make the necesary changes – yet! A day trip in the summer might be the way to go to start? THen you could see how much is accessible – and maybe actually also advise me on what i need to do? I’d love you to bring your new ‘family’. Maybe their English is good – but I do also happen to speak Urdu! I wonder if they are still with you.
Yes I do know and greatly admire Rebecca.
i hope this reply finds it s way back to you. My email is safer for a response – carobeatty@gmail.com
Warm wishes
Caroline
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