A Gathering of Making, Feasting, and Rekindling the Light
The word solstice means “sun stands still.” In the spirit of what can imaginally open in a momentary pause, we invite you to join us for a gathering evoking the half-forgotten memories of how ancestors celebrated the promise of the returning light on the year’s darkest day.
Come take a moment of breath in a frantic world, come welcome the light, and belong.
About the Imaginarium Series
Step sideways into another world. Here, imagination has gravity. The ordinary tilts just enough to let the marvelous through. Each Imaginarium gathering is a living moment in our new expanding universe of SpillianQuest: intimate circles of up to 20 co-conspirators who weave the reveling together. With extraordinary chef-made feasts, fires and candlelight, and an enchanted historic estate.
And each Imaginarium is its own quest: a small act of rebellion against the rush of the everyday, a chance to revel in the delight of co-creation. And somehow, in that shared play, something genuine takes root: connection, belonging, a touch of wonder. Come as you are and let’s play together.
SpillianQuest: reveling fuel for people yearning to make meaning.
A mycelial web of tools, toys, treats, adventures & boon companions.
A handcrafted overnight adventure.
What’s Included
- Programming, materials, and festivities for two people
- Afternoon refreshments with house-made Spillian treats
- The Yule Feast for two, with carnivore and vegivore options
- Overnight lodging for two in one of Spillian’s eight rooms
- Sunday morning breakfast for two, featuring our famous bagels
- Wine, local beers, and Spillian cocktails available for purchase
- From our kitchen: A complimentary tin of Cat’s Love Tea and packet of Bliss Crisps to fuel your next quest
- A chance to join the League of Spillian Revelers
When
- Arrive at noon or so on Saturday and settle in by the fire
- Bringing in the Yule begins at 1 PM
- We’ll say farewell at 11 AM on Sunday
A quest awaits before you arrive. Details when you book.
Advance registration required. Small gatherings can fill quickly.
What We’ll Do Together
Making the Yule Log
We’ll head into the woods to find and adorn a Yule Log to burn in the evening.
Pomanders
Oranges were a sign of the sun on winter solstice, and we’ll arm you with oranges and cloves to make your own pomander to take home with you.
Medieval Gingerbread
More candy than bread, and a little like the coolest edible play-dough you’ve ever seen, we’ll make sculpted gingerbread shapes using a recipe straight from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
The Orchard Wassail
We’ll have traditional wassail on hand, and with drums and noise makers will wander out to encourage the apple trees at Spillian to thrive and bring us glorious fruit in the coming year.
The Yule Feast
Echoing medieval merriment around our extraordinary mahogany dining table, all dressed for the occasion. This table is a true place of convivium, where tales are topped, ideas are birthed, and friendships created.
Dream of Sugarplums
Swap stories with new companions as the fire dies down, and then dream one of our eight splendidly whimsical rooms: The Secret Garden, The Scheherazade, The Lotus, The Camelot, The Jules Verne, The Klimt, The William Morris, or the Four Seasons.
A Breakfast to Close the Circle
On Sunday morning, featuring our famous house-made bagels and apple turnovers.
Why We Gather
Yule and the Winter Solstice are about remembering what this season is for: stillness, connection, meaning, beauty, hope, and continuity.
Stillness and pause in a frantic world.
We’re all bone-tired from the rush and noise. This is night that feels timeless, where we can exhale and feel the year settle.
Connection that feels real.
Holidays often feel performative. Here we create a circle where laughter and silence both belong, where we can feel part of something human instead of something consumerist.
Ritual and meaning. And, always, play.
Symbolic gestures that make sense of the dark and the light, but not dogma. Mythic and participatory, not something to believe in, but something to revel in and live.
Beauty and sensory nourishment.
Candlelight, firelight, story, food. The kind of beauty that feeds the soul, not the feed.
Hope that’s not naïve.
It’s been a hard year for almost everyone. The solstice is an archetypal ritual of endurance, and a moment to say, the dark doesn’t win.
A sense of lineage and continuity.
A whisper that we are not the first to face darkness, and that others found their way through by gathering and joy.
