Buildings and Chapel

In addition to the residential areas of the main building, the log cabins and ‘The Cottages’, there is a Chapel which is believed to have begun life as a gatehouse before becoming a barn and then finally a chapel. In this beautiful 15th-century building we hold three services a day to which all are welcome.

Gardens

Pilsdon at Malling covers six acres (including buildings) and we attempt to live as self-sufficiently as possible. We have a large vegetable garden with two vast greenhouses left by our monastic predecessors, who used to grow tomatoes hydroponically and sold them locally as 'Monastery Tomatoes'.

We are now producing grapes in the larger greenhouse both for our own use and for sale. The vines create a beautiful canopy underneath which we are growing tomatoes, peppers, chillies and aubergines. The types of vegetables are grouped together and we use a four-bed rotation system over each year.

Livestock

As with our vegetables, we are trying to be self-sufficient in our meat and eggs. We regularly have pigs and lambs who keep our freezers well stocked. Our chickens are rescued battery hens and now enjoy an extensive enclosure.