New Hamlet Update

We are delighted to share that there have been many happy developments at New Hamlet these past months.

The sisters were able to move forward with some smaller projects in 2020 and early 2021. 

  • Thanks to many helping hands during a Generosity in Action retreat in 2020, some of the work on the Plum Blossom House was completed. The Plum Blossom House is for the monastics and will house the sick bay, communal rooms, and study space. 

  • A new 235 m2 library is being constructed. The external part is complete: walls, windows, doors. The work on the interior (electricity, heating, insulation, staircase) should be finished by July. 

  • Renovations have been completed to the gate house to bring it up to building and safety codes.

  • A new enclosed veranda was added in front of the dining room to provide additional space during the hot and cold months. It has made the dining room brighter and warmer. 

  • Reforestation is a priority throughout Plum Village. The sisters have been planting trees in the Martineau area near the plum orchard; they will continue to reforest wherever is not buildable.

Construction will resume in 2022

We are deeply grateful for your past support of New Hamlet and other needs of our community. And thanks to our donors’ timely generosity, we were able to meet a matching gift challenge from an anonymous donor. Your gifts and the match generated USD $375,000 (€330,000) that can go towards the initial phase of New Hamlet’s construction. Final cost estimates will tell us how much money is needed in total.

Dependent on funding, the immediate plans are below:

  • The sisters will be meeting with their long-time architect in the spring to finalize the plans for the Nun’s Quarters, secure a building permit, and get an estimate of the building costs. 

  • Professional contractors (insulation, plumbing, electrical, flooring) will finish the Plum Blossom House this winter. 

  • Contractors will also finish the library.

  • The Library and the Plum Blossom House will eventually be part of the new Nun’s Quarters. 

  • Two small kiosks, along the lines of the tea house at Upper Hamlet, will be built for guests to have tea and sharing sessions during inclement weather.

  • The Rose House and part of the Portuguese House are uninhabitable and will be demolished to make way for the new Nun’s Quarters. Every effort will be made to save the raw materials like the old wooden planks and local stones for reuse in other projects

  • New micro-stations for septic and water must be built to meet new building codes.

  • Retention ponds and an underground rainwater collection system will be added.

In the long term:

  • New Hamlet needs a buffer of quiet and calm to provide better conditions for practice. As the opportunity presents itself, the sisters hope to expand the hamlet by acquiring nearby properties.  

  • Their meditation hall is the smallest of the hamlets and is always overflowing during Dharma talks. The goal is to construct a new one of 900 m2 

Unlike the other hamlets, New Hamlet can no longer accommodate retreatants on the hamlet’s grounds except for camping. Retreatants must stay elsewhere and travel to the hamlet via vans. Retreatants say that it is quite disruptive to the retreat experience and makes it difficult to maintain the container of mindfulness and seamless practice with the sisters. This makes new construction particularly urgent.

Thank you for your generosity!

You have helped New Hamlet work towards its aspiration of having a beautiful, sustainable community that can welcome all who want to attend and operate in harmony with the planet. The sisters feel your generosity and love for them and in turn, hold you in their hearts.

If you would like to hear more about New Hamlet’s plans, please email giving@tnhf.org, letting us know where you live so that staff in the US or Europe can be in touch.

A lotus to you, a Buddha to be,

Your siblings at the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation International

P.S. Plum Village Monastery is re-opening! They just posted their schedule of on-line and in person retreats. Please visit their website for details.

The Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation International is the fundraising arm and a communications hub of the international Plum Village Community. We were established by Sister Chan Khong, Thich Nhat Hanh, and other senior monastics ten years ago. We raise funds for priorities established by the monastic elders and care for our donors from around the world.