Join Us Each Month for Our Free Book Circle or Poetry Circle
All residents of Leigh-on-Mendip, Vobster, Coleford, Nunney, Mells, Downhead, Holcombe and Stoke St Michael are welcome to join. Both groups will be co-ordinated through WhatsApp for ease of communication. Joining instructions at the bottom of this page.
Join for a monthly discussion on garden-themed or gardening-themed novels
Book Circle
A warm, informal monthly book club for residents of Leigh-on-Mendip and the surrounding villages, held in the Drawing Room of The Old Vicarage or when the weather is kind, out in the grounds. We will typically meet on the first Tuesday of each month from 7pm to 9pm (excluding August). We will provide light snacks and drinks (teas, coffee, non-alcoholic beverages). It’s free to join, and each Book Circle member will buy their own copy of the book.
Each month in 2026, we explore garden-themed and gardening-themed fiction that prompts conversations about nature, creativity and the spaces we cultivate. A theme and a shortlist of three books will be suggested a few months ahead. Book Circle members are welcome to add their own ideas, and we’ll choose the final title together by consensus. The atmosphere is friendly and unhurried, with plenty of time for reflection and lively discussion.
The evening reflects the Asterion & Co. values of camaraderie, craftsmanship, regeneration, accomplishment and integrity — not as rules, but as an invitation to embody them as we gather and enrich the experience for everyone.
Free for local residents. Dates and reading choices are shared on this page of The Asterion Journal and a dedicated WhatsApp group. Join via the form on the bottom of this page.
Book Circle Dates for 2026
The first Tuesday of each month, 7pm to 9pm (we’ll update this list based on what we read each month)
6th January… Kate Morton’s time jumping page-turner:The Forgotten Garden
3rd February… Tan Twan Eng’s Man Booker Prize shortlisted The Garden of Evening Mists
3rd March… Stella Gibson’s, 1932 classic comic novel: Cold Comfort Farm
7th April… not a ‘novel;’ but a great account of the British Empire and the birth of the British obsession with gardening by the brilliant Andrea Wulf: The Brother Gardener
5th May… Old Herbaceous, a 1950 quietly moving novel by Reginald Arkell
2nd June
7th July
August: no gathering this month
1st September
6th October
3rd November
1st December
Each month join a group to discuss seasonally-inspired poetry
Poetry Circle
Neil Crump, Asterion & Co. Founder is a total poetry novice and has long wanted to explore this genre of literature. So we host a gentle, welcoming monthly poetry gathering for villagers who enjoy words, rhythm and ideas. Our Gathering is sheduled to meet on the second Tuesday of every month (excluding August) from 7pm to 9pm in the Drawing Room at The Old Vicarage or outdoors in the garden when the weather allows. Light snacks and drinks are provided. No need to buy a specific book each month, the Internet is our friend and there are a host of websites members can search to find poems free of charge.
Each month in 2026 carries its own seasonal theme outlined below. Members choose a poem (either from their own bookshelves or after a good Google search around the theme). Everyone brings a poem with them and reads it aloud. They then share a little about the poem and the poet. We then discuss it and ask the poem to be read again.
We enjoy favourites old and new, and conversation is open and accessible — no experience or performance required, just curiosity and a willingness to share, listen and contribute. Free to attend for residents of Leigh-on-Mendip and nearby villages.
The Themes for a Year of Poetry Circle
13th January — Gardens in Winter: dormancy, stillness, frost, memory.
10th February — Love, But Not the Obvious Kind: love of place, craft, nature, friendship.
10th March — Awakening & Beginnings: spring as metaphor.
14th April — Rain, Rivers, Renewal: water as cleansing and turbulent.
12th May — Plants with Personality: poems centred on a single species — rose, tulip, oak, nettle.
9th June — The Garden as Sanctuary: peace, refuge, contemplation.
14th July — Heat, Light & High Summer: abundance, languor, sensuality.
August — no Gathering this month
8th September — Harvest & Gathering In: fruit, plenty, intertwined endings and beginnings.
13th October — Shadows & Hedges: mazes, boundaries, mystery.
10th November — Loss & Transformation: falling leaves, the year folding inward.
8th December — Light in the Dark: candles, windows, evergreens, midwinter.
If you can commit to joining, it will be wonderful to host you each month and explore poetry together. We’ll share a short guide on how the Poetry Circle will run, along with the Asterion & Co. values of camaraderie, craftsmanship, regeneration, accomplishment and integrity — never as rules, but as an invitation to embody them enriching our collective experience.
Like Book Circle, there is a dedicated WhatsApp group to co-ordinate everything smoothly.
Submit Your Details to Join…
If you have any questions for Neil Crump, Asterion & Co. Founder before you join then WhatsApp on 07738 206 153 or email neil@asterionandco.org.