--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: At Bramasole, the first secret spot that…" description: "\"“At Bramasole, the first secret spot that draws me outside is a stump and board bench on a high terrace overlooking the lake and valley. Before I sit d..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/frances-mayes-7779_garden_at-bramasole-the-first-secret-spot-that_626633.png" --- # At Bramasole, the first secret spot that draws me outside… ![“At Bramasole, the first secret spot that draws me outside is a stump and board bench on a high terrace overlooking the lake and valley. Before I sit down, I must bang the board against a tree to knock off all the ants. Then I'm happy. With a stunted oak tree for shelter and a never-ending view, I…” quote by Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/frances-mayes-7779_garden_at-bramasole-the-first-secret-spot-that_626633.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/frances-mayes-7779_garden_at-bramasole-the-first-secret-spot-that_626633.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/frances-mayes-7779_garden_at-bramasole-the-first-secret-spot-that_626633.png) > ““At Bramasole, the first secret spot that draws me outside is a stump and board bench on a high terrace overlooking the lake and valley. Before I sit down, I must bang the board against a tree to knock off all the ants. Then I'm happy. With a stunted oak tree for shelter and a never-ending view, I am hidden. No one knows where I am. The nine-year-old's thrill of the hideout under the hydrangea comes back: My mother is calling me and I am not answering.”” [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Seeking solitude in nature, creating a private space to escape daily demands. **In simple terms:** Finding peace in a hidden natural spot. Key Takeaway Create personal retreats in nature. Themes solitude escape mindfulness Mood reflective calm Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - stress relief - creative inspiration - personal reflection Key Concepts environmental immersion psychological reset Questions to Reflect On - How often do you need solitude? - What boundaries keep it healthy? A Different Perspective Such isolation can also lead to avoidance of responsibilities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bramasole Secret](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bramasole-secret-5058972/) [Garden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/garden/) [Hidden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hidden/) [Hideout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hideout/) [Hideout Hydrangea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hideout-hydrangea-5058974/) [Home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home/) [Italy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/italy/) [Oak tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oak-tree/) [Secret Spot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secret-spot-5058973/) [Sense of place](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-of-place/) [Trees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trees/) ## Related quotes > [Within your heart, keep one still, secret spot where dreams may go.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-driscoll/within-your-heart-keep-one-still-secret-spot-where-dreams-may-go/) [Louise Driscoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-driscoll/) > [In our town there is a secret spot where you can still see the stars at night, believe it or not. It is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-meno/in-our-town-there-is-a-secret-spot-where-you-can-still-see-the-stars/) [Joe Meno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-meno/) > [“But the essence of a place, the part of it that picks you up and puts you down somewhere else, cannot be given to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/but-the-essence-of-a-place-the-part-of-it-that-picks-you-up-and-puts/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [“In the sitcom Scruns, medicals interns used the supply closet as a hideout when they needed to have a panic attack or a good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-a-helgoe/in-the-sitcom-scruns-medicals-interns-used-the-supply-closet-as-a/) [Laurie A. Helgoe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-a-helgoe/) > [Room of Requirement, of course! Surpassed itself, hasn't it? the Carrows were chasing me, and I knew I had just one chance for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/room-of-requirement-of-course-surpassed-itself-hasn-t-it-the-carrows/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“All right, then. As strange an order as it may seem, take us to the hideout, Commander,” Nathan ordered.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryk-brown/all-right-then-as-strange-an-order-as-it-may-seem-take-us-to-the/) [Ryk Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryk-brown/) > [“Don't let the rain drive you to the wrong shelter; the shade can turn out to be your protector and also your destroyer, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/don-t-let-the-rain-drive-you-to-the-wrong-shelter-the-shade-can-turn/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [The Hideout is here to help you get through today and tomorrow. Be brave. It's not your fault. Remember, the road will get smoother…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-wilkinson/the-hideout-is-here-to-help-you-get-through-today-and-tomorrow-be/) [Naomi Wilkinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-wilkinson/) > [What a hideout: Holiness lies spread and borne over the surface of time and stuff like color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/what-a-hideout-holiness-lies-spread-and-borne-over-the-surface-of/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [Every movie I make, that’s my hideout, the place I don’t quite understand but feel most at home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ang-lee/every-movie-i-make-that-s-my-hideout-the-place-i-don-t-quite/) [Ang Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ang-lee/) > [“PATCHES' OF AUTHORITY Preteens Adhere, Teens Challenge, Hideout, Elderly Shun Kamil Ali”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamil-ali/patches-of-authority-preteens-adhere-teens-challenge-hideout-elderly/) [Kamil Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamil-ali/) > [“In the wide pile, by others heeded not, Hers was one sacred solitary spot, Whose gloomy aisles and bending shelves contain For moral hunger…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-scott/in-the-wide-pile-by-others-heeded-not-hers-was-one-sacred-solitary/) [Walter Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-scott/) > [I could never teach a class on songwriting. I'd tell them to goof off and find a good hideout.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-prine/i-could-never-teach-a-class-on-songwriting-i-d-tell-them-to-goof-off/) [John Prine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-prine/) > [“I’m in a secret underground hideout of a group of monster hunters, filled with magical totems, brass monkeys that move and enough firepower to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-blais/i-m-in-a-secret-underground-hideout-of-a-group-of-monster-hunters/) [Bill Blais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-blais/) > [All Americans need a sense of place. That's what makes our physical surroundings worth caring about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-mcmahon/all-americans-need-a-sense-of-place-that-s-what-makes-our-physical/) [Ed McMahon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-mcmahon/) ## More by Frances Mayes > [If you've got a plot the size of a car or a tiny yard in Italy, you're going to be growing tomatoes and basil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/if-you-ve-got-a-plot-the-size-of-a-car-or-a-tiny-yard-in-italy-you-re/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [“Always, I liked the infinitive 'to go.' Let's go, let's go. let's really go. 'Andare' was the first verb I learned to conjugate in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/always-i-liked-the-infinitive-to-go-let-s-go-let-s-go-let-s-really-go/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [ “\[As Garibaldi says,\] 'Sleep, my dear Chevalley, sleep, that is what Sicilians want, and they will always hate anyone who tries to wake them...” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/as-garibaldi-says-sleep-my-dear-chevalley-sleep-that-is-what/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [All afternoon in the deck chair, I try to describe to my notebook the colors of the water and sky. How to translate sunlight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/all-afternoon-in-the-deck-chair-i-try-to-describe-to-my-notebook-the/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [Life offers you a thousand chances... all you have to do is take one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/life-offers-you-a-thousand-chances-all-you-have-to-do-is-take-one/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [The Only Thing More Surprising Than the Chance She's Taking...Is Where It's Taking Her!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/the-only-thing-more-surprising-than-the-chance-she-s-taking-is-where/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [The Italians have their priorities right: They're driven, they do their work, but they really enjoy the day-to-day and they don't put off the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/the-italians-have-their-priorities-right-they-re-driven-they-do-their/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [Anytime the perfume of orange and lemon groves wafts in the window; the human body has to feel suffused with a languorous well-being.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/anytime-the-perfume-of-orange-and-lemon-groves-wafts-in-the-window/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [It’s daunting to find the language so foreign, so distant, but also so thrilling. One is absolved of responsibility when the language is incomprehensible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/it-s-daunting-to-find-the-language-so-foreign-so-distant-but-also-so/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [“There are reasons we congregate in these hot spots- to worship beauty and to feel its effects light up the electrolytes in the bloodstream.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/there-are-reasons-we-congregate-in-these-hot-spots-to-worship-beauty/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [“And my mother, whose radius of travel was short, tied the letters with ribbon and kept them in her desk, When you get the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/and-my-mother-whose-radius-of-travel-was-short-tied-the-letters-with/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [I got the idea that to write books would be the best way to spend a life. I never thought of anything else that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/i-got-the-idea-that-to-write-books-would-be-the-best-way-to-spend-a/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [ “\[As Chevalley says,\] 'Sicilians never want to improve for the simple reason that they think themselves perfect...” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/as-chevalley-says-sicilians-never-want-to-improve-for-the-simple/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [In America, people are just so straightforward when they dislike things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/in-america-people-are-just-so-straightforward-when-they-dislike-things/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) > [“Writing a poem doubles, triples the experience or connection that initiated it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mayes/writing-a-poem-doubles-triples-the-experience-or-connection-that/) [Frances Mayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) [Explore all 86 Frances Mayes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mayes/) ## More Garden quotes > [Possessions can possess you. Even a lawn can possess you. It makes you buy a garden hose. Which makes you water. Which cuts into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-bean/possessions-can-possess-you-even-a-lawn-can-possess-you-it-makes-you/) [Orson Bean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-bean/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We were so poor as kids. I didn't even see a bathtub, running water, hot water, commode - we didn't have any of that.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-robertson/we-were-so-poor-as-kids-i-didn-t-even-see-a-bathtub-running-water-hot/) [Phil Robertson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-robertson/) > [The writings of latter-day prophets clearly teach that the sorrows and sufferings endured by Adam and Eve upon their leaving the Garden of Eden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-k-judd/the-writings-of-latter-day-prophets-clearly-teach-that-the-sorrows/) [Daniel K Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-k-judd/) > [A garden has a curious innocent way of consuming cash while all the time you are under the illusion that you are spending nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-meynell/a-garden-has-a-curious-innocent-way-of-consuming-cash-while-all-the/) [Esther Meynell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-meynell/) > [“In the same way that the picturesque designers were always careful to include some reminder of our mortality in their gardens -- a ruin,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-pollan/in-the-same-way-that-the-picturesque-designers-were-always-careful-to/) [Michael Pollan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-pollan/) > [When you're the director and the writer, you never have to remember your lines, and there's no one to call you on it. On…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zach-braff/when-you-re-the-director-and-the-writer-you-never-have-to-remember/) [Zach Braff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zach-braff/) > [There was a product on late night TV that you could attach to your garden hose - "You can water your hard-to-reach plants with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-hedberg/there-was-a-product-on-late-night-tv-that-you-could-attach-to-your/) [Mitch Hedberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-hedberg/) > [Plant flowers in others' gardens and your life becomes a bouquet! Submitted by Lisa Letto, Coordinator, Nutrition Resource and Volunteer Centre, College of Pharmacy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/plant-flowers-in-others-gardens-and-your-life-becomes-a-bouquet/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [There is usually no dreamer so unworldly as the anthologist. He wanders in a vast garden, lost in wonder, unable to decide often between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-webb/there-is-usually-no-dreamer-so-unworldly-as-the-anthologist-he/) [Mary Webb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-webb/) > [Teaching children about the natural world should be seen as one of the most important events in their lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-berry/teaching-children-about-the-natural-world-should-be-seen-as-one-of/) [Thomas Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-berry/) > [If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/if-writing-novels-is-like-planting-a-forest-then-writing-short/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [In a delightful garden, sowing, planting or digging are not hardship but are done with a zeal and a certain pleasure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/in-a-delightful-garden-sowing-planting-or-digging-are-not-hardship/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [Life on a small farm might seem primitive, but by living such a life we become able to discover the Great Path. I believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masanobu-fukuoka/life-on-a-small-farm-might-seem-primitive-but-by-living-such-a-life/) [Masanobu Fukuoka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masanobu-fukuoka/) > [Of course the Dharma-body of the Buddha was the hedge at the bottom of the garden. At the same time, and no less obviously,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/of-course-the-dharma-body-of-the-buddha-was-the-hedge-at-the-bottom/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) [Browse all 3,441 Garden quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/garden/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“At Bramasole, the first secret spot that draws me outside is a stump and board bench on a high terrace overlooking the lake and valley. Before I sit down, I must bang the board against a tree to knock off all the ants. Then I'm happy. With a stunted oak tree for shelter and a never-ending view, I am hidden. 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