These questions which follow are not necessarily what we think are the most    important aspects of our life but they are the     questions sometimes asked by visitors.     1. How do you keep enclosure? We have kept Enclosure since the founding of our community in 1621. We have not had a grille at Woodchester since this house was founded in 1860. We only go out for necessary reasons: to visit doctors or dentists; to visit a sick member of the community who is hospitalized; to visit a parent who is unable to visit us, and for  important religious meetings as allowed in our Constitutions.   The Enclosure is an important spiritual discipline in our life of prayer and union with God.  We keep in mind the words of our mother St Clare that a sister 'may not go outside the monastery except for a useful, reasonable, evident and approved purpose'. In other words, we only leave the enclosure when it is necessary. We understand enclosure as the outward expression of our love for God, recalling that St Clare spoke of enclosure in terms of unconditional love. 'May you cling to His most sweet Mother who gave birth to a son whom the heavens could not contain, And yet she carried Him in the little  enclosure of her holy womb and held Him on her virginal lap '.   3rd letter to Agnes  2. Do you have contact with relatives and friends? Our immediate family members may visit us at times allowed by the Abbess.   Close friends may visit less frequently and we keep in contact by letter as often as is compatible with our life of prayer and seclusion.  3. How do you know what is going on in the outside world? We take a daily newspaper which is put out for any sister who wishes to learn of important national or international events. We also take Catholic papers and magazines,and watch the news on television once a week. We make prayer for the world a very important part or our apostolate and we receive many requests for prayer.   4. Do you have your liturgy in English? We try to make our liturgy as joyful and varied as possible. The liturgy gives the sister the opportunity to express the love for God in her heart and therefore our liturgy accommodates the preferences of each sister. We make use of an organ, a zither and the guitar. For the Divine Office, we often use simple chant tones which have been adapted from the Gregorian Chant.  5. How long is it before you make a total commitment? After a decision to try our way of life a woman becomes a postulant for a year to get accustomed to the work and routine. If it is her wish and the wish of the community, she can then decide to go forward as a novice for two years where she deepens her relationship both with the Lord and her sisters in community. She may, if she wishes to persevere, take first vows at the end of this period. First vows are taken for three years. At the end of the three years she can then renew her vows for life. Whenever a sister moves to a new stage of the life, she does so with the communities approval. The only way to see if this way of life is for you is to come and see.  6. What are the vows? The vows are the Evangelical Councils of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. We also observe Enclosure and stipulated times of silence to promote an atmosphere of prayer.  7. Do you grow your own fruit and vegetables? Work in the garden brings us very close to God. We have a large one and we do what we can. There are fruit trees and bushes, flowers and some vegetables as well as wild patches for butterflies and birds, rabbits and deer - a Franciscan garden!  8. Where do you all come from? Each of us comes from a different background with different educational and work experiences. The Holy Spirit guides people to the right place. For the enquirer the search is a time of patience and discovery, a time of attentiveness to the  prompting's of God's Spirit.