Through the floor-to-ceiling windows of this grand dining room I can see a few snowflakes drifting down. Inside its warm and cosy. Brunch is being served and it consists of poached organic fruit, muesli, yoghurt, homemade jam, eggs, sourdough toast, tea and coffee. Im still a bit bemused. Is this a spiritual retreat, gourmet organic health farm or world-famous eco-living centre?

I left Byron Bay on a balmy summers day and travelled across the world to northern Scotland in mid-winter for my first visit to Findhorn, that place known for its mystery, magic, giant cabbages, fairies and angels. Ive been here just 24 hours and the jetlag, long hours of darkness, icy-cold weather and being part of a group of strangers are all making me feel very nervous.

Im enrolled in Experience Week, which is the Findhorn Foundations most popular and important introductory program. In one week it gives participants a smorgasbord taste of living in a spiritual community. We will join a work department (garden, kitchen, homecare or maintenance), participate in community activities like singing, dancing, meditation and ritual and go through an emotional and spiritual journey with our fellow participants. Fifteen of us have travelled from the United States, Denmark, Germany, Australia and England to join in, guided by two focalisers who are residents of the Findhorn Foundation. Straight after the hallowed ritual of brunch, we file into a spacious room called The Sanctuary and sit in a circle on gold velvet chairs. In the centre, along with flowers and a candle, theres a whole set of small rectangular cards, face down, that will seal our fate for the week. We are invited to select our own personal angel, according to the local dialect.

I know which angel card I want, but there must be an invisible signal to get up and take one because theres a sudden polite scrum and someone else beats me to it. This happens three times until I finally swipe myself a card and turn it over to find my theme for the week. It is honesty, according to my card with its cute drawing of an angel looking into a mirror. Im sure the person who took my first preference got playfulness and the one who took my second preference got creativity. Doesnt seem fair, but at least I didnt get obedience. The woman who has that card is looking very disgruntled.

Our focaliser asks us to close our eyes again and for someone to take a card that will be our group angel for the week. After several minutes of silence someone gets up and takes forgiveness. Well, at this point I honestly dont know how Im going to get through a week of institutional food, sharing a room with three other people, the utter destruction of my sleep cycle from jetlag and the freezing-cold weather. So hopefully the group will forgive me for being cranky, nervous, cynical and unable to recall anyones name and for falling asleep at 7.30pm every night.

Forget any preconceptions you might have about the Findhorn Foundation (so called to differentiate it from ancient Findhorn village nearby). Surprise number one was being collected by a friendly Findhorn Foundation bus named Grace at the local train station on Saturday morning and driven up the hill to a veritable mansion. Cluny Hill College, it turns out, is the teaching campus for the Findhorn Foundation. A huge old hotel in the town of Forres, it can accommodate more than 100 guests in its stately rooms and turns out three organic vegetarian meals a day like clockwork. It has a gaggle of permanent residents and a weekly influx of guests and students for workshops.

As soon as we finish choosing our angels were off to visit The Park, which is located about 10 miles away near the village of Findhorn. This is the ecovillage of bountiful gardens, chatty nature spirits, alternative houses and the small farm known as Cullerne Gardens, which produces much of the fruit and vegetables that feed the residents.

Surprise number two: our bus pulls up at The Park and my heart sinks. How come nobody mentioned that it adjoins the Forres air base with its busy training program for Nimrod jet pilots? And Im sure there was nothing on the Findhorn website explaining that half the site still functions as a caravan park with a long row of rectangular boxes stretching across a bare paddock. Could this be the magical ecovillage Id been hearing about for so long?