Animal husbandry and small holding skills courses, craft kits and handcrafted gifts

An intensive course to get you started, explaining all about the honey bee, helping you choose your hive and equipment, how and where to set up your apiary, the bees management and pests and diseases. Not forgetting when and how to extract that lovely honey. An informal couple of days spent with others looking to keep bees. A wealth of information from a highly experienced beekeeper and a chance to see the different equipment available, along with a useful pack of course notes to take away. Where the bees and...

Would you like to know how to keep bees sustainably, on a small scale? Or are you just intrigued to know what goes on inside that enigmatic wooden box...Maybe you have heard about the plight of our bees and want to understand how to best help them. Many people would like a colony of honeybees in their garden, and on this course I will show you how a hive works, and how to keep your bees happy and healthy with minimal intervention. This course will enable you to get straight...

An introduction to beekeeping with Hannah Reeves, professional beekeeper, who manages the apiary at Tewin Orchard Nature Reserve. This one day workshop will give you an overview of the craft of beekeeping. The 5 hour course will begin by spending the morning in local pub the Rose and Crown, learning the basic theory of beekeeping, looking at the equipment and discussing the role of the beekeeper. After a delicious pub lunch, the afternoon will be spent in the orchard's apiary with a session of practical beekeeping. This course will provide...

A One Day Beekeeping Taster Day A great day if you are thinking about keeping bees, we will discuss beekeeping today, the apiary set up, why bees and other pollinators are so important, look at different types of hives and take a look inside a working beehive. You will take home a bee-related gift, and notes about keeping bees. Course Tutor: Jill Sales and Josh Dean: Jill has been teaching professionally for many years and helping new beekeepers enjoy this skill. She keeps several colonies of bees and is the...

An informal day learning all about the amazing Bumblebees, their biology, decline, conservation, and what you can do to help them in your garden and beyond. Join Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s Nikki Gammans to hear about the fascinating world of bees. There are over 270 bee species in the UK and all are pollinators. Learn about their biology, ecology, decline and how we can help them. This course will cover the identification of our most common bee species that you will find in your garden or any outdoor space. With a...

A 3 hour morning course discussing chicken keeping. Learn about the pleasures and perils of keeping hens in your garden, their suitability as pets and the joys of having your own fresh free-range eggs. What you need to know if you are just setting up. A follow-on course is held in the afternoon, covering caring for and handling your chickens. Course Programme: 3 hours, 9.30am - 12.30pm Course Tutor: Jason Weller Jason is the co-owner of Mantel Farm and our expert in chicken care, he has written many articles for...

A 3 hour afternoon course - both a practical and theory session. The more you handle your chickens the more friendly they become. Some people plan to spend a lot of time with their hens and others simply like to know how to handle them should it become necessary. This course is aimed at all chicken keepers wishing to feel confident that they can carry out a basic health check, caring for and handling their hens in the correct way. A beginners course is also held in the morning, "beginning...

A relaxed day in the countrside discussing the basics of how to design your own growing space. Showing you the tips and techniques to take home your own garden plan. We will cover planting systems; growing efficiently and sustainably; creating a productive space whilst considering the wildlife that shares your plot with you. 1. Assess and map your own space: Come with the basic measurements of your space and we will help you to plot the best places to grow the produce that you want. Teking home your own garden...

This course introduces you to keeping pigs for either meat or as pets. Pigs make a fantastic addition to a garden farm; Aside from the simple pleasures of keeping pigs they also help to clear and improve a patch of land for future planting and will clear your surplus veg and cuttings. You will learn how much space you need and what is involved in small scale pig keeping to ensure you go away feeling confident to start keeping pigs yourself in a back garden or smallholding type set up....