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...

Introduction There are many reasons why people want to start keeping bees. It may be an ambition that you have had for a long time and now you have the time and space to do something about it. Others want to do something positive about the decline in pollinators or they fancy the idea of producing honey and other hive products. However, beekeeping is an activity that is not successfully learnt from books and the internet alone. A successful start to what may become a fulfilling, lifelong interest depends on...

Are you and your family considering a new way of life? Thinking 'The Good Life'? Struggling to find somewhere for all the family to experience smallholding life? Well, look no further. We offer an introduction to smallholding for all the family. We will run through the things you need to consider when buying a property and choosing livestock. You will have the chance to get hands on with the animals too. Learn how to trim the hooves of goats or sheep, check the teats of a sow by making her...

During this hands-on introductory workshop, you will explore the traditional orchards of the Wyre Forest, and learn how to look after hard and soft fruits through the seasons for the benefit of good tree health and wildlife. This workshop is part of the Wyre Community Land Trust's Ruskin Club. The Ruskin Club is inspired by John Ruskin (1819-1900), the Victorian artist and social critic, whose vision for Ruskin Land was for it to be ‘beautiful, peaceful and fruitful’. Ruskin wanted everyone to see and enjoy the unspoiled, inspirational beautify of...

An informal day learning all about both Bumblebees and Honey bees as well as how to help them in your garden and beyond. Join Josh Dean and 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. In the morning, learn about bumblebees biology, ecology, decline and how we can help them. In the afternoon you will learn all about honey bees, and be given the opportunity to look in a working beehive. The...

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...

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...

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....