Education, Farm Tours, Historical Presentations & Play Workshops

Colliers Hill is 15 miles from the town of Ludlow with its many starred restaurants and medieval castle. The castle is the site for the renowned Ludlow Festival where you can enjoy a Shakespeare production or music set in the splendid ruins. Ludlow is also known for its Food Fair in September.

Colliers Hill is approximately 50 minutes from Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick Castle, both sites of great historic and cultural interest and Shakespeare events. It is also an hour's drive from Hay-on-Wye and Cheltenham, both venues for Literary Festivals.

Jackie Miller, owner of Colliers Hill, is passionate about Shakespeare and regularly runs special Shakespeare events. These events take in some of the local Shakespeare productions and include bed and breakfast accommodation at Colliers Hill. Alternatively, bespoke individual and group activities can be arranged based at this venue in the Heart of England. Please access link to her website for full details and view her informative listing about their excellent accommodations in our Inns Category.

Fully licensed with wine lists and menus available upon request.

Marlboro College is, by design, one of the smallest liberal arts colleges in the U.S., with 335 students and 42 fulltime faculty. They offer a student-centered approach to education that is structurally and culturally different from those of other colleges.

Marlboro's mission "to teach students to think clearly and to learn independently" is best served when students experience a wide variety of ideas, opinions and cultural backgrounds. Students are thereby better prepared to recognize and then to acquire the skills and understanding they may need to succeed as citizens in the wider world. Marlboro seeks, then, to sustain a community diverse in the background experience, interests, ideas and cultural practice of its members and to engage one another constructively toward that end.
 
Students initiate their own sports and co-curricular activities. As an example, for the past four years, students have been building an organic farm on the campus, which serves as a laboratory for science projects, a focus for conversations about environmental stewardship and sustainability, and provides an abundance of fresh produce for student meals. The farm has provided a great way for students to connect to the knowledge and enthusiasm of local farmers, gardeners and others experts in environmental matters.

The renowned Marlboro Music Festival is held on the college campus every summer. Pablo Casals, Rudolf Serkin and YoYo Ma are among the famous classical musicians who have taught and performed at the Music Festival. Their public concerts are offered in July and August – see their website at www.marlboromusic.org 

Penyrallt Home Farm offers opportunities to learn about the importance of organic farming to children and groups of all ages. The experiences are individually designed to suit the particular interests and needs of each group of visitors.

Areas covered are as diverse as Environmental Issues, Animal Welfare and Food Production. Many aspects of the national curriculum can be explored firsthand. With this extensive farm as a living classroom, all visitors will benefit from the stimulating learning experiences available.

For full information and answers to your specific questions, please contact the farm directly.

Morgan Leichter-Saxby is a researcher, senior playworker, trainer and consultant on play and public space.  She believes that unstructured, outdoor play activities are vital for the health and happiness of children, as well as their physical, social, cognitive and emotional development.  Working with staff at housing associations, parks departments, schools and community groups, as well as local residents and current play providers, Morgan is working towards a world in which all children have access to a free engagement with nature and varied, challenging play activities in their local area.  She has worked with Play Association Tower Hamlets, Islington Play Association, Demos Think Tank, Play England and many more. 

With a background in Art History, Architecture and Anthropology, her approach is both academic and intuitive and she is most interested in finding working methods that combine research and practice – in theory that gets its hands dirty.  As such, she works on a number of projects at once, teaching seminars and delivering workshops in England and America, producing resource materials and working directly at inclusive play sessions.

She believes in the radical possibilities of play to change the way we think, live and experience our environments, and is interested in how building networks between different fields might diversify and improve the current play offer.  If farms and schools connect services, if community centres and artist groups and youth clubs work together, then all of our worlds are expanded. 

Sparsholt College Hampshire has been established for over 100 years, so we have very wide expertise and experience of education in the land-based sector. Over the years, the breadth and diversity of the subjects have widened, student numbers have grown significantly and the College has evolved into one of the largest land-based colleges in the country. The range of opportunities at Sparsholt College remains very extensive.

We have excellent resources and facilities which support learning and study. There have been significant investments in building and facilities in recent years and we do recommend that you come and visit for yourselves at either a viewing day, a taster course, at one of our Saturday careers events or our Countryside Day held every May.

The reputation of Higher Education at the College is very high and the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) confirmed this when they last conducted a full assessment at the College. During the most recent full assessment, all programmes were judged as 'commendable' in all respects. The QAA also judged that the specialist training facilities at the College were of a high standard.

It is important to remember that a reputation alone does not 'make' a college, nor do excellent buildings and top class resources. It is the commitment of a dedicated staff and the motivation of the students which contribute to a vibrant learning community.

Sparsholt College Home Farm

The main function of the College Home Farm is to service the education and teaching requirements of the College in addition to being farmed commercially. These resources allow for a very broad range of farming enterprises to be demonstrated, exceeding that of many larger farms. The result is that students are provided with the opportunity to be fully involved with commercial arable and livestock systems.

To balance the theory sessions, access to the College farms allows for the introduction and development of a wide range of skills involving livestock, machinery, estate skills, record keeping and management.

The Home Farm and Estate adjacent to the College comprises 176 hectares, of which 146 hectares are farmed. An additional 146ha are rented for forage crop production including maize, grass, red clover and whole crop mixes. Arable crops are also grown in conjunction with a neighbouring farm.

Home Farm is located in a NVZ (Nitrate Vulnerable Zone) and is in its tenth year of Countryside Stewardship. Five hundred metres of hedges are either coppiced/laid or planted every year. 1,500 metres of wildlife margins are in place over and above those already in place for stewardship, these are planted with a range of wild flowers and clovers to give all season flowering. This is to promote nectar production for bumble bees and other insects.

Course Categories:

Agriculture & Rural Land Management
Animal Management & Veterinary Nursing
Arboriculture, Forestry & Woodland Management
Horticulture & Floristry
Game, Wildlife & Countryside Management
Fishery Studies
Equine Studies & Horse Management
Sport, Outdoor Education & Public (Uniformed) Services
Construction & Technology  

Surrounded by textiles, knitting and sewing as a young girl, I never thought they would be part of my life when I grew up. First, a City and Guilds course in Art and Design – Embroidery with thoughts of becoming a 17th Century embroideress. This led to the discovery that I could not obtain the type of embroidery silks I needed. My path continued as I learned to spin silk and to use Natural Dyes and ‘The Mulberry Dyer’ was born. People then began to enquire about my silks and I began producing them for sale.

My partner, John Stoker, and I offer historically accurate and thoroughly researched presentations of natural dyeing, spinning and fibre production from Roman through to the advent of chemical dyes in the mid 19th century.

We can also display the techniques of the medieval stained glass worker, pin and needle making, bone working, sun dial making and techniques, apothecary/herbalist and for the 18th century an early hot air balloonist. Our presentations can be tailored to suit individual houses, museums and the national curriculum for schools including special needs.

We supply historically accurate naturally dyed yarns, fibre and cloth, natural dyes, yarns and artists materials. John produces small textile tools including hand carders and spindles all to museum quality.

Throughout the year we attend various Historical markets or Living Histories, working with our friends in the Myddelton Household, the Fairfax Battalia, Hands on the Past, The Original Reenactors Market or by direct invitation.

We are happy to run Workshops by invitation and we run dyeing and spinning courses in North Wales. Please contact us to arrange for a workshop on either Natural Dyes, Drop Spindle spinning, Lucetting or Embroidery, (period specific, or as a general topic). We will travel to any part of the UK or even into Europe, our fees depend upon the subject matter and how the workshop is to run, we also require any expenses pertaining to our visit.

Clients include: The Globe Theatre, V & A; Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Hampton Court Palace and the Ashmolean Museum

Note: Please also visit The Mulberry Dyer Listing in our Artists and Craftsmen Category for additional information about their diverse Online Offerings.

Introductory Days and Educational Events