Adult Courses |
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Our courses and workshops take place in our beautiful learning centre in the Hampshire South Downs, near Petersfield. Our courses are linked to sustainability in a number of ways: from crafting with natural materials and foraging for food and medicines to connecting us with nature and supporting our wellbeing. We aim to keep traditional skills alive which help support biodiversity and low impact living, as well as sharing innovative ways of doing things. We are proud to host a range of excellent tutors, including renowned permaculture teachers: Aranya and Caroline Aitken; Forest School pioneer, Jon Cree; bushcraft and nature connection leaders: Jonathon Huet and Nick Ward; herb and foraging experts and a host of highly skilled craft teachers.
As well as our Course Listings below, we also offer private bespoke courses for your organisation. Please contact us on courses@sustainability-centre.org for more information.
If there are no spaces available on the course you are interested in, do join our waiting list:
As well as our Course Listings below, we also offer private bespoke courses for your organisation. Please contact us on courses@sustainability-centre.org for more information.
If there are no spaces available on the course you are interested in, do join our waiting list:
december
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Willow Reindeer
- SOLD OUT £85 Sunday 4th December 2022 |
Learn how to willow weave a reindeer sculpture for your home on this craft workshop in the Hampshire South Downs. Spend a fun day making a willow reindeer about 75cm tall to stand on a windowsill or table. Or why not place it beside your front door to welcome visitors? Using a whole range of basketry techniques, you get lots of learning in this class as well as a really impressive item to take home with you.
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Willow Festive Morning:
Stars and Rush Angel - SOLD OUT £42 Thursday 8th December 2022 Friday 9th December 2022 |
Join a creative morning workshop, learning how to make large willow stars and rush angels. We will be crafting with sustainable UK grown materials to form these popular folk designs. All the materials and tools will be supplied with the guidance of Louise from Rough Around the Hedges. These sessions fly by so why not come early for breakfast in the Beech Café?
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Willow Festive Afternoon:
Willow and Ivy Yuletide Decorations - 1 place available £42 Thursday 8th December 2022 Friday 9th December 2022 |
In this afternoon workshop, try your hand at creating natural yuletide decorations for your door, porch or hallway. We will fashion wreaths and spheres from locally grown willow with the guidance of Louise from Rough Around the Hedges. To adorn you 3D sphere, ivy and mistletoe will be provided. You can bring extra foraged materials to add to you wreath or continue to decorate it at home.
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Upcycled Fabric Basket - places available
£95 Friday 16th December 2022 |
Upcycle pre-loved clothing or favourite fabrics to make beautiful coiled fabric baskets. A great way to keep some of your children’s favourite outfits they’ve outgrown or your partner’s favourite old shirts and turn the materials into a decorative basket of memories for your home.
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2023
January
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Willow Garden Sculpture - places available
£85 Thursday 12th January or Friday 13th January 2023 |
Learn how to willow weave a sculpture for your garden on this craft course in the Hampshire South Downs. Choose what you would like to weave from a small animal to an abstract form. Previous participants have made: dragonflies, hearts, foxes, chickens and pheasants. This course will take place indoors.
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Willow Frame Basket - SOLD OUT
£95 Friday 27th January 2023 |
Willow weaving training course in the Hampshire South Downs. Participants will make a hand woven gypsy style frame basket from sustainable willow. Use your basket for gathering berries, mushrooms, eggs, herbs or displaying treasures. Suitable for beginners or improvers with some manual dexterity, hand strength and patience!
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Upcycled Fabric Basket - SOLD OUT
£95 Saturday 28th January 2023 |
Upcycle pre-loved clothing or favourite fabrics to make beautiful coiled fabric baskets. A great way to keep some of your children’s favourite outfits they’ve outgrown or your partner’s favourite old shirts and turn the materials into a decorative basket of memories for your home.
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February
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Hedgelaying - SOLD OUT
£90 Friday 3rd February 2023 |
On this training course, you will gain practical, hands on experience in the ancient art of hedgelaying (South of England style). A local hedge will be laid using traditional tools i.e. billhook, broad axe and hand saws. The stock proof barrier created will then be trimmed by hand and secured with stakes and top binding. You will also learn about the history of hedgerows in our landscape and their habitat importance.
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Natural Cosmetics Workshop - places available
£80 Saturday 4th and/or Sunday 5th February 2023 |
Come spend the day learning how to make natural everyday beauty/bathroom products from ingredients you can find in your kitchen cupboards, herb gardens and amongst the hedgerows. Products that are kind to you, the earth, reduce single-use plastic and will save you pennies. Perfect to make for yourself or to give as gifts.
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Willow Living Tree - places available
£45 Morning or Afternoon sessions Friday 17th February 2023 |
Join us in learning how to weave your very own living willow Harlequin tree from willow grown at our site on this course in the Hampshire South Downs. Living willow rods plaited into what is known as a Harlequin tree make a wonderful addition to your garden.
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Compost Toilets - SOLD OUT
£75 Saturday 25th February 2023 |
This course will teach you how to design, build and manage your own back garden indoor and outdoor composting toilet. The course will cover the rules and regulations for compost loos, and how everyone can set up a compost loo in their house, garden, allotment, Forest School site or community area.
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March
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Willow Weaving Weekend - SOLD OUT
£170 Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th March 2023 |
Spend a weekend engrossed in developing your skills in willow weaving and basketry on this course in the Hampshire South Downs. On this progressive course, you will weave a number of willow items which will give you the chance to practice basket making techniques before making your own basket.
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Kitchen Gardening Weekends - places available
£290 Reserve a place for £75 Two weekends included: 18th & 19th March 2023 17th & 18th June 2023 |
A four day course, split over two weekends, on creating and managing a successful and abundant food garden. The course will include hands-on practical sessions and all the theory you need to make your kitchen garden grow and keep your larder full.
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Forest School Taster Day - places available
£60 Friday 24th March 2023 |
An experience day for teachers, early years practitioners and parents to give a taste of the Forest School approach to learning. Have a go at fire lighting, den building, tool use, plus other woodland crafts and activities. Find out how Forest School supports children and adults of all abilities to learn in the outdoors.
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April
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Medicinal Herbs Workshop
- SOLD OUT £90 Saturday 1st April 2023 |
Learn how to use plants and herbal remedies to improve your health and wellbeing on this highly practical one day course in the Hampshire South Downs. Spend a day with professional herbalist, Sarah Hillyer, learning how to identify and use medicinal herbs growing in our gardens and the wider countryside to detoxify and revitalise the body.
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Spoon Carving Course - places available
£85 Wednesday 5th April 2023 |
Learn how to carve a spoon, spatula and butter knife on this wood carving course in the Hampshire South Downs. Our tutor, Jonathan Huet, will teach you how to use a knife, saw, crook knife and axe to whittle items from locally harvested green wood.
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Composting Masterclass - places available
£70 Saturday 22nd April 2023 |
A one day course teaching you everything you need to know to make your own high quality garden compost. Horticulture teacher, Jane Gleeson, will guide you through how to get a successful compost heap going and get the mix of materials right, how to look after it and use the finished compost in your garden. During practical sessions, you will explore a variety of compost systems at our centre, including wormeries, hot composters and cold composters.
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MAY
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Devon Stave Basket Making - places available
£240 Saturday 20th - Sunday 21st May 2023 |
This course will cover the construction of a heritage Devon Stave Basket made from sweet chestnut and white willow. Learn from a professional basketmaker how to cleave, shave, steam and make your own, original Stave Basket, a Devon speciality used for harvesting crops such as potatoes and now on the Heritage Crafts Association red list for endangered skills.
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Nature Led Meditation - places available
£20 - £30 Tuesday 23rd May 2023 |
A progressive series of nature-led meditation workshops, each with an individual flavour. Jonathon will guide you gently through meditations and natural connection practices designed to restore your connection with nature and to bring healing to yourself and to the land to which we belong. Take some time in our peaceful woods to find calmness and connections with the landscape.
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Women's Woodland Retreat - places available
£65 - £85 Friday 26th May 2023 |
Our day retreat for women is designed to give you time and space to connect, recharge and relax in the glorious natural surroundings of our woodland. You will learn a mixture of bushcraft and natural craft skills, taking time to relax and unwind in the company of other women. This retreat is designed to support your wellbeing, help you connect with nature, learn something new and take some time to just be.
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Foraging, Fire and Folklore - places available
£30 Wednesday 31st May 2023 |
A series of seasonal events, each one a special experience of wild food foraging, Celtic fire and folklore. Bushcraft and Celtic folklore specialist, Jonathon Huet, will take you on a guided walk to forage for wild food and impart his knowledge on different native trees in each season. The walk will end with a primitive fire-lighting demonstration and you will experience a Celtic Fire Ceremony around the glowing embers of the fire and learn the folklore of native trees.
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June
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Medicinal Herb Workshop - places available
£90 Sunday 25th June 2023 |
Learn how to use plants and herbal remedies to improve your health and wellbeing on this highly practical one day course in the Hampshire South Downs. Spend a day with professional herbalist, Sarah Hillyer, learning how to identify and use medicinal herbs growing in our gardens and the wider countryside to detoxify and revitalise the body.
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July
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Foraging, Fire and Folklore - places available
£30 Wednesday 5th July 2023 |
A series of seasonal events, each one a special experience of wild food foraging, Celtic fire and folklore. Bushcraft and Celtic folklore specialist, Jonathon Huet, will take you on a guided walk to forage for wild food and impart his knowledge on different native trees in each season. The walk will end with a primitive fire-lighting demonstration and you will experience a Celtic Fire Ceremony around the glowing embers of the fire and learn the folklore of native trees.
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Clay Oven Course - places available
£115 Saturday 8th July 2023 |
Learn the techniques to build a clay oven on this course at our beautiful site in the Hampshire South Downs. Participants will learn how to construct the oven from builder’s sand, clay, wood shavings and bricks. From puddling clay to constructing the oven you will get hands on with all stages of this eco building technique.
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Advanced Knife Skills - places available
£85 Sunday 16th July 2023 |
This knife skills training course will explore how to use a fixed blade knife as a wood craft tool. Throughout the day progressive skills will be taught working with both green and seasoned wood. Through gentle guidance and experiential learning, you will become confident and comfortable handling a knife, from basic skills to advanced carving techniques.
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Wildflower Meadows Course - places available
£85 Saturday 22nd July 2023 |
This wildflower meadow course will equip you with the skills and knowledge to create, restore and enhance meadows, with a particular focus on chalk grassland. Whether you want to establish a mini meadow in your back garden or on a large scale, this course is for you.
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Mushroom Cultivation Course - places available
£225 Friday 28th and Saturday 29th July 2023 |
This two day practical course in the Hampshire South Downs will provide you with a background in the fascinating world of fungal biology and the core principles and practices that underlie the art and science of mushroom cultivation. By the end of course you will have everything you need to start growing your own mushrooms at home, on your farm, or in your community, including the mushroom spawn to get you started!
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August
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Stool Carving Course - places available
£130 Friday 4th August 2023 |
Learn green woodwork techniques and make your own rustic stool on this training course in the Hampshire South Downs. Our tutor, Phil Clayton, will teach you how to use traditional hand tools and woodcraft skills, to craft your stool from locally grown wood.
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Wildflower Meadows Course - places available
£80 Saturday 5th August 2023 |
This wildflower meadow course will equip you with the skills and knowledge to create, restore and enhance meadows, with a particular focus on chalk grassland. Whether you want to establish a mini meadow in your back garden or on a large scale, this course is for you.
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Spoon Carving Course - places available
£85 Saturday 19th August 2023 |
Learn how to carve a spoon, spatula and butter knife on this wood carving course in the Hampshire South Downs. Our tutor, Jonathan Huet, will teach you how to use a knife, saw, crook knife and axe to whittle items from locally harvested green wood.
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September
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Gate Hurdle Making - places available
£130 Friday 1st September 2023 |
Learn traditional wood carving techniques to make your own sweet chestnut gate hurdle on this one day course in the Hampshire South Downs. Using a shavehorse and other traditional hand tools including drawknife, twybil, brace, side axe and hammer, you will learn to create your own hurdles, which you will take home with you. Your hurdles can be used as a gate opening, part of a fence or simply to add decoration and structure to your garden.
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Foraging, Fire and Folklore - places available
£30 Wednesday 6th September 2023 |
A series of seasonal events, each one a special experience of wild food foraging, Celtic fire and folklore. Bushcraft and Celtic folklore specialist, Jonathon Huet, will take you on a guided walk to forage for wild food and impart his knowledge on different native trees in each season. The walk will end with a primitive fire-lighting demonstration and you will experience a Celtic Fire Ceremony around the glowing embers of the fire and learn the folklore of native trees.
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Art, Sound & Meditation - places available
£85 Saturday 9th September 2023 |
An art and meditation workshop focused on the healing properties of sounds and pattern and the restorative qualities of the natural world. Spend a day focusing on your own wellbeing. We will explore the way experiencing sound and nature can spark our creative responses. The one day course will offer you a chance to connect to your creative and intuitive selves via a series of guided exercises, led by three different practitioners skilled in sound healing, nature-led meditation and mindful art.
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october
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Introduction to Permaculture Design Course - places available
£330 Reserve a place for £75 Thursday 5th - Sunday 8th October 2023 |
This course is designed to introduce Permaculture principles but with an emphasis on supporting participants with designing their own homes and gardens. It is no ordinary 'Permaculture intro' course, and not quite a full Permaculture Design course either. Rather, through the course, Aranya will cover the key principles of Permaculture design theory and how we can apply them in redesigning our homes and gardens to be both more sustainable and abundant.
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