A Weekend in the Country: what you get:

    Our course is designed to give you some idea of what you are getting into.

  Saturday

  We will talk about the management of grassland and of boundaries, one of the most
    important, yet neglected aspects of livestock management on a new property. This talk
    is delivered whilst walking through my organic beef and cereal farm and erecting
    electric fences.
  We move on to discuss machinery, whilst standing around and kicking my old tractor
    and about cattle housing under the shelter of my cow shed.
  Hay, straw, haylage and silage are all handled and their relevance to livestock keeping
    is discussed during, before and after, breaks from the great (cold) outdoors, in our
    'Conference Centre', an adapted farm building.
  Livestock ownership regulations are also discussed in there around coffee or lunch.

  Sunday
  On the second day we move to a nearby smallholding, Oak Lodge Nursery, which is
    such an excellent example of what can be achieved, that we couldn't believe our luck
    when we found such a place on our doorstep.
  Here you will be encouraged to catch a sheep, turn it onto its' bum and examine its
    teeth, feet and udder, whilst being lectured, probably in the rain, by Chris and Rob, a
    couple of sheep owning shepherds, about why you are doing all this.
  Pigs are dealt with by Alan, the smallholder himself, who having spent a lifetime
    managing commercial pigs, is very well versed in how NOT to raise pigs and who now
    manages his own free range, Rare Breed pigs with real compassion. Whilst he is
    expounding his knowledge, you will be standing, hopefully in your wellies, amongst his
    pigs and with luck you will experience the joys of persuading a pig to go where it
    doesn't necessarily want to go, to the merriment of your contemporaries.
  Alan will tell you all about his poultry too, whilst you stand and shiver in his free range
    poultry runs. Handling poultry is left to those who can catch one!
  Sarah, Alan's partner will briefly talk about her beloved goats.
  Sarah grows the outdoor and poly tunnel vegetables in their lovely alluvial soil. She is
    very good at it, but leaves the lecturing bit to her ex college tutor Bill Hudson, who will
    get you involved in doing a bit of whatever is appropriate at the time of year. He will
    also wax lyrical about Sarah's remarkable orchard of beautifully pruned fruit trees.
  Before you leave Oak Lodge you will be submitted to Sarah's sales expertise in the
    excellent farm shop, which the two of them have constructed from a double garage.
    It is a tough individual who leaves empty handed!

  The event winds up with a late working lunch in The Rose & Crown, when we discuss
    the merits of VAT and accountants, plus the cost of setting up and how to find a
    smallholding in the first place. This is largely a question and answer session and could
    stretch on into the evening if not concluded with the issue of certificates of attendance
    and a request to complete a questionnaire on the efficacy and enjoyment of the
    weekend's activities.

  The benefits
    One couple, possibly the ones we helped most of all, came to Saturday's events, but
    telephoned on Sunday morning to say that they had spent the night discussing what they
    had learned so far and had eventually come to the conclusion, that smallholding was not
    for them. We feel that we saved them from a great deal of heart ache and expenditure
    in the future.
    Most, in fact all our delegates, tell us how much they have enjoyed themselves and how
    much they have learned.

    The weekend is an experience of rural life with a great deal of humour and a vast
    amount of information, which unfortunately, in the time available, can only skim the
    surface of what there is to learn. We hope people go home with the knowledge that
    there is a great deal to learn, but with the confidence to know that they can find it when
    they need it.

  Who comes
    Our delegates range from those who have a dream, to those who have purchased a
    holding and have realised that there is more to being a smallholder than they
    anticipated, and everything in between. They all make a contribution to the event and
    learn a great deal from one another.

    To NewLandOwner, there is no such thing as a silly question

    I hope this provides an insight to what happens on the course and an appetite to 'Have a
    go'

  Rob Jeffery, Director NewLandOwner