Country Living and Rural Craft Courses:

Our Rural Craft Courses offer a unique opportunity to learn a range of crafts and skills in a friendly, relaxed environment.  Courses are held in small groups, making use of our indoor and outdoor training areas, in and around our converted poultry barn. 

Ever considered a few productive animals in your garden?  Why not keep a few chickens, bees and/or pigs; live a self-sufficient lifestyle, feeding your family and friends in a sustainable way.

There is a feeling of worthiness in producing your own food.  We can not claim that keeping a few hens in your garden or rearing your own pigs is the single answer to all the environmental and economic problems of today, but the more we do with our own land the less we depend on the big corporate suppliers with high carbon footprints. 

Training Course Feedback:

View many satisfied customers' feedback on our trustpilot reviews page.

Here is just a sample:

'An excellent course which I believe all prospective beekeepers should attend. We had absolutely no idea what a responsibility it would be. The information was fascinating and we learned an incredible amount and now look at bees with tremendous respect. (The lunch was great too)! Thanks to all involved'. 

'Great course in chicken keeping both for adults and children. very friendly, honest and passionate people'

'Absolutely amazing introductory beekeeping training at Mantel Farm. Amanda answered every question that was asked in detail and more!  The food was very good, such a selection too and there was more than enough for everyone to have at least second helpings.  Overall I cannot fault the weekend training, facilities or staff at Mantel Farm. Would 100% recommend to anyone interested in BeeKeeping or anything else they train there.'

Importance Of Traditional Crafts:

Learning a new skill or craft is fun, fulfilling and keeps the tradition of passing knowledge from teacher to student alive. It is becoming increasingly important to maintain cultural techniques so their methodology is kept alive.

Importance of keeping productive animals:

There is a feeling of worthiness in producing your own food and the more we can do with our own land and appreciate what goes into the food on our plates, the less we will depend on the big corporate suppliers with high carbon footprints.  Many of our Parents and Grandparents lived in this way and we can remember Grandad being sent out into the garden to collect eggs (maybe stopping for a little homemade wine on the way!) or Nan swapping homemade preserves with family and friends.  

We are hearing now a lot about the environmental issues of producing food (both vegetables and meat) in an intensive way, how we are eating too much meat and throwing too much food and packaging away.  Eggs are such a wholesome and versatile food and Meat used to be a treat, enjoyed with family as a joint on a Sunday and made to last many meals after that. 

When you have produced your own food you are far less likely to treat it in a wasteful way and we strongly believe at Mantel Farm that no matter what diet you follow, the key is to buy local and produce what you can, appreciating the quality of what you eat - then both your health and the planet will benefit.

Accommodation Links:

Located in the heart of the East Sussex Countryside we are lucky to be surrounded by tourist destinations including Battle, Hastings and Bexhill. Each has many places to stay, as well as a mainline train station.

Find out more about accommodation used by our previous course attendees here