Plumpton College at Netherfield Living Classroom, learn coppicing, learn charcoal making, make charcoal, barbeque charcoal, chain saw use, trug making, hedgelaying, willow garden structures, rammed earth building, bee keeping, keeping bees, sustainable building techniques, climate change, carbon footprint, charcoal making, stock fencing, chestnut fencing, coppicing, what is coppicing, sustainable building techniques, rammed earth, charcoal making, living roof

Read about:
The Living Classroom construction, the first of its type in Rother District;

The ancient art of trug making is dying out;

Rural Skills & Craft Courses 2008

The Winter / Spring courses are either full or have taken place, new dates will be announced for the Autumn / Winter. Please express your interest on the booking form and we will let you know the dates.

Charcoal Making

Trug Making

Practical Coppicing

Hedgelaying

Chainsaw
A practical one day non certified course covering effective, safe use and maintenance of a Chainsaw for domestic use. Cost £120.00

Construction with Rammed Earth

Willow Garden Structures

Buy a course gift voucher as a present

Courses are held at Ivyland Farm, Netherfield, Nr Battle. TN33 9QB (see link to map under contact details for venue)

The courses cover a wide variety of rural crafts including, trug making, production of charcoal, besom broom making, willow garden structures etc ....
Please telephone - 01424 775615 for details and to book in.

This project is part financed by the European Community WARR Partnership, Leader+2000-2006 Programme, supported by the European Agricultural Guidance & Guarantee Fund of the EU.


	Ancient Art of trug making dying out. First invented in Sussex in 1820!
Course Gift Vouchers are available they make a perfect present. Rural Craft Courses at Plumpton College at Netherfield There is concern that some of our traditional crafts are set to disappear as older experienced crafts people are unable to pass on their skills to people interested in maintaining rural crafts. With a revival of interest in the products of traditional crafts using locally sourced sustainable materials, the market looks set to increase. Plumpton College at Netherfield is running new rural crafts courses using trainers who are practicing their crafts. This has been made possible through the Living Classroom Project which has received funding from Leader+ a European Union Rural funding initiative. Crafts taught in our courses are mainly Greenwood Trades which reflects the wooded nature of our surrounding countryside. Trugs have been handmade in Sussex for the last 150 years and our course will give participants the opportunity to make their own trug and find out more about the sustainable wood used to make them. Willow Garden Structures will take you through the materials and techniques required to make a structure, used to support plant growth, by the end of the day a variety of structures will have been designed and built. Charcoal Making provides an excellent opportunity to learn how to make charcoal using a number of different kiln types, which are easy to replicate, and look at wood varieties used for charcoal making. Enjoy next summer’s BBQ’s using your own charcoal. Hedgelaying is the ancient art of managing hedgerows, that regenerates tired hedges providing bird and wildlife habitats, producing stock proof barriers which last twice as long as other stock fencing. Hedgelaying is carried out between September and April when the sap is low. Learn the tools and the local South of England style of laying a hedge. Trug trivia • The word "trug" derives from "trog", an Anglo-Saxon word meaning wooden vessel or boat-shaped article. • In medieval England, "trogs" were used to measure grain and liquid. • Thomas Smith invented the first Sussex trug in the 1820s. • A Thomas Smith trug was exhibited at the 1851 Great Exhibition in Crystal Palace. • Irish trugs are still known as "trogs" and are a different shape. For details of these courses, dates, costs and venue please download pdf

A Living Classroom

"First of its type"
Sustainable Building Project in Rother District

	Plumpton College at Netherfield has constructed a "Living Classroom" - the first of its type in the Rother District. With the aim of: Improving and extending the teaching facilities for 14 -1 6 year olds at Plumpton College at Netherfield Providing a demonstration venue for low carbon building techniques Raising awareness of environmental issues, including water conservation, wood fired heating and solar power.
Soil suitable for rammed earth technique
	The Living Classroom is constructed using rammed earth for its external walls. Rammed earth has a low energy input in its production and has a high thermal mass which helps to stabilise temperatures in a building. The roof of the classroom will be living as it will be planted with native species as a green cover and external walls will be glad in Sussex grown cedar wood with sheep's wool insulation inbetween the rammed earth walls and the cedar cladding
Rowland Keeble - expert, demonstrating the technique
	Learn Sustainable Building Techniques (see courses below) Plumpton College at Netherfield will be running courses as follows: Building using rammed earth Carbon Neutral Heating Water Conservation On Farm Water Treatment Energy Efficiency Plant a Living Roof For details or if you could like to visit the "Living Classroom" please telephone
The finished product	01424 775615 or email Debbie King
The Classroom - May 2007