Our Programmes

This one-day course will introduce you to using an axe and carving knife to have a gentle and creative conversation with a piece of wood, turning it into a beautiful and functional spoon for cooking, serving or eating food. Maintenance and care of your tools, safety, selecting your wood, and how to bring your creation to life will all be covered throughout the day.

In this course you will create the first chapter of your book, guided by award-nominated novelist Ally Wilkes and Cat Camacho, an editor with over 10 years’ industry experience. You will learn specific writing techniques to craft the perfect opening, including in-depth guidance on plotting, point of view, and voice amongst others. You will benefit from exclusive one-to-one sessions with the course tutors, along with targeted writing exercises on which you will receive feedback from your fellow course writers. Our mid-week guest speaker is novelist, Emilia Hart.

This contemporary embroidery course spans three days and consists of supported tutor time and guidance by Leeds based Embroidery Artist and Educator, Elnaz Yazdani. Elnaz will guide you through a variety of hand embroidery techniques, applications and creative methods to get you started on your own creative path for embroidery design and making. Who is this course for? The course is suitable for complete beginners as well as those with some embroidery experience. All levels are welcome. The course would be perfect for anyone looking to study art/textiles, gain a new hobby, find wellbeing through craft or just try something completely different.

Be inspired to draw, and harness this skill to reflect creatively and capture your life and the world around you. Kickstart or boost your creative habit with Jo’s Adventures in Art Journaling weekend retreat. The focus will be on drawing, enjoying drawing, and using drawing to gain new skills, having fun along the way!

Life drawing remains the best training an artist can undertake to improve their drawing. This session is perfect for beginners or as a refresher, but is also suitable for advanced students who can set their own goals for the day while enjoying the beauty and hospitality at Hawkwood.

Come and learn the ancient craft of basket weaving! During this one-day workshop you'll learn to weave your own small round basket suitable as a fruit bowl/ bread basket with locally grown willow in a range of colours. If there's time you will be able to add a simple handle to your basket. You will leave with a basket and the skills to know how to make another one at home. This course is suitable for complete beginners.

On this course we will be working with English rush, (Schoenoplectus lacustris) a beautifully soft material to weave with. We will learn some ancient techniques of cordage, plaiting and how to make a small rush foraging bag/ handbag with a strap. You will learn how to prepare and weave with rush and other foraged fibers such as carex and dandelion. You will leave with a finished pouch and the skills to make another. 

A weekend of consorts, chamber music and ensemble playing for recorder players. International award-winning quartet Palisander curates a weekend of ensemble playing that celebrates the diversity of the recorder: with consort settings ranging from optional one-to-a-part chamber groups, to massed playing sessions focusing on large ensemble repertoire, with everything in between. The selected repertoire will span from the medieval to the present day, including repertoire unique to Palisander, tailored to this playing weekend. Members of the quartet blend their extensive performance experience with varied teaching practice, from adult playing courses to conservatoire, to create bespoke masterclasses, recorder orchestra, and coaching sessions.

Finding the Words for the Journey: How Travel and Nature can be turned into Prose. On this five-day residential course, tutors Nick Hunt and Joanna Pocock will introduce you to travel and nature writing. You will learn how to develop your experiences and observations of journeying in the world into engaging pieces of prose. The tutors will use practical exercises, focused writing assignments and workshopping as they help you develop and structure your writing. Our mid-week guest speaker is the 2024 Wainwright Prize Winner, Michael Malay.

During this three day workshop participants will be working towards developing simple three-dimensional vessel forms and woven structures. Participants will be encouraged to consider ‘drawing’ with different materials, and to explore linear and spatial relationships by introducing content and detail with fibre and yarns. We will also work with collage, layering and weaving processes in relation to two- and three- dimensional compositions.

In this course you will concentrate on the overall plot and driving force of your novel, guided by award-nominated novelist Ally Wilkes and Cat Camacho, an editor with over 10 years’ industry experience. You will learn specific plotting and writing techniques to craft an engaging and exciting mid-section, including in-depth guidance on how to effectively use your characters to move the plot forward, tips and tricks to solve knotty plot problems such as the mid-point, and other professional skills. You will benefit from exclusive one-to-one sessions with the course tutors, along with targeted writing exercises on which you will receive feedback from your fellow course writers.

Learn how to dye, finish and hand stitch leather using the traditional two needle saddle stitch to make a coin purse and a belt on this Introduction to Leatherwork. Ruth will guide the group through the techniques needed to produce professionally finished leather goods as well as repair and restore leather items. We will also discuss the role of livestock in nature friendly farming and how by working with leather from pasture based farms in the UK we can support farms who are positively contributing to the environment and capturing carbon in their systems.

The act of making art is therapeutic, it can quiet the mind and allow you to focus on the present. When this happens and you are truly immersed in the moment of creating you can relax and allow the flow and freedom of painting to begin. This workshop is suitable for all abilities even those who have not picked up a paintbrush before. We will use the beautiful surroundings of Hawkwood to inspire us and have an enjoyable day of painting abstracts

A day dedicated to the art of looking, you’ll take in the beautiful grounds at Hawkwood and spend the day painting. Students will start off sketching under birdsong, in the kitchen-gardens, before some detailed experiments in mixing colours in watercolour and a spectacular two course lunch. One-one guidance will take away fear of the blank page; this class is the perfect launch to start a regular journal or sketchbook practice.

This course introduces you to both the intriguing symbolism of Renaissance alchemical imagery and how to make paintings or drawings in response to what the pictures, motifs and colours trigger in us as individuals. It invites the participants to actively engage with these ancient pictures and develop their own contemporary visuals. Register your interest now, bookings for this course will open soon.

This unique art form originated in Buddhist temples and is used for the elaborate decoration of Kimonos. This rarely taught skill has been based at Hawkwood for over twenty years. Using traditional methods and techniques you will produce truly stunning works of art and learn about Japanese culture. This course is open to people with some experience of Japanese Embroidery with Jackie Hall.

Come and join this residential weekend, Stephanie’s eleventh at Hawkwood, where you will explore in dance the universal desire of human beings to identify a place as “home”. Stephanie will teach both traditional folk and modern choreographed circle dances that expand on this theme; some previous dance experience is necessary to join the group.

Towards an Embodied Practise A recurring question writers face is how the body can be convincingly articulated and communicated. In this innovative and immersive week, Ruth Allen and Ali Millar will explore how to write and protect the body, creating an embodied practice that responds to the body and the many environments it finds itself in. This is a particularly vital component of writing when writing about nature, place, sickness, parenthood, sexuality and gender. Over the week you’ll become equipped with the skills and confidence needed to explore writing the body in various settings.

Craig Ogden will give expert insight on effective practice strategies. There will be ensemble work, concerts, and tutorials. Register your interest now, bookings for this course will open soon.

Hawkwood's Creative Experience Weekend offers a rejuvenating retreat focused on restoring balance and inner harmony. Set in the tranquil surroundings of Hawkwood's estate, participants are invited to unwind, reconnect with themselves, and find peace through holistic activities that nurture their creative side and leaving feeling inspired. Register your interest now, bookings for this course will open soon.

An engaging summer concert with chart-topping guitarist, Craig Ogden. This Friday night recital will have a varied programme of key works from the guitar repertoire. Register your interest now, bookings for this concert will open soon.

In this course you will learn how to craft an effective and satisfying conclusion to your book, guided by award-nominated novelist Ally Wilkes and Cat Camacho, an editor with over 10 years’ industry experience. It doesn’t matter if you have a whole novel drafted or you are yet to write your opening pages: this course offers ample opportunity in free-writing sessions to work on what’s most relevant to you. You will also learn specific writing techniques to wrap your book up, including in-depth guidance on crafting the five-point finale and the difference between finishing your story and finishing your plot. You will benefit from seeing exactly how an editor works with a live editing session, as well as exclusive one-to-one sessions with the course tutors, and targeted writing exercises on which you will receive feedback from your fellow course writers.

Gather around the “songwriting campfire” with award winning singer-songwriter, composer and talented storyteller Dan Whitehouse and artist mentor Katie Whitehouse. Experience a playful approach that will help free your mind, connect you with your inner child and light new pathways into your songwriting. Register your interest now, bookings for this course will open soon.

This is an introduction course for Japanese woodblock printing and it is designed to be suitable for absolute beginners. The traditional Japanese prints such as Hokusai or Hiroshige's works are created in the same way. You will design your own block, carve and print. During the workshop, you will learn how to create the registration mark, how to use tools and how to use Baren (printing tool) to make a print.

Why are we, humans, drawn to represent ourselves in image? Humanoid figures are amongst some of the earliest surviving forms of art, so a desire to capture likeness or a portrayal of people is nothing new but how should you go about learning to do just that? A foundational knowledge of drawing is important to all artists, even if your interests lie in abstract or graphical art. A fundamental understanding of anatomy in portraiture will improve your interpretation of the human body and make the process of capturing it on paper easier and more expressive.

This unique art form originated in Buddhist temples and is used for the elaborate decoration of Kimonos. This rarely taught skill has been based at Hawkwood for over twenty years. Using traditional methods and techniques you will produce truly stunning works of art and learn about Japanese culture. This course is open to people with some experience of Japanese Embroidery with Jackie Hall.

Join celebrated choral maestro Gavin Carr (“Chorus Master to the Universe” - BBC Radio 3) in his Choral Weekend dedicated to one of the most unjustly neglected works in the repertoire: Beethoven’s wonderfully uplifting Mass in C. With four talented young soloists, explore this beautiful work in a relaxed and joyful atmosphere.

Discover how to Find and Hone your Voice Over the course of this immersive week, Ali Millar and Dan Richards will explore life writing and the many areas it spans, from the personal essay, to memoir, to biography. This deep dive into life writing is suitable for a range of levels and abilities. Through a combination of masterclasses and one to one tutorials, Ali and Dan will equip you with everything you need to develop your life writing.

This course offers viol players the chance to explore consort repertoire from the viol's Golden Age and to improve their technique along the way. Composers studied will include Jenkins, Purcell, Holborne, Lawes and Coperario. Register your interest now, bookings for this course will open soon.

In this course you will prepare your novel for submission to publishers, agents or the wider reading public, guided by award-nominated novelist Ally Wilkes and Cat Camacho, an editor with over 10 years’ industry experience. It doesn’t matter if you have a whole novel drafted or you are yet to write your opening pages: this course offers ample opportunity in free-writing sessions to work on what’s most relevant to you. You will also learn specific techniques to make your novel stand out and be the best it can be, including in-depth guidance how to draft an exciting and attention-grabbing synopsis and the perfect pitch letter, along with exclusive publishing industry insight from an experienced publishing professional. You will benefit from seeing exactly how an editor works with a live editing session, as well as exclusive one-to-one sessions with the course tutors, and targeted writing exercises on which you will receive feedback from your fellow course writers.

Learn how to dye, finish and hand stitch leather using the traditional two needle saddle stitch to make a coin purse and a belt on this Introduction to Leatherwork. Ruth will guide the group through the techniques needed to produce professionally finished leather goods as well as repair and restore leather items. We will also discuss the role of livestock in nature friendly farming and how by working with leather from pasture based farms in the UK we can support farms who are positively contributing to the environment and capturing carbon in their systems.