Chance to learn about beekeeping, ploughing, keeping pigs and more at Acton Scott Farm

Acton Scott Historic Working Farm near Craven Arms is offering a range of traditional rural craft and trade courses, to teach people the forgotten skills of the past.

The programme of courses runs from April to November 2016 and includes established favourites like beekeeping, ploughing, blacksmithing and stone masonry alongside new courses on game preparation and cookery, keeping pigs and working with sweet doughs.

Bookings are being taken now for these courses, many of which would make ideal, unusual, Christmas gifts.

Tina Woodward, Shropshire Council’s deputy Cabinet member responsible for museums, said:

“Acton Scott is one of Britain’s leading working farm museums. Originally the Home Farm of the Acton Scott estate, the site remains untouched by modern farming practice.

“The farm staff care for traditional breeds of poultry and stock, and all seasonal jobs are undertaken using horse-drawn machinery.

“The wheelwright and blacksmith produce goods for the farm, the farrier shoes the working horses, butter is churned by hand and traditional farm fare is cooked on the cottage range and in the bread oven.

“We continue to preserve those often forgotten and fast-disappearing rural skills through the collection and preservation of the stories and artefacts of the past. At the same time, we aim to share those skills among a wider audience through a programme of courses, helping to keep them alive and finding a place for them in the 21st Century.”

All courses start at 10am and finish at 4pm unless otherwise stated. Lunch is provided on all full-day courses, as well as tea and coffee throughout the day.

For more information and to book, click here to visit the Shropshire Council website.