As well as working with children and young people in schools, at our studio, and within youth groups in their urban communities, we see great value in the work that can be done when individuals are removed from their normal environment and have the opportunity to access rural locations and interact with each other and our staff in a completely novel setting.
The Farm
Currently being developed is a farm project with an out of city rural provision for young people to engage in a completely different set of surroundings. Plans currently being put into place include a small-holding type farm with small animals. Courses will be run to look at animal care and welfare as well as traditional farming methods. In addition, environmental projects will run from here which will look at sustainable life choices, utilising traditional craft as an alternative to today’s ‘disposable society’. As a developing project, the list of potential activities is endless and will be updated in due course.
Residential Day Trips / Weekends
We have taken groups of young people out of the city on residential weeks, weekends and day trips over the past 5 years within rural locations in England and Wales. We can organise residentials to suit any time length, incorporating a range of activities. We can organise all aspects of the trips from planning, consent forms, collecting medical info and carrying out risk assessments to arranging accommodation, providing food, scheduling an itinerary of activities and providing transport to and from the residential location. In addition, we provide a team of CRB cleared trained youth workers to maximise the young people’s enjoyment and take care of any health and safety considerations.
These trips can be tailored to suit available budgets and requirements in terms of activities and desired outcomes.
Camping
At the farm, and at other locations in the midlands, we can provide a ‘back-to-basics’ camping trip from 1 to 3 nights to give young people the experience of fending for themselves without mod cons! During these trips, we focus on basic outdoor skills such as how and where to pitch a tent, how to keep warm, find sources of water and food and includes sessions on map reading and orienteering as well as long walks and nature spotting. We discourage the use of mobile phones, ipods, internet and indeed electricity to give young people a unique and enriching outdoor experience they will remember!
While much of our activities and residential trips have been done with groups of children and young people, we can tailor these events to older groups on request.