LeisureCourses.net – short courses & residential study breaks in great locations

An Introduction to Designing Your Own Garden

This classroom based course, which runs over three consecutive s, provides an opportunity to improve and refresh your garden with support and help from a professional garden designer. You will learn, step by step, how to redesign your own plot. The course will begin with basic principles and go on to consider choosing the right...

Much Ado About Nothing: Deception, Darkness & Dogberry

‘I have deceived even your very eyes’. We will explore, through reading and analysis, one of the most popular of Shakespeare’s comedies, Much Ado About Nothing. We will focus on the central theme of deception in the play: in particular the benevolent deception which supports the love story between Beatrice and Benedick, and the malevolent...

Romanesque, Art, Architecture & Design

The Romanesque period represents the first truly European wide international style, since the fall of the Roman Empire. Its spread alongside the expansion of the Roman Catholic Church is no coincidence, as both the Catholic faith and the nascent political ambitions of new nation states combined to create a heady mix of militant Christianity, politics,...

Paper Making and Literature

Using rags, old books and new ideas, make handmade paper with a literary theme. Authors like Wordsworth, Tennyson, Shakespeare, Ruskin, Dickens and Beatrix Potter (to name a few) will be our inspiration. Inventive and highly personalised papers will be created with flowers, cloth, rope, old books and lots of words and poetry!

Britain’s Industrial Heritage

This course showcases aspects of Britain’s rich industrial heritage, from Cheshire to Aberdeen, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and the Isle of Man. Typical sites include textile mills, water and wind mills, railways, canals, mines, limekilns, cement works, breweries, maltings, salt works and ports, but often the smallest industries are the most fascinating. There is a field visit...

A300 – Open University Twentieth Centrury Literature EMA Preparation

This course is designed specifically for Open University students studying A300 and preparing for the End-of-Module Assessment (EMA). Its purpose is to provide an opportunity for detailed analysis of the relevant texts, as well as full discussion of theoretical issues and approaches to writing and structuring the extended essay. There will also be a chance...

Gold, Amber & Bronze: The Meaning of Objects

When precious metals and materials are discovered, archaeologists have to interpret their meaning and context. This course focuses on the variety of Prehistoric objects that are found in funerary contexts, in hoards and isolated chance finds. It will explore how archaeologists explain and give meaning to objects. Do grave goods reflect a person’s status in...

Britain & Ireland After The Romans

What happened to Britain after the Romans left? Was there genocide, ethnic cleansing or cultural assimilation? ‘Britain and Ireland after the Romans’ will examine the tumultuous changes that occurred from the fifth century onwards that ultimately gave birth to the separate English and British speaking communities of Britain and Ireland.

Silk Painting Big & Bold

Silk painting is an accessible and hugely enjoyable medium, which is suitable for all levels of ability. This course is suitable for experienced silk painters and for complete beginners. It starts with an introduction to the basic techniques including; gutta, wet-in-wet and salt effects. However most of the course will be devoted to participants own...

Restoration to Revolution England 1660 – 1688

After twenty years of civil war most people looked to a return to ‘normalcy’ after the Restoration of Charles II in May 1660, yet the ‘Restoration Settlement’ settled very little. This course will explore this exciting period in English history. We will consider such topics as the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Crisis, the emergence...

Getting Beyond the Census – Bringing Your Family History Alive

This course will bring your family history to life. Where did they live? What did they do? Did they move? We will see how social history affected their lives, looking at the bigger picture. There will be a chance for you all to participate, share research and learning experiences with each other, get updated on...

Still Life & The Landscape

This is a practical course using acrylic paint, drawing materials and collage. Artists as varied as Frances Hodgkins, Edward Wadsworth, Winifred Nicholson and Mary Fedden have been fascinated by the imaginative possibilities of still life in or against the landscape. Using mixed media in a variety of ways we will examine the contrasts and interesting...

Bookbinding

This course is intended for all levels from the complete beginner to the more experienced and will take place in a studio that is well equipped for general bookbinding. Beginners will be introduced to the basic theory and techniques of bookbinding, while advanced students will be assisted in pursuing particular projects. All aspects of bookbinding...

Pattern Draft a Skirt and Sew

During this two day course you will learn how to make a block, then a pattern, followed by making up the skirt on day two. A very useful course for students who would like to learn how to make a pattern to fit themselves in order to create their own designs which will fit correctly...

Botanical Illustration

Botanical Illustration is precise detailed work, a combination of art and science. This studio based watercolour course is for all ability levels; no experience of art or botany is required, just commitment. We aim to enjoy working in an atmosphere of relaxed industry. Students will work at their own pace on the subject of their...

English Gothic: 600 Years of a Style

Gothic is the most perfect fusion of art and engineering that’s ever been devised: it looks good because it’s structurally sound! Twelfth century France made the breakthrough but such was Gothic’s flexibility that England soon developed its own version – flowery and wayward to start with, grand and dignified later on. The course will follow...

An Ordinary Czech Musician: The Musical & Personal Friendship of Antonin Dvorák with Johannes Brahms

‘An Ordinary Czech Musician’ - that is how Antonín Dvorák described himself, an attitude reflected in the awe in which he held his older contemporary Johannes Brahms. The two composers eventually became good friends, and in this course we shall consider how their mutual respect manifested itself in their many masterpieces in all genres of...

What’s in a word: An introduction to English Etymology

The course aims to illustrate the English language through the development of its words. Tracing the antecedents and relatives of words from a dictionary and specialist sources will demonstrate contributions to the modern English vocabulary. The existence, development, and usage of English words will be examined through directed and assisted participant presentations and group discussions...

Hadrian’s Wall and Imperial Rome’s Frontiers

From Augustus’ creation of an organised empire in the first century B.C., the limits were established and (apart from one or two extensions!) remained largely unaltered through four centuries. We will look at the early frontiers, how different provinces adopted different solutions, and the gradual increase in scale and complexity as external threats came to...

A326 OU Empire Revision Course

What better place to learn about empires than Dillington, the home of Lord North, the Prime Minister when Britain lost the US colonies?! This is a course for Open University A326 students. The objectives are: revision; preparing TMA06 and the EMA; and creating a supportive atmosphere. The course is based on lectures, films and discussions. No check will...

Usui reiki level 1 workshop – learn reiki healing for yourself, friends, family, pets

Usui reiki level 1 workshop – learn reiki healing for yourself, friends, family, pets

Usui reiki level 1 workshop - learn reiki healing for yourself, friends, family & pets 1 day workshops: Friday 4 March &  Saturday 12 March 11.00 - 16.00 Usui reiki level 1 workshop Rei – universal Ki – life force/energy (known as Chi in China or prana in India)   Reiki is an ancient Japanese healing technique for...

Sing from the Heart group singing holiday SW France summer 2016

Beginners’ Portuguese (Brazilian)

A course to lay the foundations or develop existing language skills. The main focus will be on speaking, listening and reading the relevant language at the appropriate level. Authentic materials will be used as far as possible to ensure that language use is embedded in its cultural context. Learners will be provided with grammatical building...

Flash fiction

Flash fiction is the art of the very short story and is a great place for beginners to start and old hands to refine their skills. These sessions expose students to a range of styles, subjects and approaches and aim to build both confidence and expertise through writing short complete pieces of fiction. Challenging and...

Writing with confidence

This short series of stimulating workshops aims to take the isolation and frustration out of creative writing, and inject enthusiasm and confidence in their place. The basic nuts and bolts of good fiction will be scrutinised, with attention to constructing a satisfying plot, writing believable characters, developing a narrative voice, creating effective dialogue, building atmosphere,...

Everyday ethics

Do animals have moral standing? How ought we treat the environment? What ethics do we need in a consumer society? This course offers an introduction to the basic positions in normative ethics, namely virtue ethics, deontology and utilitarianism, and then looks at some ethical issues of pressing contemporary concern. It is a stimulating introduction to...

Early Christian ethics: slavery, sex and salvation

Did the early Christians present an ethical challenge to the society of their day or leave it unchanged? Did they practise equality or provide a religious justification for patriarchy and slavery? Did they really turn the other cheek and share their possessions? What did their non-Christian contemporaries make of their behaviour? An introduction to current...

Writing non-fiction: bringing the past to life

The past might be your grandfather's experience of the Great War, the secret life of your house or your parents' early years as newcomers to post-war Britain. Whether you're just starting out or have already begun writing, this weekly course will help you to think more deeply about the past and the most compelling way...

Research at the museums

Taking a behind-the-scenes tour of a different Cambridge museum each week, this course will explore how the collections housed across Cambridge are still being used in cutting-edge research. We will see that, far from being a record of past discoveries, Cambridge collections are still leading to surprising discoveries about the past, as well as helping...