Designers' event at Brindhurst Farm Nr Macclesfield

Design Practice event over 2 Sundays:
Sunday 7th January 2018 – 10:30am to 4pm

Saturday 7th April 2018 – 10:30am to 4pm

To be held at Brindhurst Farm, Sutton, Macclesfield, SK11 0NA.

More info for those who have booked
The event is open to all – for newcomers it is an exciting chance to learn about what permaculture can offer. Or, if you are a permaculture certificate-holder, you can contribute to the design of the site and also take the opportunity to discuss your existing design work and projects with the Northern School team.

Led by Angus Soutar, Trevor Wynne and Teresa Pereira

Book a place for this event

Our clients are Tim and Ruth Shercliff and their local friends who have a 3 acre site, which currently comprises a half acre garden with a stream running through it, half acre deciduous wood with a pond and 2 acre field. In addition to the recently renovated 18th century farmhouse, there are various outbuildings with a garage which houses a log boiler and log store providing hot water and heating for the house and bakery, which is in use part time for bread baking and has a wood fired oven; greenhouse; straw bale summer house and large shed.

"We have an opportunity to develop Brindhurst Farm into a really special place over the next 20-30 years, to be enjoyed by our family and our friends in the local community."
Apart from some planting of herbs and fruit bushes, the garden, wood and field is a blank canvas, but some thought has been given to the possible yields from Brindhurst Farm:

Fruit, nuts and seeds
Vegetables, herbs and other edible plants
Honey (Tim keeps bees) and Bread (Ruth’s the artisan baker)
Wildlife habitats and food for birds, bees and other insects
Possibly fitness and wellbeing spaces and workshop and teaching spaces, both indoors and outside
Possibly wood products, producing and processing wood for fuel

Programme

The first day will include a brief introduction to the design process from Angus Soutar, site observation, a client interview and a permaculture appraisal of the site, led by the core team. Amongst other things, we will cover

An understanding what there is at Brindhurst Farm
Consideration of the potential yields
Brainstorming and discussing the options for the Farm
Prioritising and picking the most promising ideas
Figuring out what we should do to progress these ideas by the next workshop

Following a break of about 8 weeks, to have chance to do some more research and thinking, the second day will include pooling of design ideas, organising group presentations and reports and discussions with the Client. The day will therefore cover: