Designer's event Whitehouse Farm, Dunham Massey

** More info for those who have booked **

Design Practice event over two Saturdays - 25th March and 8th April 2017, at Whitehouse Farm, Dunham Massey, North Cheshire Postcode WA14 5RQ

Led by Angus Soutar and Trevor Wynne

Experienced designers and apprentices: as well as contributing to the design of the site, you will have the opportunity to discuss your existing design work and projects with the team.

Beginners are also welcome at this event, as it showcases our work and provides a great introduction to the world of permaculture.

Book a place for this event

Our clients, Kerenza and Gary McClarnan are tenants of a farmyard on the Dunham Massey estate just outside Manchester. They want to develop the site along permaculture lines, and have invited us to provide them with an outline design for the site. Designs may form part of a submission to the National Trust, as landlords of the site.

"We are really excited at the possibility of developing a site along permaculture principles.. Now it seems that it is time for us to care for a place that we are responsible for, for ourselves, but also for sharing: with friends and their families and the wider public who want to learn about permaculture design, food and growing.. It is a wonderful opportunity to bring together our ideas into a holistic plan. Our aims include:

+ To enhance our livelihood by developing the site
+ To encourage a network of local enterprise amongst our neighbours
+ To create an orchard (which could also contain a forest garden) to produce fruit for eating, juicing and preserving
+ To have enough fruit and veg to feed ourselves and some to distribute.
+ To grow an abundance of culinary and medicinal herbs.
+ To find a way to create an income with a sustainable specialist crop such as edible flowers.
+ To create a space for people and children to come and learn with us.
+ Make the best use of the resources around us"

The main areas for design will include:

+ creating low maintenance high yield forest gardening system, including coppice, foods and medicines
+specialist yields such as mushrooms, closing loops with neighbouring farmers and enterprises
+ incorporating indoor and outdoor education spaces.
+ creating complimentary and embedded uses of the outhouse buildings and barns.

Programme

The first day will include a brief introduction to the design process from Angus Soutar, site observation, client interview and permaculture appraisal of the site, led by the core team. It will run from 10.00am to 5.00pm

The second day will include pooling of design ideas, organising group presentations and reports and discussions with the Client. We will aim to finish around 4.00pm

The cost for the event is £30. This includes hot drinks throughout the day and soup with bread for lunch.