View our mouth-watering slideshow!

We're going Cupcake Crazy!

If you would like to create the cupcakes in the pictures below then you now can at Farncombe! Ann Myles from the Creative Cake Academy has joined us to share and teach her wonderful talent with you. The pictures have had our mouth's watering here in the office and we are all very excited about our brand new cupcake courses for 2011/2012.

We also have a wonderful special offer on Dinner Bed and Breakfast if you are attending one of the Cupcake courses. If you would like to join us for Dinner B & B the night before or after any of Ann's courses then you can for just £45 per person.

I am sure once you have seen these pictures you will not be able to resist making them yourself, taking them home and eating them!!

If you would like to find out more or book please call Mandy on 0333 45 8580.
To find out when our Cupcake courses are taking place please visit http://www.farncombeestate.co.uk/

It's magic! Take a closer look ...

Many of the techniques of the effective close-up magician do not need extraordinary manual dexterity.

Presentation, timing, and misdirection are more important. With a few hours of practice, normal dexterity, and some everyday objects, you can begin to amaze and entertain.

Join Neal Weigel for a weekend course at Farncombe 15-17 July "Close Up Magic for Beginners". No expensive equipment needed. A basic kit of everyday objects is included in the course fee. Some other equipment will be offered for sale at modest prices, but is strictly optional.

For more details email enquiries@farncombeestate.co.uk or book online via www.farncombeestate.co.uk

Farncombe Estate join the Cotswolds Green Scheme!

Farncombe Estate Centre has joined the Cotswolds Green Scheme, proving a sound commitment to sustainability in business practices.

Cotswolds Green Scheme businesses make a commitment to:

• Improving energy efficiency
• Recycling & reducing waste
• Encouraging car free tourism
• Promoting local produce
• Supporting nature and conservation
• Promoting the local area and the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Cotswold & Forest of Dean Tourism, West Oxfordshire Tourism and the Cotswolds Conservation Board have introduced the ‘Cotswolds Green Scheme’ as a local sustainable tourism initiative. In this scheme, tourism businesses are invited to complete a questionnaire to measures a commitment to environmental issues such as car-free tourism, use of local produce, nature and conservation, recycling and resource use, and energy efficiency.

For more information about the Cotswolds Green Scheme visit www.cotswolds.com/site/membership/cotswolds-green-scheme

Further details about Farncombe Estate is available from www.FarncombeEstate.co.uk

A Thirteenth Century Miscellany at Farncombe Estate

A Day School Saturday 8th October 2011 at Cotswold Conference Centre

Lords and Chronicles: A Thirteenth Century Miscellany

Please note that all bookings and enquiries should be made with the Simon de Montfort Society directly.

Speakers:

• Professor Christopher Dyer
• Professor Peter Coss
• Professor David Carpenter
• Dr John Hunt

A panel of medieval historians review aspects of the politics, life and society in thirteenth century England, looking also to the centuries before and after. Drawing on current, published and unpublished research, this day offers the opportunity to join in a consideration and discussion of some wide-ranging themes, including, the failure of some medieval towns; approaches that barons might adopt in their exercise of lordship; gentry households and life within them, looking particularly at entertainment; and the discovery of a previously unrecognised Worcestershire chronicle of this period.

Download a booking form here

FEES: Inclusive of morning coffee and afternoon tea.

MEMBERS of the Simon de Montfort Society pay £18.50;
NON-MEMBERS pay £19.50.

Payable in advance, to the Society's Hon Treasurer, Mr D Snowden, 2 St Matthews Close, Four Pools, Evesham, WR11 6ES ( 01386 421747 ).

ALL CHEQUES should be made payable to the 'Simon de Montfort Society'. Please Note: Refreshments and lunch is provided.

CLOSING DATE FOR ENROLMENTS - Monday, September 12th.

Registered Charity No. 1092319

A life in learning : William Reddaway retires

William Reddaway, Head of Lifelong Learning at the Farncombe Estate Centre near Broadway, is retiring after 28 years working for companies on the estate – and a colourful career abroad.

William, 63, is one of the founders of the Farncombe Estate programme, which features an astonishing range of leisure and special interest courses every weekend. “I have a belief that ongoing learning throughout your life is a good thing,” he says. “My father was a university historian. As a child, I remember my mother leaving me with a babysitter so she could drive him to his ‘extra-mural’ lectures. It’s something I grew up with.”

Skeletons in the cupboard
Like his father, William began as a historian at London University. Here he met his future wife Christine on the very first day. During a stint in Indonesia, William proposed to Christine by letter. The couple moved to the southern Sudan and were then posted to India. William worked for 13 years with UNICEF on many government programmes to help women and children. He promoted education and nutrition, helped organise flood relief and also, for some reason, shipped a few human skeletons… “I may be the only person for miles who has shipped skeletons around the world,” he reminisces. “In those days, most ‘skeleton stringers’ were based in Calcutta. As I was responsible for procurement and export, I found myself shipping out 100 skeletons to the UNICEF warehouse in Copenhagen.”

New role
The decision to return to the UK was prompted by the birth of daughter Chloë in 1982 in New Delhi. “We didn’t want to live forever outside the UK and we didn’t want our baby to grow up without the involvement of her family,” says William. The family returned to England to take an M.Sc in Social Planning at the London School of Economics. William’s second career began in October 1983, with a role in commercial training for the international security company Group 4, who owned Farncombe Estate. He remembers the 370-acre estate on Fish Hill, overlooking the Vale of Evesham, long before it had been developed as the Cotswold Conference Centre: “Many of the buildings we know today did not exist. Where we now have our modern reception and dining room was then a tin shed.”
Heart and soul
Group 4’s training business grew rapidly through the 1980s and 90s. After a range of roles in training, consultancy and a PFI (private financing) schools project, William was asked to research the potential for a Lifelong Learning Centre at the Farncombe Estate. “Jørgen Philip-Sørensen, The Boss [Group 4’s founder, who died in 2010], loved the idea of lifelong learning,” says William. “He particularly wanted people to come and enjoy the beauty of Farncombe Estate.” In 2003, the new centre launched with a mission to educate. Thousands of people have since travelled to Farncombe for one of the widest education and leisure programmes around. While other adult learning centres are closing their doors, Farncombe still offers specialist weekend courses on singing and French, perfume making and art history, conveyancing, painting and crafts. Nick Akerman, Head of Sales at Cotswold Conference Centre and Farncombe Estate, says William will be truly missed. “William has been the heart and soul of the Farncombe Estate Centre since its inception,” he says. “The programme is very much the result of his vision and his relationship with our excellent tutors.”

Raising funds
William retires at the end of June, but he’s not planning to relax. His ambitious scheme is to ride a horse, solo, to the four corners of England. Starting in May 2013, he will visit Bowness-on-Solway, Berwick-upon-Tweed, North Foreland in Kent and Land’s End. Along the way, he will call in to 30 English Cathedrals, including St Paul’s, gathering publicity to raise a massive £250,000 for two charities: Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre - riding for the disabled - and the Family Holiday Association. “Cathedrals are almost the only buildings in a city that haven’t moved for centuries,” says William. “Castles fall down and town halls get moved – but cathedrals stay put. And I love that connection with history.”

Two Nights in the Cotswolds for only £78

Special offer for June !


Why not take a last minute break in the Cotswolds this summer ?

Farncombe Estate are offering specially reduced rates for b&b bookings made for June.

Just outside the picturesque village of Broadway, we are only a short distance from the M5 and M42 with easy access to Stratford-upon-Avon, Cheltenham, and the surrounding Cotswold countryside. We have 89 comfortably furnished ensuite bedrooms, gym, wifi access, free parking and licensed bar and dining facilities.

Take advantage of our special June offer !

Bed & breakfast from only £39 per room for a standard single

Bed & Breakfast from only £59 per room for a standard double/twin

Add a 2-course dinner for only £10 per person

Prices are per night and include VAT. Upgrades available from £10 subject to availability.

To check availability please contact our reception team on 01386 858000 or e-mail reception@cotswoldconferencecentre.com