A series of creative workshops, all inspired by nature, will be held this spring and summer near Shillingstone. 

Four workshops will start in May and run until the end of June at the Countryside Regeneration Trust (CRT) property at Bere Marsh Farm. 

Each session will be led by a different artist or writer with a wealth of knowledge to share. 

All the workshops will include a guided nature walk on the farm by the CRT’s community engagement manager and wildlife enthusiast Nick Dobbs.

He said: “This is a fantastic chance to use nature to inspire your creativity. 

“We ran our creative workshops last year and they were so popular, we were very keen to bring them back for 2024.

"If you are looking to discover and hone your crafting talents or want to find a unique gift for a friend, then one of our workshops is ideal.” 

The first event, lino cutting and print, will take place on Saturday, May 18, from 10am to 3pm, with artist Mel Bennett, who will expertly guide participants through design, cutting and printing.

On Saturday, May 23, an inspirational writing workshop will take place from 10am to 1.30pm with Ingrid Hayes, who performs flash fiction and short dialogue in front of live audiences.

All guests will be invited to write a short piece of writing. They will then re-convene in the rustic setting of the private Threshing Barn to read out writings in turn. 

The third workshop is collage in nature and will take place on Saturday, June 8, from 10.30am to 4pm. Led by Deb Chisman, an experimental mixed media artist, this workshop will let nature be the inspiration to build a collage. Deb will provide a template artwork of a barn owl as the subject for creating the collage. 

The final creative workshop of the season is to create a stencil printed daisy tote bag on June 20 from 10am to 1pm, led by stencil printing artist & teacher Melanie Ward. 

The session will guide attendees through the essential methods for achieving great stencilling results on both paper and fabric.

To find out more about the workshops, and to buy tickets, visit www.thecrt.co.uk/Listing/Category/creative-workshops.