THE OLD KENNELS

about us . courses . bed & breakfast . alpaca products . newsletter . recipes . contact/find us . postal booking form & terms . garden . groups

Situated on the Devon Somerset border, in the heart of the Blackdown Hills close to Dunkeswell Airfield, we offer a quiet rural retreat, where you can learn or improve skills in a variety of traditional arts, skills & crafts.

We also offer four star bed & breakfast accommodation.

The Old Kennels is a flint barn, originally being part of the Stentwood Estate built by Squire Eccles in the 1890’s. At the turn of this century, The Old Kennels is our family home, shared with numerous feral cats & a breeding herd of Alpacas who are kept solely for their fibre.

Classes are held in the garden room, kitchen, studio or on the lawn, as is appropriate to the class and the weather.

Our classes are tutored by local, national and international professional craftspeople and are designed to be attended either as a single day, or to interact with other days, to allow you continuity and further development, if you so wish.

We also offer an 'open studio' facility where students are encouraged to come and experiment with thier new found skills in the comfort of our studio and without the expense of buying equipment. In addition our tutors are always contactable after the course to offer support if you havent quite finished off your work on the day (...we know it's hard to define 'finished' sometimes when it comes to creative arts, especially when you might occasionally need some additional consideration time!) Click here for open studio dates...

We hope you will enjoy the serenity of our surroundings and our programme of events.

Should you require overnight accommodation, we offer B&B in the comfortable loft above our studio, or there are a selection of pub, hotel, bed & breakfast and self catering accommodation all within a few minutes drive.

If you decide to extend your stay, the Blackdown Hills offer a wide range of attractions, including excellent dining, many varied air activities, motor and water sports, fishing, walking, cycling, the Jurassic coastline and the beautiful Blackdown Hills themselves.

Click here to read more on:

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY &
RESPONSIBLE VISITORS CODE

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT

FOOD FROM THE WILD



This project has been supported by the Blackdown Hills Leader+ funded Local Products Strategy

Classes and courses include:
lampworking (lampwork glass bead making and lamp work glass blowing), silver smithing, passementerie, stained glass, acid etching, slumping and fusing, enamelling, printmaking (wood. lino and acid etching), felting, felted knitting, book binding, basketry, plant fibre paper making, dyeing, herbal remedies and recipes, soap making, hand forging, stone carving, basketry workshops, floristry, braiding, ply splitting, takadai, illumination, mushroom, fruit and vegetable growing, preserving and home brewing paper making, foraging, stone carving, wood carving, chairmaking and many more (classes do vary year to year).