All my courses will run with a minimum of four people and a maximum of six. This is small enough for plenty of questions and discussion, but still allows for interaction between attendees. The courses run on weekdays or sometimes a Saturday. If you are interested in a course please get in touch and state any preferences for days or dates and I will try and arrange the courses to suite. The courses pause over winter but will start again in March 2025.

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Introduction to Smallholding and Self Sufficiency

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This one day course covers all the basics of a mixed, self sufficient smallholding;

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• Fruit and veg, getting your five a day, all year round!

• Poultry from breeding to dispatch

• Looking after pigs and sheep, choosing a breed, the paperwork and the abattoir

• Keeping bees

• Special tools and equipment including a ‘hands on’ look at a smallholders tractor

 

The day includes a mix of classroom discussion and time outside getting practical experience of the smallholding. We also look at how to make things work as a sustainable, viable way of life.

The course is ideal for anyone thinking of starting a smallholding, wanting to be more self sufficient or just interested in experiencing a traditional smallholding (maybe as a gift). Post course support and advice is freely given.

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The day runs from 09:00 to approximately 16:00, includes refreshments, lunch made with our own produce and a useful hand-out to take away. The cost is £110 per person or £200 for two people booking together. Please get in touch to register your interest.

 

Introduction to Keeping Sheep

 

This half day course starts at 09:00, looks at the different breeds, equipment, looking after your sheep, paperwork and dealing with the abattoir and butcher. We have a practical session that includes rounding up some sheep, handling them and checking their feet. Cost is £80 per person or £145 for two people booking together including refreshments and a hand-out. Please get in touch to register your interest.

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Introduction to Pig Keeping and Butchery

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A half day course (09:00 start) that looks at the different breeds, looking after your pigs, paperwork, regulations and dealing with the abattoir and butcher. We also look at what is involved in butchering yourself, the practicalities and equipment needed. If you then decide to self butcher, I can come to you and guide you through the process with your own carcass (depending on you location). Cost is £80 per person or £145 for two people booking together including refreshments and a hand-out. Please get in touch to register your interest.

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Learn to Butcher a Pig

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I run a limited number of half day pig butchery courses depending on when I have pigs ready. In this course we briefly look at equipment and the theory including sausage making, bacon and gammon, before getting hands-on experience of butchering half a pig. Learning to be a butcher take years but I teach you how to cut up a pig without needing too much of the more advanced skills - how to butcher without being a butcher. For this one-to-one tuition, cost is £150 including refreshments, handout and one of your own cut joints to take home. Please contact me well in advance to make a booking (the next butchery courses will be in January 2025 - fully booked). Please get in touch to register your interest.

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Beekeeping taster session

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Introduction and explanation of beekeeping, the equipment needed plus advice on how to get started with bees. Put on a ‘white suite,’ light a smoker and do a hands-on inspection of a bee hive. Includes a hand-out, refreshments and a prize if you can spot the queen. Very popular as a present for potential beekeepers. This half day course, starting at 09:00 is £80 per person or £145 for two people booking together including refreshments and a hand-out. Courses will now start again in late spring of 2025. Please feel free to get in touch with questions if you are thinking about starting with bees and beekeeping.

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Bespoke Courses

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I can create a bespoke day or half day to meet your specific requirements or dates. Please contact me through the website or Facebook to make a booking or for further information

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Gift Vouchers

 

Struggling for a gift idea? How about a Sunnyside training voucher? An ideal gift for someone interested in smallholding and self sufficiency. I can supply a tailor-made voucher to your specific requirements.

 

We are about a 20 minute drive away from Grantham. Grantham has a main-line train station and is just over an hours journey to London Kings Cross.

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Attendee comments:

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The day was absolutely brilliant and I learnt a lot! I am sure I'll have lots more questions for you when I manage to get started on the project. - Anna

 

It was such a pleasure meeting you and listening to your story of becoming self-sufficient! Theo and I took away lots of inspiration and ideas for the future, when any of them come to fruition I’ll be sure to send you some photos. - Fiona

 

Yesterday was really good and full of information for us so thank you, it definitely re affirmed what we want to do , we have been out side all day today tidying and planning the veg garden in the meantime. - Claire

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And a huge thank you for the knowledge sharing, tips and the wonderful lunch.  I’m glad to hear the turkeys continued to hatch out. As you probably guessed by my constant trips to the incubator, I really enjoyed seeing them emerge. We had a fantastic day and learned many new things from the discussions and handouts. We’ve already recommended the course to our friends and “strung” our tomatoes in the same way you have yours (much easier than tying to bamboo stakes!). Your book has also just arrived from amazon, so I started reading last night. Thank you again for a wonderful day. - Jenny

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We had a fantastic day and are even more motivated and excited to begin our adventure! - Bria and Matt

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It was great to meet you, Hazel, and all the animals. We both really enjoyed the day, learnt a lot and came away inspired. - Ruth and Ray

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Thankyou very much for a fun, informative day. So nice to be around people with similar future plans, and really enjoyed my day, as well as the food :) - Kristina

 

We had a great time and got a lot from the day. We found it very informative and helpful and it’s confirmed that we definitely want bees and actually might get some breeding ewes as well! - Claire

 

From our initial email contact to our departure on Tuesday you have been so accommodating and helpful. The day itself was absolutely perfect. The right balance of information and getting out there and seeing it all in practice. The perfect balance of your thoughts, ideas, advice yet allowing us to ask questions and drift off at tangents! The day was incredibly relaxing yet action-packed and informative. It would have been a great 'experience' day in itself as it was such good fun but to have the 'formal' instruction as well just made it such a valuable day. We will think back fondly to meeting you, learning from you and if I'm honest being inspired by you. Lunch was amazing and thank you (and Hazel!) for going to such lengths to make such a wonderful soup for Becky and of course the pork that I wolfed down was the best I've ever had. The homemade cake and even the coffee were delicious too. - Dan and Becky

 

Thanks for a very informative & enjoyable day. The food was excellent too. - John and Jo

 

Just wanted to say thanks for a very informative morning.  Cant wait to get a set of knives and give is a go. - Bob (butchery course)

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We both enjoyed the day thank you, very impressed with what you have achieved and it has given us much to think about. - Fiona and Simon

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Thanks so much for a great morning Andrew! You made it really interesting and enjoyable. I feel so much more confident now. - Damien

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A great day with Andrew at Sunnyside Smallholding can thoroughly recommend. (Hazel's cake was an added bonus - as was the fresh honey). Thank you - Jeff

 

Jann and I had a great time. It was lovely to see such an established set up. I got a massive amount of new info especially on the bees and somehow I had never much thought about a sheep flock but it makes so much sense. The pork for lunch was sublime. - James

 

Thank you so much for this morning! You have a beautiful holding and the course was excellent. - Steff

 

Thank you so much for such a brilliant day, you filled our heads with some great ideas and motivation for being self-sufficient! We are both now so excited about the next steps. - Sam and Jono

 

Me and Meg just wanted to say thank you for showing us around your wonderful smallholding, we've learnt so much and got so many new ideas. - Danny

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Iain really had a fantastic morning! He’s raving about it to his friends and I’m sure he will be back for some more! - Jane, butchery gift voucher.

 

Thank you so much Andrew, Jennifer and I had a great time and learnt such a lot. Can't wait to have our own little flock. - Jill

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I cannot thank you enough nor recommend your courses more enthusiastically. You were brilliant at listening to and encouraging our ideas, and truly gave use the confidence we lacked to make our next steps. - Michael and Rebecca

 

Thank you Andrew for the brilliant course on sheep keeping this morning. Chris and I really enjoyed learning all the in and outs of looking after sheep. I didn't think I would be brave enough to handle the rams but I am so pleased I had a go! I was surprised how easy it was! (and I had the most boisterous one!!) They will be trotting round the field with nice feet now. - Elena

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I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the Smallholding course. It was really informative and helpful and it covered everything I expected it to. Your smallholding is beautiful and a wonderful example of 'self-sufficiency' and we hope to create something almost as lovely in the future!  - Amy

 

What you have there is inspiring and wonderful ! - Vicky

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Thanks for the course today, we all really enjoyed it. We walked round our place when we got home full of enthusiasm to get started and begin to turn our plans into actions.You made the day really informative and it was really easy to ask all our queries and questions without feeling stupid !! - Deborah

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We had a brilliant morning and we’ve learnt so much and answered all my questions. These courses are always so inspiring. I come home filled with enthusiasm and ideas which is great. Excellent course, thank you. - Pippa

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Fantastic time spent with Andrew at Sunnyside Smallholding today. Wonderful teacher, worked so perfectly with my way of learning. - Tim

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We had a fantastic day, yet again. Really looking forward to getting our own. - Mel

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We had a great time and we are very appreciative of the course, its detail and the professional manner in which it was delivered by yourself.  Your setup is quite impressive, we thought it was great and we certainly learned a lot from it. - Mark and Lynn

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It was a great all round intro to being more self sufficient. We had a lovely time. Plenty of Tea and coffee, delicious home made cake made with home made jam for tea break, and home reared pork shoulder in rolls, with homemade pickle and home grown tomatoes for lunch too not to mention the crackling that Alan devoured! Now not having been brought up with animals I wasn't too sure how I would get on with them, but I held a chicken and though she was bigger than I was thinking of I got on ok. - Mandy

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