Take a look at some of the Farncombe Estate Centre’s events & courses coming up in 2010:

The Churches under the Hill: Didbrook to Mickleton, with Tim Porter   29/01/2010

Farncombe stands on the Cotswold Escarpment, looking down on a string of lovely villages. It turns out that seven of these, along with their beautiful churches, belonged to seven of the great medieval abbeys. This talk is an armchair trip through the local history and landscape on which the monks left such an indelible mark. From Didbrook to Mickleton with everything in between.

The English Song Weekend, with Georgina Colwell   19/02/2010 – 21/02/2010

A weekend for solo singers, from beginners to advanced, to find inspiration and enthusiasm. Learn more about writing by English composers over the past 400 years. Numbers are limited so each singer has a fair amount of time allotted to them. Observers are welcome and join in warm-up sessions (material supplied), observe the soloists in a workshop setting, and join in chorus work.

 On Friday evening we focus on one song with a connection to the Cotswolds and the border counties. Choose a piece (a poem set to music, or a song) by either a composer or poet born or living in this area. (If you have a favourite song to study, state this on the booking form.) Another five sessions follow with a free choice of song, but be sure they are by English composers. You need not perform from memory, but should be note perfect.  We finish with a short concert of songs studied, party pieces and some choruses. Ends Sunday teatime. Questions or more information, contact Georgina on 01932 244038 or email georgina@musicair.co.uk.

Gresham College Astronomy Weekend, with Ian Morison & Mr Robin Scagell    05/03/2010 – 07/03/2010

Take up observational astronomy.  Worthwhile telescopes cost from £180, computerised scopes from £220. Demonstrations of these, planespheres and starcharts, will be given.  Workshops and practical sessions are an important part of the weekend.  More advanced amateurs welcome with advice on beginning astro-imaging using webcams, digital cameras and dedicated CCD imagers.  You get a wealth of information on CDROM and a very useful set of annotated star charts. The location in the Cotswolds is one of the darkest sites within easy reach of London.  If it is cloudy, do some “virtual” observing instead. Finishes teatime Sunday.

The English Years of Robert Frost: 1912-1915, with Linda Hart   18/04/2010

The great American poet, Robert Frost, first achieved poetic recognition when he came to England at the age of 40. Linda Hart explains how this happened, where he lived, who he befriended (Ezra Pound, W.B.Yeats, Edward Thomas), and why his first two volumes were published in London. Readings from Frost’s poetry and letters help re-create these important years.

“…Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

– from ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost

Linda has compiled an anthology of poems titled “Once They Lived in Gloucestershire: A Dymock Poets Anthology” (Green Branch Press, £6.95) and will be signing & selling her books after the talk.

The Perils of Building Speculation – not Spain but Regency Cheltenham, with Steven Blake  26/09/2010

One of the most unusual speculative builders to work in Cheltenham during the early 19th century was the Hon. Katherine Monson (1754-1843), the daughter of a Lincolnshire baron, who built at least 18 houses on the north side of the town between 1805 and 1827, including the imposing St Margaret’s Terrace. This talk traces her career, from prosperous beginnings to her descent into bankruptcy and exile during 1828-9, and provides an insight into the hazardous world of building speculation in the Regency town.

Medieval Stained Glass in Gloucestershire Churches, with Steven Blake  07/11/2010

Gloucestershire’s churches contain some of the most important medieval stained and painted glass in England, most notably at Gloucester cathedral, Tewkesbury abbey and Fairford church, each of which has glass of international significance. Elsewhere within the county, however, there are many other churches whose surviving glass, though fragmentary, is certainly worth studying. This talk concentrates on the less well known glass, and considers the main subjects depicted and the techniques by which the windows were made.

The Architecture of the Georgian Town, with Hubert Pragnell   19/11/2010 – 21/11/2010

To many the City of Bath epitomises the elegance of the perfect Georgian town; formal planning, squares, crescents and gardens, flanked by terraces of honey-coloured stone. This can also be said of Buxton and Cheltenham, Edinburgh’s new town and the seaside resort of Brighton. This course will cover the development of these towns from about 1715 to the 1830’s. but will also touch on locations nearer home such as Worcester and  the charming Cotswold towns of Burford and Northleach where there are some distinguished Georgian period houses.

Sheep on the Hills – Wool on their Backs, with Graham Winton 26/11/2010 – 28/11/2010

The medieval wool trade and woollen cloth manufacture impacted on the English landscape particularly that of the Cotswolds as sheep from this area contributed significantly to the economic strength of medieval England.

Wool was one of the main sources of England’s prosperity in the middle and early post-middle ages. Historical sources and evidence from the landscape tell us about the value of wool production, exports to Flanders and Italy; fortunes made from the wool trade survive in the form of the great wool churches, earthworks, place names, pack routes to the ports and homes of the wool merchants and clothiers.

Fore more information on any of the above courses, see www.farncombeestate.co.uk/.