About Us

Who we are: 

 I am a Montessori teacher by day and a chicken and bee keeper, jam and chutney maker, sewer and knitter by night and my husband plays with figures in the day whilst playing with smoke and bees at night!

Together we are a home run venture offering at touch of the 'good life' on a small scale for the regular family. We offer beginner chicken courses for families wanting to have a few in their back yard, we hope to offer jam and chutney making, home smoked foods, cider making, knitting and quilting courses in the near future. We are conscious of trying to reduce our impact on the earth, therefore choose to grow our own, preserve our own in various forms and make our own. This also keeps alive traditional skills and brings some fun and therapeutic relaxation into our lives.We are a family of five humans, two dogs, two guinea pigs, ten chickens and three ducks living on our half acre of 'homestead' land in Banburyshire.


We hope, over the next few months to be able to offer a variety of courses for beginners in:

Chicken keeping

Jam and Chutney making

Simple quilt making

Knitting from scratch

Smoking your food
Cider making

It will, of course, involve home made cake because no course is ever complete without it. It will involve you, us, our skills and lots of laughter and learning.


For any further information you can contact us. Details as to how to book are on the contact page and you can pay on this page via the paypal link.

We hope to see you soon:

"The Beehive at Thornhill House"

 Where we are: 

 We are in a small village on the outskirts of Banbury, on the edge of the beautiful Cotswolds as well as the Warwickshire/Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire borders. We are easily accessible by car or bus and the closest train station is 2.5 miles away in Banbury. Trains run from London Marylebone as well as Birmingham, Southampton and the North of England and Scotland. To find us, click the link below:

 
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The Small Print: (hopefully not too small!)

*Some of our courses are suitable for children and wheelchair  users and we will say this on the 'workshop' course page.
*Should you wish to cancel your place/s on the course, then you need to give us 10 days notice for a full   refund. Later than this, no money will be refunded. 
*We also reserve the right to cancel the course if there are insufficient numbers, however, we will do our best to accomodate you on another course or amalgamate courses. If we cancel the course, your money will be fully refunded.
*We are not affiliated in anyway to any organisation, we are not a franchise and we don't sell chickens, equipment or our own produce, this is purely about you. You will learn, you will make decisions, you will make food and take it away.
* Although I will have public liability insurance, you are responsible for your safety and that of your children. On wet and rainy days, there WILL be mud. The ground WILL be uneven. If you are not able to take sensible precautions (ie: wearing unsuitable shoes or allowing your children to run around like loons) then please, seriously consider whether chicken keeping is going to be for you. You will need to deal with your girls in whatever the weather -high heels and frocks, it ain't!!
* I have a level two food hygiene certificate and my gaff will be registered with the local county council as soon as we get the food courses up and running. Hygiene in the kitchen is of the utmost importance. When preserving jams we need to ensure that jars are sterile and things are kept clean. Please ensure you bring your own apron from home and if you have allergies, please let me know in advance. I do have well behaved dogs away from my kitchen, however, if you have allergies to dogs, please be aware of this.