Countryside Skills

Countryside Skills Project

This programme is now closed.

Learn about countryside management through our 6 week training programme.

The Countryside Skills course has been developed by Running Deer for people who are interested in working in the Environment and Countryside Management sectors.


These sectors include companies and organisations involved with forestry and timber, ecology and conservation, linear boundaries, and schemes protecting, promoting, and improving the natural environment.


  • The courses are suitable for participants over the age of 18. The courses are available to people who are: 


  • unemployed workers from the leisure, tourism, food, or farming industry who have been displaced by the Covid-19 pandemic,


  • aged between 18 and 24 and not in education, employment, or training (NEET),


  • aged 25 and over and have been unemployed and actively seeking work for more than 12 months,


  • struggling with other barriers to work such as living in rural isolation, mental or physical health difficulties,


  • part of a resettlement programme from the armed services.


  • The courses have both theoretical (classroom or outdoor), and practical (learning and demonstrating physical skills) elements. The practical elements make up about 80 per-cent of the course.


  • The Countryside Skills courses are supported by Team Devon’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery and Business Prospectus Funding.

    • The courses include:



    • Practical training in environmental conservation, linear boundary
    • management, woodland management, grassland habitats, surveys including:
    • Health and Safety and responsibilities
    • PPE
    • Hand tool use and maintenance
    • Implementing environmental good practice
    • The Countryside Code
    • Pets and Vermin
    • Establishing and protecting habitats
    • Woodland management
    • Habitat conservation and management
    • Linear Boundary management
    • Woodland & field surveys
    • Tree planting
    • Ecotherapy - the benefits of being out in green spaces


    Plus participants could also gain qualifications in:


    • FAA (First Aid in the Workplace) Level 3
    • Health and Safety training (Level 2)
    • Chainsaw License to Practice 974 & 976



    Locations



    The course will be delivered from locations near Moretonhampstead, Devon. Some practical days may take place elsewhere on Dartmoor, for example on partner organisation properties. 


    There is a regular bus from Exeter to Moretonhampstead for those who do not drive. The courses times (10am to 3pm) have been designed around the regular 359 Country Bus from Exeter to Moretonhampstead. You can download a bus timetable here.


    We are able to arrange for students to be collected from the bus station in Moretonhampstead and transported out to our locations. 


    Please note: we are unable to provide accommodation.



    Since being on the course I have realised that forestry work is definitely the way to go for me and I am excited for the future now.


    Thank you to Running Deer for this opportunity.


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