Our Programmes

Travel and Nature Writing

24th March 2025 - 28th March 2025

Facilitator: Nick Hunt, Joanna Pocock

Finding the Words for the Journey: How Travel and Nature can be turned into Prose.

On this five-day residential course, tutors Nick Hunt and Joanna Pocock will introduce you to travel and nature writing. You will learn how to develop your experiences and observations of journeying in the world into engaging pieces of prose. The tutors will use practical exercises, focused writing assignments and workshopping as they help you develop and structure your writing. Our mid-week guest speaker is the 2024 Wainwright Prize Winner, Michael Malay.

Event time: 24th March 2025 10:00am - 28th March 2025 4:00pm

Interested in spreading the cost of this course? Select Clearpay at checkout.

Not seeing Clearpay? Email info@hawkwoodcollege.co.uk for your payment options.

What Is Included

For the majority of our courses, both residential and non-residential rates are available. Residential options are fully inclusive with all meals provided. Non-residential options include suppers, lunches and all refreshments and exclude B&B. Some of our short day courses, events and talks do not include meals and refreshments. For more details about this course, please see the Practical Information section below.

Additional Activities

Mindful walking through our woodland trails
Meditate in our Woodland Sanctuary
Go on a hike and explore the Cotswolds AONB
Discover surrounding charming market towns

At a Glance

Travel & Exploration (inner and outer)
Nature and ecology
Sharing
Inclusion & Openness
Crafting words on the page

What You Will Gain

Increased confidence in your work
A better idea of structure, tone and the other elements of good writing
New techniques and approaches for writing
New ideas
Awareness of published authors in the genres of Nature and Travel Writing
The basics of editing

Booking Options

Residential (single)Residential single rate

£950.00

Interested in spreading the cost of this course? Select Clearpay at checkout.

Not seeing Clearpay? Email info@hawkwoodcollege.co.uk for your payment options.

Travel and Nature Writing Tutors

Nick Hunt

Joanna Pocock

Michael Malay

More about Travel and Nature Writing

In recent years, the travel and nature writing genres have increasingly merged into one. This course will explore them as two sides of one question: how do we capture the world on the page and how can we turn our wanderings into prose? You don’t have to have undertaken expeditions to faraway lands – both travel and nature writing can be inspired by a walk in rural woods or through a city’s edgelands.

The course will involve tuition and guidance, solo writing exercises, working with partners, discussion and feedback, as well as outside exercises to help you tune into place and guage your relationship to it. You will hone the skills of deep listening, field-sensing (very slow walking) and ‘horizon-lining’ techniques to help enhance your perception, and bring your observations back inside to develop into writing.

We will also examine some of the ethical issues facing travel and nature writers in an age of climate breakdown and ecological unravelling. What is a writer’s role in these times? Are we bearing witness or trying to bring about change? How do we write honestly about a shifting world?

Over the course of the five days, you will be working towards the first draft of a short piece of writing that has been fed by the teaching and the exercises you’ve done. Along the way will be workshop sessions and one-to-one tutorials involving constructive feedback to help polish your prose. Suitable both for beginners and for more experienced writers wanting to explore new ways of approaching and contextualising their writing.

Practical Information

You will need to bring pen and paper, and a laptop if you prefer to write that way. We’ll be out and about on some days, so dress for Gloucestershire in March – walking boots, a waterproof coat, hat and gloves. Read as widely as you can in the travel and nature genres before you come, so we’ll all have a pool of inspiration to draw from.

‘This was a brilliant and encouraging experience. Nick’s teaching was fantastic, and the sessions were a lovely mix of informative and exercise-led.’ ‘I really enjoyed Joanna's course. She was so welcoming and encouraging and created a lovely space for us, providing constructive feedback and advice along with extremely insightful individual comments. Her course packs in everything you would need to start you off on a writing project.’

About Hawkwood

Hawkwood is a stunning Grade Il listed 19th Century country house, surrounded by 42 acres of sustainably managed woodland, farmland, and gardens. Set in the heart of the Cotswolds - an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - it is a sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. With a diverse selection of nearly 150 courses, there's plenty to choose from, including courses in transformative leadership, future thinking, inner life, music and the arts.

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