Full Permaculture Design Course (PDC)

Join us for 12 days of immersive, inspiring education in permaculture design and low-impact living.

• Led by two experienced permaculture teachers, co-teaching across two permaculture sites
• Get in-depth, first-hand experience of permaculture design
• Design projects and opportunities for practical experience
• Guided site visits to fantastic permaculture initiatives
• Expert tuition in land topics from the course leaders, including natural farming, soil ferments, tree systems and orchard care
• Plus all the fundamentals of permaculture design for a lower impact life in harmony with the patterns of the natural world.

To book your place please fill out this booking form.

ABOUT THE PDC

Participating in a PDC has for decades been the main way to participate in a structured education in permaculture theory and practice. The PDC covers all major permaculture theory and design processes and delves into a wide array of examples of how permaculture can be applied.

For some, this immersive experience is life changing and takes their life off onto a different path. For others it provides an opportunity to build on existing experience of permaculture with this thorough, carefully facilitated and wide-ranging course. Either way, it’s a deeply inspiring and energising process, empowering you to redesign your life completely. So be prepared!

The curriculum of the course includes the history and evolution of the permaculture concept, ethics and principles, design processes and tools, the living landscape, the built environment, social justice, and much more. This PDC is based across two different permaculture projects, where you will be able to experience how the design process is being applied, and it also includes site visits to inspiring local projects to see permaculture in action.

Towards the end of the course, you will work in a group to complete a small design project of your own, giving you the practice of putting all you have learnt into action. This course is fully accredited and certified by the Permaculture association UK.

Permaculture covers not only land-based design but social and personal design too, and this course is relevant to everyone no matter how or where you live, whether it’s rural or urban, with limited or abundant resources, with access to land or not.

WHERE

One of the stand-out elements of this particular PDC course is that it is based across two different permaculture projects in Pembrokeshire, each of which is stewarded by one of the two course teachers. Weekend courses are held alternately at each site, so you will be based at one of the venues over the course of each full weekend.

Both projects are relatively young and offer a superb opportunity to experience and investigate the ongoing implementation of permaculture design.

• Cynefin Farm is a 7-acre smallholding and permaculture restoration project in the North Pembrokeshire national park, beside the mountains and the sea. The site of an old long abandoned garden centre, Nim and family have been living here for the past 3 years and are practicing a variety of regenerative agriculture techniques to repair and build the soil and encourage biodiversity, whilst developing the site for food production, homesteading and permaculture education. Some of the practical tasks on the course will be helping to develop the site and systems here, a great chance to really get your hands dirty and see a new project coming together.
• Patch of the Planet is a 5-acre permaculture project in rural North Pembrokeshire, on the Southern foothills of the Preseli hills. Neil and family have been working on the site for around 3 years, developing a project that aims to explore, deliver, experiment with and teach ways to live at the small, local scale, whilst living in harmony and collaboration with the natural world. There is a wide range of projects and initiatives developing on site and as with Cynefin Farm, the practical elements of the course will include opportunities to create and deliver solutions right here.

To book your place please fill out this booking form.

THE TEACHERS

Nim Robins is a permaculture designer and facilitator and has a huge passion for sharing this with others through participatory and creative education. Nim is a certified educator and diploma assessment tutor with the UK Permaculture Association and regularly teaches on a wide variety of courses, from foundation and introduction level through to PDC’s and diplomas. Nim ran a permaculture design company for several years focusing on rewilding schools and education, and is a core teacher with Children in Permaculture - where she focuses on shifting children's education through inspiring teachers to weave permaculture through their curriculums and learning spaces. She now focuses her time between building up permaculture systems on her smallholding and teaching both children and adults.

Neil Kingsnorth is a permaculture trainer, designer and practitioner and has the Diploma in Applied Permaculture. He loves running courses and has been applying, teaching and designing with permaculture professionally for several years, in Pembrokeshire and prior to that, in Cheshire. Neil has a rich history working in areas of environmental and social justice, including having been the Head of Activism at Friends of the Earth, the CEO of the Orchard Project, a Campaigner at the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the project lead on a county-wide fruit tree project in Pembrokeshire. He co-owned a permaculture-guided garden design business in Cheshire for several years (also called Patch of the Planet) and has run a number of local campaigns and community projects. He has a particular passion for yielding trees.

WHEN

This course will start on April 15th and will then be held over the second weekend of every month from May onwards, until September 10th 2023 (a total of 6 weekends). The course will run Saturday and Sundays from 10am start to 5 pm finish. 

The dates are:

• April 15th and 16th
• May 13th and 14th
• June 10th and 11th
• July 8th and 9th
• August 12th and 13th
• September 9th and 10th

ACCOMMODATION

If you wish to travel to the course each day from home, that is fine. Basic camping in a bring-your-own-tent is included in the ticket price and both Cynefin Farm and Patch of the Planet have camping facilities on site.

Both sites also offer a small number of comfortable glamping bell tents for rental at an additional fee and you can arrange this directly with each venue.

There is also a good range of other options, including glamping and B&Bs, on offer close to both sites.

PRICE OPTIONS

Standard course fee: £695

The standard course fee is £695, which includes all teaching and activities over 12 full days, site visits, materials, the Permaculture Association accredited certificate, refreshments and basic camping pitches if you wish to camp.

Pay it Forward fee: £895

If you can afford to do so, we invite you to purchase a “Pay it Forward” place at £895. This additional fee allows us to offer concessionary spaces for those that would otherwise not be able to afford to join the course.

Reduced price ticket plus volunteering: £400 

If you need to pay less to be able to attend, we offer this option. In return, we ask for three days of dedicated volunteering support in advance of the PDC. This might include leafletting, helping with logistics or doing some research for example.

Attract someone else to come along and both share a lower price: £400

If you can find someone else to come along to the PDC, we will offer both of you a reduced price ticket. 

Concession: £75

We offer one extremely low cost place for someone that could not otherwise attend. We ask that you apply for these places using the space on the booking form., and we will let you know if you have been successful.

BOOKING

To book your place please fill out this booking form.