Harpas at Halsway: Nyckelharpa Festival

Name: Harpas at Halsway: Nyckelharpa Festival
Start: 2025-09-05T16:00:00+01:00
End: 2025-09-07T16:00:00+01:00
Location: Halsway Manor

Friday 5 Sep 4pm — Sunday 7 Sep 4pm, 2025

To make a booking enquiry please complete the form below. We will contact you to confirm availability and complete your booking.

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Pricing

Full board per person (tuition, activities, all meals & accommodation):

£330 – single occupancy ensuite room/cabin
£285 – sharing an ensuite room/cabin
£285 – single occupancy non-ensuite room (limited availability)
£225 – sharing non-ensuite room

Camping per person (tuition, activities, all meals):

£215

Non Resident (tuition, activities, all meals except breakfast):

£200

Get a closer look at the accommodation options here.

The Halsway Nyckelharpa Festival is a weekend of harpa workshops, ensemble playing, sessions, a concert and more! Hosted by Vicki Swan, with further tutors to be confirmed soon, this is a weekend you won’t want to miss!

Come and explore a diverse range of repertoire, and meet, play and socialise with other players and enthusiasts of this fascinating Scandinavian instrument.

Sunday night B&B is available for anyone wishing to stay on for an extra night – this includes supper on Sunday evening and breakfast on Monday morning for £60 per person.

Who is it for?

The weekend is for players of all abilities except complete beginners to explore a range of repertoire, and to meet, play and socialise with other players!

“Even if there was no tuition, I would still come; for me it’s now about meeting all the other players.” Participant

The Team

Vicki Swan

Vicki Swan studied at the Royal College of Music on the double bass. She also plays the various types of bagpipes, flute, recorder, piano and nyckelharpa. On leaving music college Vicki started down the long path of folk music and was only seen on rare glimpses back in classical orchestras. You’ll find Vicki now inhabiting the troll-ridden forests on the hunt for new and exciting tunes from the näcken. Vicki plays not only the standard 3-row modern chromatic, but also the 1408 sienaharpa, the 1526 moraharpa, the 1700s kontrabasharpa and the 1800s silverbasharpa. Over the pandemic Vicki worked tirelessly on a Virtual Music Room to try to help isolated nyckelharpa players remain motivated and focused on playing and learning. She is the host of the yearly Halsway Nyckelharpa Festival.

Further tutors to be confirmed soon.

Unless otherwise specified, our midweek courses check-in from 4pm on a Monday and check out by 10am on Friday, and our weekend courses check in from 4pm on a Friday and depart on Sunday by 4pm. Dinner on the first night is usually at 6.30pm, and in general, no formal teaching or introductory sessions take place until after this.

Enjoy the area, bring a friend, share a room, & save money

You can book on a course at Halsway and bring a friend who can explore the area while using Halsway as a base for meals and accommodation. Halsway Manor is in the Quantock Hills (England’s first designated National Landscape (formally AONB). We’re just minutes away from the West Somerset Railway (Britain's longest steam railway), a short drive or bus ride from Somerset’s Jurassic coast (ideal for fossil hunting), and surrounded by dramatic scenery and changing landscapes, from the wild hills of Exmoor to the flat expanse of the Somerset Levels.