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Walking and Dancing Week

Monday 25 Apr 4pm — Friday 29 Apr 10am, 2016

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

Course Enquiry

Pricing

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

  • £320 – single ensuite room
  • £290 – sharing an ensuite room
  • £290– single non-ensuite room
  • £260 – sharing non-ensuite room

Camping per person (all meals, and activities):

  • £195

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

  • £180

Enjoy a fun week of walking and dancing with a new team for 2016.

Country dance workshops will take place each morning with caller Lisa Heywood and musicians Rod and Frances Stradling (Rod will also be your host for the week). You’ll have a chance to brush-up your dancing skills and maybe learn a new dance or two, before heading off into the hills – quite literally – to enjoy the spectacular landscapes of this distinctive and nationally important protected area. Guided walks will be led by volunteer rangers from the Quantock Hills AONB Service, giving you a chance to learn more about the geology, history and wildlife of the hills, or simply to enjoy an amble with in beautiful countryside in amiable company! Then it’s back to the Manor, for dinner, and dances every evening.

“The ambience, company, scenery and walks, natural history… what more can you want?” Participant

Who’s it For?

Our walking holidays are suitable for individuals, couples, groups of friends, or walking clubs. Walks are tailored to meet the requirements and abilities of the group, ranging from shorter walks of three to four miles up to longer walks of eight miles or more. A reasonable fitness level is required – even short walks may include steep climbs – and appropriate clothing and footwear suitable for a variety of weather conditions is essential. Car sharing will be necessary for some of the walks.

“A lovely place to be and a wonderful holiday – thank you.” Participant

The Team

Rod & Frances Stradling (‘Stradivarious’) are experienced in playing for many kinds of traditional dancing, and regular favourites at Halsway Manor!

 Lisa Heywood (caller) is a young & exciting ceilidh caller based in Bristol, currently working with top live bands including the Bristol Ceilidh Quartet. Despite her youth, Lisa has many years experience, having been an enthusiastic dancer for as long as she can remember. She began calling at Cat Kelly’s Calling Academy and continued to develop her skills at the Sheffield University Ceilidh Society and by calling for a wide range of events! Lisa is always expanding her repertoire of both traditional and modern dances – including some of her own – and is looking forward to her first visit to Halsway!

Walks will be led by Quantock Hills AONB volunteers.

The Quantocks

The Quantock Hills were the UK’s first AONB, receiving its protected status in 1956; its distinctive character, natural beauty and cultural heritage are so outstanding that it is in the nation’s interest to safeguard them. Explore and you will find rocky Jurassic coastline, exposed heathland summits, deep wooded combes, undulating farmland and attractive villages. A haven for wildlife, the Quantocks offer many rare habitats for flora and fauna, and are home to an important population of red deer. Evidence abounds of early settlements; Bronze Age barrows, ancient stones and ridgeways, Iron age hill forts and earthworks. Inspired by this wild hilly ridge, the young rebel poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth roamed, writing as they walked, forming the Lyrical Ballads and their notion of English Romanticism.

www.quantockhills.org.uk

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