Halsway Manor

Once again we’re opening our doors to professional folk artists* at all stages of their careers wanting a place to write, rehearse, recharge, relax, and be creative.

Apply here: https://halswaymanor.org.uk/event/halsway-manor-open-house-2025/

We’re offering full board – accommodation and all meals – from dinner on Monday 6 January until breakfast on Friday 10 January 2025. You’ll be here alongside other artists so if you’re someone who likes to share ideas, experiences, advice and support, then this could be right up your street.

Booking is by application. We are limiting this opportunity to around 20-25 artists, and we’ll be asking for a financial contribution of £140 towards your place (subsidised by Halsway Manor). We're always over-subscribed, so bear that in mind when completing your application - we like to hear your ideas and your reasons for applying.

*By ‘professional folk artists’ we mean artists – musicians / singers / writers / dancers / theatre-makers etc – who use traditional material either directly or indirectly to inform their paid work. Applications from students / early-stage career artists are as welcome as those from established artists. Previous applicants and attendees are welcome to apply again, though we may take this into account when making our final decisions.

Photo by the brilliant Elly Lucas.

🍏 Do you remember the cold of January and our Apple Tree Wassail? Well, it definitely wasn’t in vain this year - we’ve been gifted an abundance of apples!
Swipe to see us wassailing the bare tree in the frost with .
Funnily enough, Chris and Richard are back this weekend so will get to enjoy the harvest with us 🍎

We're back! Team Halsway have been all over at various festivals over the summer months, but now it's time to settle back into office life. Did you visit any brilliant folk festivals this year? What or who were your highlights? We want to know who to watch out for next year!

Photo shows our amazing Intermediate Young Folk group performing in the Manor Pavilion as part of The Sidmouth Folk Festival. They were definitely one of our highlights!

Guess who's back in 2025? It's Leveret! They'll running their ever-popular musicians' week from Monday 21 to Friday 25 July. Booking now open, but be quick if you want in...

Leveret Musicians' Week - Halsway Manor A workshop week for instrumentalists which will explore ways of playing together intuitively in ensembles under Leveret's guidance.

We’re so proud of our Halsway Young Folk group for all their hard work this week! They’re about to perform in The Ham at and you can catch their showcase at The Manor Pavilion at 3pm this afternoon! See you there?

As Sam Sweeney’s course has sold out (and as it’ll be nearly Christmas!) we’re expanding the course and have invited Miranda Rutter to run the same course in tandem. Most modules will be taught in separate groups but some will be shared. Drawing on their many years of teaching together, you can come and learn your fiddle essentials from two of the most experienced educators in folk music!

Book your place on Miranda's course here;

https://halswaymanor.org.uk/event/essential-fiddle-technique-week-with-miranda-rutter/

At Halsway Manor we work in partnership with other organisations, clubs, groups, societies and individuals to stage events or courses.

This July we hosted Banding Together for their annual partnership event, here’s what their organiser had to say about the weekend…

“There was a full band for last weekend's Banding Together event at Halsway Manor. The band was composed of English Concertina players on piccolo, treble, baritone and bass concertinas which produced music spanning several octaves. The music was arranged specifically for Concertina Band by Claire Wren and Roger Campbell. The Guest Conductor this year was Lieutenant Colonel Craig Hallatt, principal director of music in the Army. Although concertina band was a totally new experience for him, he ensured the weekend was amazing fun - we played a lot, leant a lot and laughed a lot. It was a weekend no one wanted to end. Banding Together Concertina Band weekends have become an established part of the Halsway Manor programme now. The venue is just perfect for the event.”

If you or your group would like to run a partnership event or course (35 people +) at Halsway Manor you can find more information here - https://halswaymanor.org.uk/your-visit/partnerships/

We are pleased to welcome TradTöchter to Halsway Manor.

Vivien Zeller and Ursula Suchanek present a guided tour of traditional music, beautiful melodies, groovy tunes and breath-taking dances from Germany. There will be spotlights on various instrumental aspects such as working on second voices, harmonies and danceable accompaniments, playing together as an ensemble and of course some dancing.

All instruments welcome.

Book your place here - https://halswaymanor.org.uk/event/german-weekend/

There's still time to book your summer holiday at Halsway Manor! 🌞💃🕺🌞🎶

Halsway Folk Dance Holiday
Monday 12 Aug 4pm — Monday 19 Aug 10am, 2024

An enjoyable folk holiday that has dancing at its heart, alongside optional folk related activities for all to enjoy.

Hosted by Jane and Brian Thomas, the team brings together caller Ivan Aiken, musicians Richard Jones and Chris Jewell, plus their partners, for an enjoyable summer holiday in the beautiful setting of Halsway Manor.

Book here
https://halswaymanor.org.uk/event/halsway-folk-dance-holiday/

It was a real pleasure to have The Furrow Collective () with us, leading a folk song week filled with harmony and creativity. They did loads of work outside, making use of our gardens, and filled the air with music 🎶

We’re going to be saying cheerio to our brilliant marketing officer soon and are looking for someone to take over the role. Could it be you?

Jobs & Volunteering - Halsway Manor Vacancies and jobs at Halsway Manor, National Centre for Folk Arts, including part-time Marketing Officer role.

The weather that we ordered especially for this weekend arrived in great time (thank goodness for express shipping…) and now everyone is sun-kissed and full of music 🎵

Folk meets Classical
Friday 26 Jul — Sunday 28 Jul, 2024

New Tutor!
John Dipper is replacing Gabi Maas as the third tutor on this course.
John is a wonderful fiddler and concertina player.

This course will appeal to classical players who want to get off the page, improvise and exercise their imagination, and trad players who wish to push the boundaries out beyond what they might meet in sessions.

Still a few places available - book now!
https://halswaymanor.org.uk/event/folk-meets-classical-2024/

Banter in the House!
Friday 4 Apr — Sunday 6 Apr, 2025

Banter are hosting a weekend of music, dance and song at Halsway Manor.

There’ll be workshops for all, as well as a Friday night welcome session, Saturday night concert and ceilidh, and maybe a bit of Banter fun throughout the weekend… Almost anything could happen!

https://halswaymanor.org.uk/event/banter-2025

Whether you’d like to kick off the year with dancing or take a post-Christmas recharge, we’ve got something for you in January 2025 at Halsway Manor!

GreenMatthews’ Midwinter Getaway
Friday 3 Jan — Sunday 5 Jan, 2025

GreenMatthews Midwinter Getaway – a relaxing weekend of fun and festivities in the sumptuous surroundings of Halsway Manor with hosts Chris Green and Sophie Matthews.
https://halswaymanor.org.uk/event/greenmatthews-midwinter-getaway-2025

Halsway Winter Regency Retreat
Monday 13 Jan — Friday 17 Jan, 2025

Halsway is excited to offer a new masterclass of steps, patterns, music and manners, not forgetting that all-important ballroom etiquette. Join dance teacher and caller Georgia Delve for the midweek Halsway Winter Regency Retreat.
https://halswaymanor.org.uk/event/regency-retreat-2025

This July, we will be giving away an exciting folky prize to one of our lucky followers. Sign up for our monthly newsletter before June 30th to find out more!

https://halswaymanor.org.uk/mailing-list

What a beautiful way for our Learning by Ear and Essential Fiddle Technique participants to spend their Saturday evening! Lots of beautiful tunes from Miranda Rutter, Rob Harbron and Sam Sweeney, as the last bit of sun streams in through the Long Room windows.

A phenomenon of fiddles!! How lovely to host our Summer Fiddle Weekend in the actual sun (though still a few jumpers to be seen...!). Huge thanks to Becki Driscoll, Catherine Geldart and Rachael McShane for leading the weekend, and sharing their knowledge and skills with the group.
Keep your eyes peeled for next year's dates and tutor announcements...

The Halsway Contra Festival 2025

We've got back-to-back Contra next year at Halsway ...
Our Contra Camp weekend is followed immediately by American Spring Contra. Why choose one when you can come to both?! We're offering B&B on Sunday night so you can stay from Friday to Friday.

Contra Camp 2025
Friday 9 May — Sunday 11 May, 2025
Join callers Louise Siddons and Heather McAslan, and band WillPower (Will Allen and Will Chamberlain) for an intensive weekend of contra dancing. Expect high energy and plenty of action on this workshop-packed weekend, complete with late-night ceilidhs and sessions.
https://halswaymanor.org.uk/event/contra-camp-2025/

American Spring Contra 2025
Monday 12 May — Friday 16 May, 2025
There will be dance and music workshops in the mornings, afternoons are free for you to explore this lovely area, and there are dances every evening.
https://halswaymanor.org.uk/event/american-spring-contra-2025/

What a weekend our Performance group had with Nancy Kerr and James Fagan. We're so lucky that they squeezed us into their busy diaries. Here's the group in the sun, and in their 'Something New' gig - proof that even old hands can have a go at performing new tunes (and deliver them with aplomb!).

Happy Friday! Our roses are blooming lovely today.
We’re quite sad to see our dulcimer group go home - they’ve been working hard and having a great time. Just a few places left if you want to join them in 2025… (also, where is the dulcimer emoji when you need one?!)

We don’t do this at Halsway anymore, for some reason.

(Another gem from our archives)

Guess what... Our new brochure has arrived! It features the marvelous Tamsin Elliott on the cover. If you've been to one of our courses in the last few years, one should be dropping through your letterbox pretty soon.
In the meantime, you can have a browse of the preview copy on the website here: https://halswaymanor.org.uk/your-visit/brochure-july-to-december-2024/

Just a quick reminder that the role of Assistant Head of Kitchen at Halsway is up for grabs - you've got until 24th May to apply to be part of our team.

Jobs & Volunteering - Halsway Manor Vacancies and jobs at Halsway Manor, National Centre for Folk Arts, including part-time Marketing Officer role.

Our May newsletter has just gone out into the world - click below to read and subscribe.
It's packed with all the latest course news and looks ahead to summer. Do you remember summer? It's when it rains only every few days, instead of every day!

May News from Halsway Manor Your monthly round up, direct from The Quantocks

Hail, hail the first of May-o!
We went back to the archives in search of inspiration and found these photos of our closest May Day tradition - the Minehead Hobby Horse.
The first is sometime in the 1920s and comes from the Kille Collection, the second was taken by Alfred Vowles (who took a lot of photographs in the area) and the third is uncredited but is our favourite for the musicians' decidedly casual attitude...

So great to have Jon with us this week!

Posted • I had a really beautiful time at leading the first ever Irish Bouzouki course! We really got stuck in and I had an immense time meeting and playing with all these wonderful people. I need some proper sleep now

It's amazing what you find when you have a quick nosy in our archive on a quiet afternoon... And we now know that this is actually Toddington (rather than Teddington) and that the tradition was revived in 2012!

We will not be taking questions at this time.