The day is divided between actual 'hands on' experience and time spent learning how to make keeping pigs both enjoyable, cost effective and profitable. We try to limit the number attending any one course to ten people only in order to ensure that we can give individual attention to everyone. We have people attending from all over the United Kingdom and have recently had visitors from Belgium, Ireland and France. Special rate hotel and B&B accommodation of the highest standard is always available for course members who are travelling any distance or who want to spend a short weekend break in the wonderful countryside yet within easy reach of beautiful historic towns and great local sights.

From the South West England to the North of Scotland - From Kent and the Home Counties to East Anglia and Humberside - From Lancashire to London and from Yorkshire to Gloucestershire even from Eire, Belgium, Canada, N.Ireland, the Channel Islands and France. Being ideally located in the UK our course members come from everywhere and they all (as you can read below) have a day out to remember

Informative, Entertaining and Instructive.

Read what other people have to say about the last 6 months

Dear Tony and Carron
Thank you so much for a really enjoyable day. You delivered a huge amount of information in a fun and practical manner. Having spent the past 3 weeks slightly regretting not coming on the course before we got our piglets, I actually think it has been such a huge benefit coming afterwards, armed with all our queries that have arisen during that time.You have answered them all and I feel so much more confident.( Sadly Ginger didn't behave as beautifully as your pigs when we injected her this morning!) Lunch was truely delicious ...maybe I do eat pork after all! With many thanks for a great day,  Jane    Marlborough – Wiltshire – 27th April 2008

Dear Tony and Carron 
Just a quick word of thanks for looking after us so well on Sunday.  It was a lovely day - both informative and fun - and we are certainly very keen to take our pig project further!  We have a bit of ground work to do here before we would be ready, but the general consensus (everything is done by committee in our family!) is that the Large Blacks are the ones for us. 
Apart from the invaluable advice on pigs and pig keeping, It was also very interesting to have my own sales and marketing policies reinforced (they do work - we have not advertised our services in all 25 years we have been going!!). I do hope we meet again soon. 
Best wishes Miranda, Trevor and Sam – Royston – Hertfordshire

Dear Tony and team
  Oh what a weeeeeek! The piggies are fantastic. Thank you so much for the course 13th april it really did give me such confidence , knowledge and understanding of life , time s, and trials with pigs. 
The pigs I've got had had barely any human contact because the guy I got them from is a real softy and would never have been able to say goodbye. Therfore I had to seriously bond with them it took  3 days before they were happy to eat with me by them and only another to touch .Now ... they love a full body massage and on their backs for a tummy rub!!! so today they got their wormer injection and not a peep thank you so much for the chance to 'poke' George kune. 
Theyve turffed up their 50M paddock a treat and putting on weight steadily . I'm usually up before the pigs and sneak a peek at them snuggling in the arc, so yes I spending a long time hanging out with ..... or wasting time!! Hope the last two weekends went well
Love Rebecca, Pembroke – Wales – 13th April 2008 Course

Hi Tony and Carron (and Maisie)
 I attended your wonderful course on 29th March on a rather cold and wet Saturday.  It was brilliant and I thank you all for the experience. 
Matthew, the children and I are now ready for some pigs and wondered if you could help us?  We would like 2 Gloucester Old Spots (female weaners) and a Large Black (female weaner again).  If there are no Gloucester Old Spots we would be very happy with two Berkshires.  
Once again thanks for a great day back in March and I look forward to hearing from you with regard to the pigs.
Best wishes Lisa Ellett – Witney, Oxon – 29th May 2008 Course

Hi Tony, Carron and Maisy,
Just a quick message to say thanks for giving my brother an excellent day down there in Wiltshire. He thoroughly enjoyed the day and now is all sent to get his first pigs. he remarked that nothing was too much trouble in making everyone feel at home and comfortable. It turned out to be the perfect Christmas present for him from my Mum and I. thanks again to all of you, Kind regards, Colin – Yately, Hampshire April 2008

PS. Thanks Carron and Maisie for the tea and coffee for my mum and I before we returned home, especially on such a wet morning, it was much appreciated.
Thanks Tony. Thanks for a lovely day and no doubt we will stay in touch. Best Regards to Carron. It was lovely meeting you both.
Regards,  Ola and Patrick – London and Ghana – April 2008-05-09

Dear Tony and Carron,
Thank you both again so much. It really was a wonderful day – we greatly enjoyed ourselves, and are feeling very inspired to move ahead with our plans of moving to the countryside... Our list of requirements has changed slightly now though – pig-friendly gardens are top of the list!
I have sorted through the photos and have some I think you may like to see – but as the file is rather large (I always take the biggest size photo possible!) I will send you a link so you can download it. If you have any problems just let me know.We will definitely keep you informed of our progress towards ‘the good life’!  Kindest regards, Angela and Stephen
Ps – the sausages were delicious :-)  April Course – London SE7

Hi Tony
Just a quick note (as I'm at work) to say a huge thank you to you all for a fabulous course and extremely enjoyable day.  I've dropped the cheque in the post to you for what we were short yesterday, so hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. I'm positive we'll be in touch again, so once more a BIG thanks for a great day (the pigs weren't to bad either!)
kind regards – Jo and Stephen – Hulland – Derbyshire – April 2008 Course

Dear Tony and Carron
Sorry I haven't emailed before - we had a lovely time - very very useful.   
Since the course I've been fighting a cold as well as the desire to purchase our first pigs. 
 Paul and I talked all day Sunday, purchased water and feed troughs Monday, considered calling you about weaners on Tue... BUT, for once, we stood by our original plan to not get pigs until next spring as we've booked a holiday this summer and wouldn't want anyone else looking after our first piggies! 
Paul having increased my stock of chickens and ducks for my birthday this year has promised pigs for next year! 
In the meantime we will continue reading up and plan to build our own arks.  I will be in contact with you again towards the end of the year as we plan to purchase our weaners from you next March.  (prob. Large Black and Glo Old Spot) 
Great course AMAZING meal - and the added bonus that any worries of our pigs becoming pets went out the window tasting that roast and those sausages!!!! 
Kind regards Janet & Paul – Ashton Common – Wiltshire – March 2008

Dear Tony,
Thank you for your email and for a wonderful day last Saturday. Both Liam and I really enjoyed ourselves and are now busy working out how we can best put our plans for a "community pig" into operation...
As we said on the day, we would really like to know the next time Carron is butchering either a Berkshire or a Middle White for pork or bacon and sausages.
I also attach a few photos of both us and the pigs...Everyone has exclaimed over the "sheep pigs" and I think we have captured the curly coat quite well!
Thank you again, Pia and Liam, Frome, Somerset – March 2008-05-09

Dear Tony, Karen and Maisy
 Thankyou for a very enjoyable day on Saturday. I now feel that keeping pet pigs may become a reality one day and not just a dream. Sarah – Newbury – Berkshire – March 2008

To Tony & Carron.
I very much enjoyed the course and it was a brilliant birthday prezzi. I have taken loads of photos and my mum is besotted with pigs now, like me! I am working on my Dad to let me have one, it may take some time but I am determined! I have enclosed my favourite photos. Thankyou again for the lovely day, I will remember it forever.
from Bethany and Joanne XX – Maidstone – Kent – March 2008-05-09

Dear Tony, Carron and Maisey,
 Wow what can I say.  Despite the bitterly cold weather both Heny and I had one of the best days at school that we can remember!  Thank you for the very informative day and for making Heny not feel like the odd one out, being the only person under 18.  I think that she gained so much from the course and is now badgering me to get going with the pigs.  Watch this space Carron, we are definitely going to try and emulate you and become the pig women of West Kent! 
I hope that you all had a great Easter, we got home to snow on Saturday night and then more snow on Sunday which settled although today it has all gone except for the sorry looking snowmen. Thank you to you all once again for a totally inspiring day, we are so excited that I must remember to walk before running away with this!  Warmest regards to you
Claire & Heny – Edenbridge – Kent – March 2008-05-09

Hi Tony & Carron 
We would just like to say how much we enjoyed the pig keeping course on February 16th. The course was very informative and amusing at times, the meal was absolutely scrumptious and of course the pigs were wonderful. 
It's doubtful if we will ever keep any pigs of our own but with retirement just a few years away who knows. The course has given us the confidence to make it a possibility. 
Thank you once again for making our day with you so enjoyable. 
Reg & Sue Davis – Bristol – Avon – February 2008

Hi Tony, Carron,
Nigel and I would like to thank you very much for the most informative and enjoyable day, yesterday.You made the day one of the best days/course's we have attended. We are very very interested in purchasing the 3 X Saddlebacks, but I have a minor challenge. I am going to Inverness with my Air Cadets for a week from 29/03 to 06/04 playing bagpipes and drums.We are biulding an ark this week and after the snow has gone will be speaking with the farmer about locating our pigs near our worm farm and would be looking to collect the pigs on Saturday 12th April 2008, if that would fit in with your arrangements?We still have a few things to put in place, ie registration with our local authority, movement licence etc.I hope this makes sense to you and is acceptable. Hope to hear from you very soon. Kind Regards,Dave and Nigel – Uckfield – East Sussex – March – 20078
Tony/Carron,  
Thank you both for an excellent course on Saturday. It’s a very long day for you both, so I hope you are now suitably rested. You managed to convert Jenny’s long term hankering for pigs, into an obsession.  
It was a bit rushed at the end of the day, and you asked to confirm what we think we have booked. 
Scarlet O’Hara, a red mangaliza, who will be run with a champagne boar for at least a month before collection. We assume that this would be mid April at the earliest. 
A Kune Kune gilt. We assume we will collect at the same time? 
A premier ark. This will be delivered, independently, at additional cost. 
I hope that this is your understanding. You have our contact details on file, my mobile is usually on, but not always answered in the day due to the unrealistic demands of the NHS on my time. Never mind, it all changes on May 2nd, and pig breeding seems a highly attractive alternative. Kind Regards - Kevin and Jenny Herbert – Weedon – Northants

Dear Carron and Tony
What a wonderful, fun, informative, delicious day we had!  You did say come with a smile Tony, what we didn’t realise was that we could so easily drive away in the evening with one too – in fact it lasted all day and all night and most of the next day.  I thought I had researched ‘pigs’ and their needs but what you did was confirm in such a fun, informative way what I thought I knew and more. Ian and I are passionate about being able to eat good pork and bacon from happy, healthy pigs.  You have now confirmed what was already in our minds and that is, we can do that, as well as helping the rare and traditional breeds to survive by breeding and supplying our pork.  We have the space, the enthusiasm and now ‘the marketing’ expertise we knew we always had!  It was always apparent to us that the pigs would sell themselves given the opportunity and again you confirmed that. We just have to get the advertising right. Through talking to people and listening to informative programmes and reading articles in relevant journals we also knew that the ‘tide was turning’ towards tasting and eating real meat again – you confirmed that too.   
You are both such lovely, lovely people with great passion for the pigs and I hope that we have started a very long and lasting ‘friendship’. Ian and I would like to thank you both very much for a day to remember, forever!  Maise was a wonderful hostess too with her lovely smile. Our very best wishes
Jane and Ian (Wenman) – Chipping Norton – Oxfordshire – March 2008

Tony & Carron,
 Antonia and I very much enjoyed the day we spent on your course on 16 Feb. I have to say I was somewhat apprehensive - concerned it would be too 'touchy feely' light on content and I would have to spend the whole day smiling but not a bit of it! We were both so impressed with the professionalism and the amount of information you both imparted in the limited time. It has given us the confidence to take the next step and raise some weaners for pork. 
We have since been busy building an arc - a bigger task than we thought! arranging for some proper fencing and we now have a CPH number. Charles and Antonia Gillett – February – 2008 – Churchill – Worcestershire

Hi Tony, just to say thanks very much for a great weekend and a brillant and very intresting course, ye have a great and simple set up for the pigs, we are still talking about it and when we got back yesterday we went straight out to the land and started to make plans for pens and fencing , i was even getting prices for wire and gates today, we are 99% sure we are going to start rearing pigs for meat, and even had thoughts of starting a breeding centre for ye here in the south of ireland, so thanks a mill again and tell carron as well thanks for every thing especailly the great lunch
kindest regards - jimmy and willie - cobh Ireland – EIRE – February - 2008-05-09

Hi Tony and Carron,
Jus to say a very big “thank you” for the wonderful day we had on Saturday. It was fantastic to be given the opportunity to interact so closely with the pigs and piglets, and also to learn so much about the economics and business aspects. Harriet already sold her first half pig on Sunday (although it looks like it will be about a year before we can actually keep any!). Many of these aspects will also have a much broader application outside of just pig keeping for us both, a great education and a very entertaining day indeed.
With regards to Harriet’s vet degree, she was hoping you would be able to recommend an abattoir for work experience in Oxfordshire or Hertfordshire? Once we are in the pig business, we will also be looking for an abattoir to work with, but this is a little way down the road as of yet. Many thanks again for the fantastic day, and in advance for the advice,
Zane and Harriet – Welham Green - Hertfordshire – February 2008

Dear Tony and Carron
We just wanted to say a big thank you for a pigtastic day yesterday.  Both Arnie and myself really enjoyed the course and meeting the piggies was the icing on the cake.  Although keeping pigs is a few years down the line for us we wanted to do the course just to make sure that it was something that we could realistically do in the future and now that we’ve seen how manageable pigs are we’re really looking forward to planning ahead for them.
Lunch was simply divine – I don’t know how Carron finds the time or energy to do it all.  She spent all morning with our group and still managed to produce a fabulous meal with no panic.  I know the order book for meat is full at the moment but please could you let us know when some becomes available as Arnie and I would love some of your meat as it’s easily the best we’ve tasted for a long long time.  We were so well looked after all day by both yourself and Carron  when you must have been exhausted after running the course on Saturday as well.
I’ve fallen in love with the Gloucester Old Spots and Arnie likes the Oxford Sandy and Blacks although I’m sure he could be persuaded to have a Kune Kune as a pet for little me as well!
Thank you once again. Mandy & Arnie – Bath – Somerset – February 2008

Hi Tony & Carron,
I would like to thank you both for an excellent day last saturday. I enjoyed the day very much and learnt oodles from you both, oh and dinner was fantastic along with the treats in the afternoon.  I wish I lived near  MOD land Carron, I would have a ball with lots of our intelligent little pig friends.
I have sent you some of the photos from saturday and also a couple of my kune pigs. As you can see they appear quite content and my dog is never far away as they are now best pals.
They are both to be wormed tomorrow with the help of another piggy friend who lives close by, so thanks for the prompt advise regarding the worming dosages. Please don't forget to send me the info regarding the injection tube purchase.
I hope to speak to you again in the future, all the best, thanks once again. 
Lots of love from Fiona Davison. – Halifax – Yorkshire – January 2008

Hi Tony and Carron – just a quick note to thank you both for such a great day yesterday.  All I have thought about, talked about and even dreamt about since is pigs!!
I enjoyed every aspect of the day, but a real highlight was being outdoors with so many perfect pigs! I cannot wait now until our weaners get here in 8 weeks.
Thank you again – I really feel you have given us the best start we could have had with our pig keeping adventure.
Kind regards Sarah and Andy Larkins – Potmarsh – Wiltshire – 2008 January

Dear Tony and Carren,
 I would just like to say a very big thank you for a wonderful day on Sunday.  Both my mother in law and myself enjoyed the course.  I would like to bring my husband next year, but was wondering if you run an advanced course?  We cannot stop talking about it and the veggie patch is to be moved, so I can get a Large Black.  Do you know of any breeders in our neck of the woods that sells any.  I am looking for a weaner or two.  One must be a girl (her name is already picked out - Elly) and the other can be a boy. 
Once again, thanks a million and hope to see you in the near future.
 Thanks - Cheralynn Pieters – Aberdeen – Scotland – December 2007

Tony and Carron
It was tremendous fun and I’ve learned such a lot – I’ve just told my daughter who’s a midwife all about pigs and their farrowing habits from what you told us.  I also told her about Boris and weighing the boar!  My congregation laughed out loud and didn’t seem very surprised when I told them.  It lead to lots of stories of their young days when it was quite common for gran to have a pig at the bottom of the garden.Jeni Revd Canon Dr Jeni Parsons Gloucester – November 2007

Dear Tony and Carron,
 
Many thanks for an enchanting day, I was amazed that Lucy was nearly 99% as pig-keen as I after the whole event. Our work-lives dictate that we are in different counties for a few days, but as soon as we've uploaded the pics we'll forward any of interest, looks like there's a great one of a muddy-snouted mangolitza! In fact, I look forward to the pic you took of us both with her Tony, am sure the children wont mind being displaced from the mantlepiece?!
 
With regard to the fantabulous swine, I think the Oxford Sandy and Blacks stole our hearts that day, and I'm sure in the future we will gladly be in touch. I think we are erring towards the self-serve/small profit holding (god willing!), it's just a question of overcoming the torture of sending them to market once one has become so attached. I FULLY understand that without the love for the creatures, the respect for tradition (and taste!), that ALL pigs would be doomed to a pink and tortuous steroid-fuelled short existence, and that rearing traditionally the rare breeds, one can give such pleasure to such a worthy animal. But as they say, when they look you in the eye, they look at you as an equal!! 
Many thanks for the day once again, we will be sure to keep in touch. 
Kind regards, Mike & Lucy. – Goudhurst – Kent – November 2007