Come and make something beautiful with the schools

Come and make something beautiful with the Shieling Project! From weaving a basket with willow, carding, spinning or felting wool from our Shetland sheep, botanical printing or making paper, we have a wide range of traditional crafts to try. 

Craft Holidays in the Scottish Highlands

**Craft Weekend - Basketry (20th - 23rd April 2023) £300**
Glen Strathfarrar

Thursday night arrive
Learn how to create beautiful and useful baskets using a variety of techniques. From home grown willow, you’ll work the whole process from softening the willow, to making the basket shapes and completing decorative edges and handles. This course will progress at your own speed, so there’s no rush to get to the next stage, or if you’re keen you could come home with a lot of baskets!

**Craft Weekend - Felting, tapestry, weaving, spinning  (15 th – 18 th June 2023) £300**
Glen Strathfarrar

Thursday night arrive
Work with raw wool from our Shetland sheep. There will be a wide variety of techniques on
offer starting with wool preparation – washing, carding and spinning – and dyeing with
natural materials. Taking the wool you have prepared and coloured, you’ll have a chance to
trying roller felting as well as needle felting, knitting and tapestry, to create something
beautiful to take home

**Craft Weekend - Botanical Printing ( 31st Aug - 3rd Sept 2023)**

G﻿len Strathfarrar
Thursday night arrive
Using plants and flowers grown locally and harvested just before the course, you’ll create some
stunning colours and patterns on a variety of materials. We will use real fresh leaves and
flowers printing on peace silk or organic cotton using natural dyes and
steaming to create prints, producing stunning table runners or scarves.

At the end of every day there will be time for relaxing a glass of wine or cuppa around the fire with a feeling of physical wellbeing and personal accomplishment.

Materials, accommodation and all food (high quality local and organic) included. All guests help with the food preparation and cleaning up, as cooking our own food, and looking after our place, is a core part of the Shieling Project. We have two staff who will work with you or your child on food preparation and cleaning up, but it is a communal job! We hope you will be happy to muck in and help out. We aim to build a little community for the duration of your stay, and the kitchen is a great place to start that.

#### Craftswoman Profile:
Karen Collins from [Naturally Useful](http://www.naturallyuseful.co.uk/) will return this year to run our craft courses.

Skills for crafting

Crafting 

Natural dyeing

Working with our hands

Traditional Skills

Creativity

Gathering

Craft Week 2021

Crafts

Nature immersion, traditional skills, cooking pizza, foraging for wild food.  This week is a great chance to get stuck into outdoor life and share some good times around the campfire. You will have the opportunity to meet young people from all over the UK and make lasting friendships.

“It was honestly one of the best weeks of my life and I feel I speak for most of us who were there when I say that.”


One of the best weeks!

“I remember having the time of my life and just feeling so alive and free. I though the compost toilets were a great idea and they should be at school”

When you think back to your stay, what do you remember?

Nature immersion, traditional skills and sustainability.  

Connecting to landscapes of the past, present and future in the magical glen Strathfarrar, this week immerses you in ecology, cultural history and traditional skills. From nature immersion and eco-building to traditional crafts, cooking pizza and foraging for wild food this week is a great chance to get stuck into outdoor life and share some good times around the campfire.  You will have the opportunity to meet young people from all over the UK and make lasting friendships.

The week will have a full programme of activities during the days and evenings. We usually have one large project to work on (in 2018 we built a new roof on our barn, in 2019 we built a large bike shed and in 2021 we make a hand washing station) and smaller fun activities in between. Working together we will be cooking, decision making, helping with tasks around the Project and reflecting on our experiences.  What better way to qualify for your Duke of Edinburgh Gold Residential! 

The residential runs Sunday 5pm to Friday 5pm. You can book a local minibus pick you up and drop you off at the Beauly train station, where you can get connections to Inverness train or bus station or Inverness airport. The week costs £300 per person, which includes all food, accommodation and materials.

Teamwork

Learning new skills and forming lifelong friendships

D of E Gold Residential

Harvesting

Exploring and orientating ourselves in the landscape

D of e Gold Residential

Evenings together

Duke of Edinburgh Gold Residential

Come outdoors and get stuck into the shieling life with us.

Do you want to live sustainably, get new skills, and spend time outside? Use a saw, plant a crop, or feed the chickens? Come outdoors and get stuck into the shieling life with us.

We offer a range of engaging activities for your children – den building, exploring, looking after our animals, wild foraging and more. At the end of the day we gather round the fire and tell stories of our adventures – or day dreams!

### Typical Programme:

We generally arrange a variety of activities including basket weaving, natural wool dyeing (using foraged plants), felting, nature walks, drama, as well as making your own firestick. We do many of these activities during the day session (we divide up into a young children’s group, an older children’s group and an optional adults group). The sessions run between 10am and 3pm.

From 3pm to 5pm we ask you to get back together as a family. This is a great time to carry on these activities together, relax or take a walk.  During the evening one family will take the lead assisting with cooking and cleaning up and there will be more activities during the evening. The camp as a whole is run in a relaxed and informal way, so if there’s something you want to do, all you need to do is ask.

Camps run Sunday to Friday, 5pm to 5pm. The cost is £1100 per cabin, which can accommodate 6, so that's just £180 per person for a full week of wonderful activities and food.

Beautiful surroundings

After a day of activities, we gather together to share food and stories. 

Together time

Crafting

Accommodation

Aspen, always interested in what you have to say.

Let’s not forget Aspen

Bring your children out to the wonderful wilds of Strathfarrar and let us entertain them for the day while you relax. Either do a restful nothing, head out to the hills for a walk, or perhaps make a basket, or bake some bread in our outdoor oven. Staff will provide opportunities to keep your hands busy while your mind wanders.

Family Camp

Exploring the hills, making dens, cooking their own food, looking after our animals, making crafty keepsakes – all this is on offer for your child, while you relax at home knowing they are in safe hands.

This is a week-long camp where we will offer all sorts of exciting fun activities, and help your children thrive and feel confident away from home. Our team brings a wealth of experience in outdoor adventure and learning. Your child will come home full of stories and experiences to tell you about, plus perhaps a bit of mud!

The Kids Camp is ideal for children in P5 to P7 (9 to 12 years old), but we have taken children who are younger and older. Please get in touch if you want to chat about booking a place for a child outwith the age range. It costs £300 for the week including food, accommodation and 24 hour care. Reductions are available for siblings

Kids Camp

Kids camp

Learning about how to grow and harvest food

Grow your own

Animal Care

Join us on our Kids Camp

Come and make something beautiful with the Shieling Project

Join Mary Gordon at the Shieling Project for a 5 day residential kilt making workshop where you will be immersed in
the art and heritage of this ancient craft.


Join Mary Gordon and her apprentice(s) at the Shieling Project, an off-grid learning and
outdoor centre, for a 5 day residential kilt making workshop where you will be immersed in
the art and heritage of this ancient craft.

We believe the Shieling Project is the perfect location to endorse the traditions of this ancient craft, whereby the basic natural environment and off grid setting will even further enhance your learning experience.

The workshop is perfect for those who are interested in making a kilt for themselves or a loved one, have a keen interest in the history of tartan and kilts and who are comfortable spending 5-6 days in the communal, off grid environment offered by the Shieling Project.

The course is open to all of those that have a basic ability to sew and an enthusiasm for the textile crafts.

Materials, accommodation and all food (high quality local and organic) included. All guests help with the food preparation and cleaning up, as cooking our own food, and looking after our place, is a core part of the Shieling Project. We have two staff who will work with you or your child on food preparation and cleaning up, but it is a communal job! We hope you will be happy to muck in and help out. We aim to build a little community for the duration of your stay, and the kitchen is a great place to start that.

Learn this traditional craft at the Shieling Project

Kiltmaking

Coming together to share stories and food

Sunrise

Join us and make your own kilt

Kilt Making

Summer camps in the Scottish Highlands for Schools

We provide outdoor learning experiences for classes of up to 33 children at Primary and Secondary level

Residential Outdoor Learning Experiences in Highland Scotland

A visit to the Shieling Project can link history, geography, sciences, language and enterprise, themes of sustainable development education, health and well-being and global citizenship, all anchored in a fun and memorable experience. We will work with you to tailor the learning to your curriculum plan, or subject areas, and the resources you will have access to before and after your visit will help you make the most of how we deliver the [Curriculum for Excellence](https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/What%20is%20Curriculum%20for%20Excellence?) at the Shieling Project.

We will look back to a time when folk took the livestock up into the hills for the summer, making butter and cheese and staying in bothies until the autumn. This tells us a lot about young people in the past, their skills and resilience, relationship to the land and sense of place. And we will look forward, asking what this tradition can teach us now. 

If you come to learn with us you will learn traditional skills including weaving baskets and dying wool, foraging and using useful natural plants. You will learn about place-names, create your own shieling poetry and stories, map the area, study the plants and animals, milk cows and make butter and cheese. Our modern shieling inspired camp is a great place to learn about and take part in sustainable building and investigate waste and energy use by studying our compost toilets, solar photovoltaic panels and solid wood biomass boiler. We also plant trees to help increase biodiversity and the native woodland cover around us.

We provide outdoor learning experiences for classes of up to 33 children at Primary and Secondary level. You can come for one to five days, prices start from £60/head/day. Our residentials can be linked to larger projects within the school using our digital learning resources. We are an accredited SQA Centre and can offer our Shieling Award at levels 2,3 and 4.

“Thanks again for the Family hol, it came at just the right time for us, it was really refreshing to be in such an environment with like-minded folk.  We have been inspired to make changes to how we live and eat and hope to start keeping chickens/ducks.”

We have been inspired to make changes to how we live

Shieling site from above

School Residentials

School Residentials & Summer camps


We run a variety of hands on craft courses with expert craftspeople. From compost toilet building to timber framing and turf roofing. Join people who make their livelihood from these traditional crafts and gain skills working on real buildings. 

The Shieling Project has built almost all of its buildings itself with children and volunteers, and won the ‘Innovation in Delivering a Sustainable Learning Space’ award in 2019. We introduced building courses in 2021, making a new wash shelter and in 2022 we built a new compost toilet building during a course.

**Courses for 2023**

**Compost Toilet Building**

Waterless toilets are often the most environmental and suitable solutions in remote locations. They also save a surprising amount of water and produce usable compost. This course will construct a compost toilet over two days, focusing on how the building keeps down odours, separates the solids, and gathers compost. We will do some construction too as part of the course.

**Turf roof and wall building**

Turf roofs aren’t just beautiful! They slow down water run off, insulate and provide habitat, plus often reuse the turf cleared to put up the building. We will turf a compost toilet building, looking at roof membranes, drainage and how to keep the turf on. We will also look at turf walls – both fully turf and a turf and stone mix. These are easy to construct (compared to stone walls!) and very robust when grown in.

We have run an Introduction to Timber Building and Timber Framing course in the past, and we may do again when we have new buildings to work on during the course. These courses introduced and honed a wide range of skills need for timber construction including all the tools, layout, joinery and raising the building itself.

Timber Craft

Sustainable Building

The finished result

A week outdoors meeting other young people and getting stuck into shilling life. 

There is lots to do including:

* Learning crafts like basketry or felting:  
* Taking care of the chickens:
* Hiking in the local area:
* Foraging for edible plants. 

Everyone helps to keep the place running including cooking and cleaning up and making decisions about what to do each day.

This week-long camp will help your children thrive and feel confident away from home. Our team brings a wealth of experience in outdoor adventure and learning. Your child will come home full of stories and experiences to tell you about, plus perhaps a bit of mud!

The Teen Camp is ideal for children in S1 to S3 (12 to 15 years old), but we have taken children who are younger and older. It costs £300 for the week including food, accommodation and 24 hour care. Reductions are available for siblings

Teen Camp

Every day we come together to share food, stories and music

Ecosystems - The interconnectedness of everything

Getting to know the local area and exploring the Scottish Highlands

Exploring

We always gravitate towards the campfire at the end of the day - to share stories, food and more. 

Campfire

Struy Accommodation

You can hire the whole site in Highland Scotland

Do you want to hire the Shieling Project and use it to run a workshop, a staff training weekend, or an event?

We will look back to a time when folk took the livestock up into the hills for the summer, making butter and cheese and staying in bothies until the autumn. This tells us a lot about young people in the past, their skills and resilience, relationship to the land and sense of place. And we will look forward, asking what this tradition can teach us now. 

If you come to learn with us you will learn traditional skills including weaving baskets and dying wool, foraging and using useful natural plants. You will learn about place-names, create your own shieling poetry and stories, map the area, study the plants and animals, milk cows and make butter and cheese. Our modern shieling inspired camp is a great place to learn about and take part in sustainable building and investigate waste and energy use by studying our compost toilets, solar photovoltaic panels and solid wood biomass boiler. We also plant trees to help increase biodiversity and the native woodland cover around us.

We provide outdoor learning experiences for classes of up to 33 children at Primary and Secondary level. You can come for one to five days, prices start from £60/head/day. Our residentials can be linked to larger projects within the school using our digital learning resources. We are an accredited SQA Centre and can offer our Shieling Award at levels 2,3 and 4.

Venue Hire

We offer a range of camps for children, young people and families: Kids Camp, Teen Camp, Duke of Edinburgh Gold Residential and Family Camp

We provide outdoor learning experiences for classes of up to 33 children at Primary and Secondary level. You can come for one to five days, prices start from £60/head/day. Our residentials can be linked to larger projects within the school using our digital learning resources. We are an accredited SQA Centre and can offer our Shieling Award at levels 2,3 and 4.

A visit to the Shieling Project can link history, geography, sciences, language and enterprise, themes of sustainable development education, health and well-being and global citizenship, all anchored in a fun and memorable experience. We will work with you to tailor the learning to your curriculum plan, or subject areas, and the resources you will have access to before and after your visit will help you make the most of how we deliver the [Curriculum for Excellence](https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/What%20is%20Curriculum%20for%20Excellence?) at the Shieling Project.

We will look back to a time when folk took the livestock up into the hills for the summer, making butter and cheese and staying in bothies until the autumn. This tells us a lot about young people in the past, their skills and resilience, relationship to the land and sense of place. And we will look forward, asking what this tradition can teach us now. 

If you come to learn with us you will find out about traditional skills like weaving baskets and dying wool, finding useful natural plants. You will learn about the place-names, create your own shieling poetry and stories, map the area, study the plants and animals, milk our cows and make butter and cheese. Our modern shieling inspired camp is a great place to learn about and take part in sustainable building, investigate think about waste and energy use by studying our compost toilets, solar photovoltaic panels and solid wood biomass boiler. We also plant trees to help increase biodiversity and the native woodland cover around us.

Resources you will have access to before and after your visit will help you make the most of how we deliver the Curriculum for Excellence at the Shieling Project.

Come and experience summer in the glen for 5 days and 5 nights

Events

Camps

Outdoor Learning at our SQA registered centre in Highland Scotland

We provide day trip and residential outdoor learning experiences for classes of up to 33 children at Primary and Secondary level

A visit to the Shieling Project can link history, geography, sciences, language and enterprise, themes of sustainable development education, health and well-being and global citizenship, all anchored in a fun and memorable experience. We will work with you to tailor the learning to your curriculum plan, or subject areas, and the resources you will have access to before and after your visit will help you make the most of how we deliver the [Curriculum for Excellence](https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/What%20is%20Curriculum%20for%20Excellence?) at the Shieling Project.

We will look back to a time when folk took the livestock up into the hills for the summer, making butter and cheese and staying in bothies until the autumn. This tells us a lot about young people in the past, their skills and resilience, relationship to the land and sense of place. And we will look forward, asking what this tradition can teach us now. 

If you come to learn with us you will find out about traditional skills like weaving baskets and dying wool, finding useful natural plants. You will learn about the place-names, create your own shieling poetry and stories, map the area, study the plants and animals, milk our cows and make butter and cheese. Our modern shieling inspired camp is a great place to learn about and take part in sustainable building, investigate think about waste and energy use by studying our compost toilets, solar photovoltaic panels and solid wood biomass boiler. We also plant trees to help increase biodiversity and the native woodland cover around us.

We provide outdoor learning experiences for classes of up to 33 children at Primary and Secondary level. You can come for one to five days, prices start from £60/head/day. Our residentials can be linked to larger projects within the school using our digital learning resources. We are an accredited SQA Centre and can offer our Shieling Award at levels 2,3 and 4.

The Shieling Project is an SQA centre. We are registered to provide our very own customised award - the Shieling Project Award - at levels 2,3 and 4.

SQA Centre

Schools

Come learn with us. Find out about traditional skills such as kilt-making, basket weaving, spinning, natural dyeing, felting, spoon making, botanical printing, paper-making or building your own timber structures in one of our 3 courses - Kilt-making, Crafting and Introduction to Timber Framing.

Come to learn with us you will find out about traditional skills like weaving baskets and spinning, dying and felting wool, making paper and other croft skills.


Skills

Do you want to hire the Shieling Project and use it to run a workshop, a staff training weekend, or an event?

Venue Hire - The Shieling Project (Struy)

 You can hire the whole site and make use of our outstanding location and simple but beautiful off-grid facilities. We have accommodation for up to 36 people in our bespoke bothies, a large ‘classroom’ space which includes chairs, tables and AV equipment. Other facilities include a lovely communal kitchen space for cooking, two compost toilet areas, shower room and pizza oven. We are keen to host groups who would like to use our site for organisational development or events like staff training, or would like our input into sustainability and environmental leadership. Running your event at the Shieling Project can inspire your group, or give your staff ideas for new ways of working. Being at the Shieling Project also gives the chance to see and live a sustainable lifestyle which can compliment the theme of your event or the topic of your meeting.

At Struy we have accommodation for up to 36 people in our bespoke bothies,

Communal cooking space

Come together at the end of the day and gather round the fire. 

Outdoor Gathering Area

Our kitchen by evening. A cosy warm place in which to prepare food. 

Am Bothan Bidhe

"The Shieling Project was the ideal venue for our postgraduate training event, especially since we were considering the ways in which ecology, history, and land reform intersect. An Talla was a superb space for talks, workshops, and presentations; the cooking facilities in Am Bothan Bìdhe allowed us to comfortably cater for fifty hungry postgrads; the bothies kept everyone comfortable through some fairly frosty May nights; and the large, open space around the campfire was the perfect hub for informal socialising in the evenings."

Post Graduate Event

"“The venue was perfect... I loved relaxing in nature and the expertise of all the participants. The ceilidh culture & convivial atmosphere were my favourite part."

Feedback

Drone footage of the Shieling Project, Struy

The Shieling site

* Please check the start and finish times of your booking.
* You’ll be met at the car park (see below on how to find us). Then you or your child can walk with the staff and enjoy a stretch of your legs (15 to 20 minutes on a landrover track.
* We have 6 bothies each with 6 beds, so you or your child will probably be sharing with someone.
* The main buildings – kitchen, classroom and shower room are converted marquees, so can be cold if the weather outside is cold. Please come prepared with warm clothes.
* Please note that we have two staff who will work with you or your child on food preparation and cleaning up, but it is a communal job! We hope you will be happy to muck in and help out. We aim to build a little community for the duration of your stay.

Joining instructions

![](/output/img-20220817-wa0000.jpg)

All guests help with the food preparation and cleaning up. So cooking our own food, and looking after our place, is a core part of the Shieling Project. We have two staff who will work with you or your child on food preparation and cleaning up, but it is a communal job! We hope you will be happy to muck in and help out. We aim to build a little community for the duration of your stay, and the kitchen is a great place to start that.

We strive to get all of our food from local or organic sources, and aim to provide a simple, and well balanced menu for the duration of your stay. We source the majority of our food from MacLeod Organics and Highland Wholefoods. Our menu includes seasonal and wild, foraged foods too.

If you are on a fully catered course like a school residential or summer camp, this is what might be on offer. When you book you can let us know your dietary requirements and we can work with you to shape the menu into what you need and like:

Breakfast: Porridge, a variety of cereals and bakery fresh toast, and occasionally some eggs and our beef sausages
Lunch: Make your own packed lunch from a wide range of fillings including organic cheese from the Connage dairy, salads, veggies, and oatcakes. You can also choose some crisps, fruit, baked snacks like flapjacks and oat biscuits.
Dinner: Classics like spaghetti bolognaise, pizza (in our pizza oven), hand made burgers, curries and stews.

Cooking

In 2018 we completed a three year project to build our inspirational bothy accommodation at Struy. Designed, built and installed by Northwoods Construction from Ullapool, the six steel clad bothies each have three double bunks in them and offer a beautifully built simple shelter for your stay. All you need to do is bring a single bed sheet for the mattress, a pillow and a sleeping bag (see here for kit list).

The word ‘bothy’ comes from the Gaelic, and the bothan airigh – the shieling hut – is the start of the story of these buildings. The ‘tin’ bothies, houses, schools and churches around the Highlands of Scotland were also a big inspiration for our new accommodation. Bringing this story into the present and future, our bothies feature a huge south facing window for solar gain heating, local timber and a high quality finish. We hope you will enjoy them as much as we do!

Accomodation

We spend a lot of time outside: walking, drawing, talking, working, and we need to be comfortable. The basic equipment is a waterproof jacket and waterproof over-trousers and wellies. These are essential even for a short visit, and will help you keep on getting outside whatever the weather. When you book with the project you will receive a full kit list to help you prepare.

![]()

What to Bring

#### 1. The Shieling Project, Struy

![](/output/screenshot-2022-08-18-at-12.45.07.png "Directions to Struy")

Based at Dunmaglass in Glen Strathfarrar. There are two ways of reaching us: from Beauly or from Drumnadrochit. 

**From Beauly**

Coming from the north or east you will come via Beauly and turn off on the A831 signed to Struy and Cannich. 

**From Drumnadrochit**

Coming from the west you will come off the A82 at Drumnadrochit and go via Cannich on the A831.

Either way you will drive into the little village of Struy and turn off opposite the Struy Inn where you will see our sign!  100 yards down the track that you turn onto is our parking area where you can either walk down to Dunmaglass,or carry on driving if your car is suitable. The walk takes fifteen to twenty minutes.

**Our address is:**
The Shieling Project
Dunmaglass
Struy
Beauly
IV4 7JX

**But don’t put the postcode into SatNav – it won’t help!**



![]()

Where to find Us

#### Glen Strathfarrar, Struy

The Shieling Project, Struy, is 2km up a track from Struy village into the stunning Glen Strathfarrar. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest for birds, dragonflies, lichens and of course it’s very significant piece of the ancient Caledonian Pine wood.

We have 10 acres of ground here, with a fence to keep the deer out. Our site includes areas to run and play (the stream being a favourite), hay and traditional grain crop fields, a basket willow plantation, all our buildings and wilder areas where we have planted trees, as well as the larch hill where you can see up the glen.

#### Crops

A visit to the project is a great opportunity to get hands on with crofting and farming of the past as well as looking to the future, where low carbon, local food and regenerative farming systems are key parts of a resilient rural landscape.

Our Places

#### Our buildings

![]( "Accommodation")

We have 6 accommodation bothies - lovely, warm and simple cabins with 6 beds (3 bunks) in each. See more here *link to accommodation page*)

![]()

The rest of the buildings at the Shieling Project have been built by school groups and volunteers and we are really proud of them. We have several compost toilet buildings spread over the site and lots of hand-washing stations.

Food is cooked in bothan bìdhe, which is a big space so everyone can join in. We have an talla, our classroom where we eat, do crafts or shelter from the weather if we need to. There is also our shower room with six cubicles where you can get hot water for a camp shower – a pressurised bag with a shower head so you can wash in comfort.

Down towards the staff accommodation we have our re-built byre, where the livestock live for some of the year, including the workshop, milking area and dairy. There is also a polytunnel and raised beds.

- - -

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#### Sustainability

The Shieling Project is off grid and trying to provide as low impact an experience as is possible. When you’re here you can learn about how much water our compost toilets save (and what happens to the compost!), as well as some of our building technologies both traditional and modern which demonstrate a variety of sustainable building practices.

We have solar photovoltaic panels which provide electricity for lighting, and a solid wood biomass boiler which uses local timber to give us our hot water. You can get stuck in using these and learning about how they work.

We are based in Struy, Glen Strathfarrar. 

Sustainable Education Centres

#### Where do people go to the toilet?

We have a very clean and pleasant compost toilet block, right next to the cabins. They have two sit down toilets and a urinal, so there’s lots of
space if everyone is desperate! Our compost toilets separate the urine from the solids, so they don’t smell, and they produce great compost. The toilets are not only new and interesting but great education too. 

#### What food do people eat?

We try to be as sustainable and ethical in our food purchasing as possible. This means that the majority of our food is organic and local, We
cook most things from scratch, giving simple wholesome meals, and great learning. We almost always have a pizza night using our pizza oven, burgers and spaghetti bolognaise are popular
too. For breakfast we offer porridge, cereal, cornflakes or toast. For lunch we tend to make our own sandwiches from egg mayo, fish, cheese, humous, plus crisps,
fruit and tray bakes. Healthy snacks are always available. We will discuss the full menu with you when you book.
Please don’t send your child with lots of sweets, it goes against the message we are putting across about healthy eating, and also provides lots of energy for staying up all night and being grumpy the next day

#### Where do people sleep?

We have six cabins on site, each holding six people, with one specially adapted for disabled access. We work with school groups to group pupils for each cabin. If it’s a summer camp, we
work out the best groupings for that camp. The cabins are warm, comfortable, have space for storage and contain three bunk beds. The beds have simple mattresses, but we recommend
you bring a single bed sheet (for hygiene and comfort) and everyone needs to bring a sleeping bag and pillow.

#### Is there any unsupervised time?

For most groups of young people we will have ‘free time’ during the day, where adults are present but not hanging over the children, and they are left to find things to do, and games to
play. The rest of the time we are doing structured and supervised activities. Older groups will have some unsupervised time.

#### Are there male and female staff?

There are always male and female staff present during a trip to the Shieling Project.

#### Can I call my child when they are at the Shieling Project?

We talk with the school for school trips, to see if they have a communication policy. During summer camps, if you would like to you can send a phone with your child which we will keep
and hand out during the evening. However, in our experience, it is best not to phone too much, if at all – the young people are developing their resilience and independence during their visit,
and this is sometimes helped by a supportive and trusting holding back on the phone calls!

#### Is there provision for allergies and dietary needs?

We make every effort to meet people’s dietary needs, with non-milk alternatives, meat and dairy free options, and low or gluten free options. But we aren’t able to provide a large range of
choices, because we are focused on high quality (and higher cost) food. 

#### What are the staff ratios?

As per recommended guidelines, we have at least 1 member of staff to 10 visitors, but most of the time the ratio is much higher around 1:5.

#### Are there lots of ticks and midgies?

We are in an average area for the Highlands. We have a fair number of midgies during the summer, but definitely not as bad as places like Skye! We have built two really great spaces
(kitchen and hall) which are midge-proof where we can spend lots of time. We also supply extra midge nets if you don’t have one. 

There are ticks present here, just as there are all over the Highlands. We have been taking various measures to combat them, from putting on livestock which have been treated for ticks
(which attract the ticks and kill them), to reducing the height of the foliage, to fencing out the deer. However, there will always be ticks, and we suggest that children don’t roll on the ground,
and to tuck trousers into socks. Shorts aren’t a good idea. We also provide a space and guidance for removing ticks, with regular checks. You should check your child when they return
home too. This is all part of enjoying our amazing landscape, and a small price to pay for health and well-being (imagine if we were in Australia and had to deal with sharks, crocodiles, snakes,
and spiders!).

#### Where can people clean themselves?

We have sinks for hand-washing and teeth-cleaning all over the site. We spend a lot of time cleaning hands as we are mixing with mud and food! We have a wash tent, which provides cubicles with a simple camp shower for body washing. The best way to do this is a ‘flannel wash’ – a good skill to learn for wild camping and festivals, as well as saving huge
amounts of water.

#### What safety procedures do you have in place?

We are insured for all our activities, we have extensive risk assessment and policy and procedure documents which all staff follow, and review often. We complete updates in training
and best practice and have external advisors to help us maintain high standards of care and safety. All of our documents can be viewed on request. 

#### What happens to photographs of my child?

We take photographs during visits to the Shieling Project. They are mostly to document and illustrate learning. We also use these photos to share with our wider community the story of the
Shieling Project. If you do not want your child to be in photographs, please let us know, and we can arrange that.

#### How do you deal with risk at the Shieling Project?

Being outside, around fires, making things with saws and hammers – these are things which carry small risks. At the project we aim to manage these risks as safely as we can, but also to help people who come here to judge the risks and benefits for themselves. This makes them safer people. This also means that there will be inevitable slips and falls and small cuts. We
believe this is a part of learning, and to try to prevent them would be to stop the learning for the young person (and in fact make them less safe in the future). We hope you understand where we are coming from, but are happy to discuss this further with you.

#### What happens if my child wants to come home?

We will phone you immediately if we, or the child, feel that they need to come home. We will discuss the situation with you, try to take in everyone’s opinions and needs and then make an
action plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Practical Information

General information about food, accommodation and practicalities of visiting the Shieling Project