Recreating Extremadura!A Nature Writing Holiday in Central Spain!Sunday 31 January – Saturday 6 February 2016!

It is hard to think of a more perfect location for this writing holiday. Extremadura holds some of the richest landscapes not just in Spain but in all Europe - a blend of ancient agriculture, kaleidoscopic natural beauty and astonishing wildlife diversity. The region's steppes and unique oak parklands, known as dehesas, extend to a far horizon and have a history stretching back well before Roman times. They are a wonderful cultural landscape in their own right, but they are also home to some of the world's rarest animals, such as great and little bustards, Spanish imperial eagle and black vulture, which are often present in numbers matched nowhere else on Earth.! !When the course begins we’ll already get a taste of the coming spring. Extremadura's larks will be singing and the carpets of flowers will have just begun to bloom. Yet there will still be snow on the Gredos Mountains and the massive winter flocks of cranes will be feeding in the rice fields, offering us a chance to see one of the continent's most dramatic natural spectacles. Over the week we'll be immersed in all that this glorious region has to offer. We will carefully explore how nature works, but also examine ways to express our encounters in words and images. It is a holiday for beginners wishing to develop new skills, right through to established writers looking to hone their work or to discover new approaches. Nature writing has never been more popular yet an ability to evoke mood, atmosphere, place and natural setting are part of the very foundation of writing, whether memoir, fiction or poetry. The exercises and tutorials are designed to enrich all kinds of written expression that draw specifically on our natural surroundings. After the piercing blue winter skies of Extremadura, we promise - the natural world will look a clearer and more absorbing place.

Your Tutors!!Mark Cocker is an acclaimed author and naturalist. For 30 years he has written the Guardian Country Diary, while his ten books include works of biography, history, literary criticism and memoir. The latest are Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet (2014) and Birds and People, which received worldwide praise in 2013 and was a collaboration with the photographer David Tipling. He is a pioneer in the teaching of nature writing and runs short private courses at his own small wooded fen Blackwater Carr in Norfolk.!!!

Casa Rural el Recuerdo

For the last decade Claudia and Martin Kelsey have been welcoming guests from all over the world to their carefully restored traditional farmhouse. It has a comfortable and homely ambience, all rooms are en suite, while the sitting room has an open log fire. All the food is home prepared and reflects the hosts’ fascination with local cuisine, featuring their home-made bread and home-grown fruit and vegetables. The house is surrounded by a quiet garden environment with a swimming pool and extensive olive groves. All around there are many easy walks taking you into the traditional dehesa landscape with extensive views to the wood groves and plains beyond.

Martin Kelsey has been fascinated by nature since childhood and studied ecology at university. While based at the famous Edward Grey Institute in Oxford he conducted fieldwork in southern Zambia and the Colombian Amazon, where he met his wife Claudia. For 15 years Martin worked in many countries for charities including BirdLife International and Save the Children. He was awarded an OBE in 2001. He has written scientific papers, articles and contributed to several books. Martin has been sharing with guests his deep love and knowledge of Extremadura since 2004.

Prices

£1075 per person (£144 discount per person for shared rooms). This includes transport to and from Madrid, all excursions, accommodation, meals and all tuition (not included: private purchases, drinks with meals and snacks or drinks during transfers and excursions.)

For all inquiries about the holiday email: info@birdingextremadura.com For further information see our websites: www.casaruralelrecuerdo.com www.markcocker.com