Arvon Course, Lumb Bank December 2005

In December 2005 I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend an Arvon course at Lumb Bank, Hebden Bridge. I would recommend this to anyone who is wants to improve their writing, and sometimes find that at home real life, domestic commitments, friends, family and work just get in the way of being able to find time to write. Sometimes we can manage to fit in a little writing here and there, but what about when this isn’t enough, when even that little time becomes hi-jacked by pressures of home and work life? Many writers reading this will already be familiar with Arvon and the range of courses it has to offer, but I am including a guide to what an Arvon entails for those who have never been and are considering it

So what’s the deal with Arvon?

Understandably, you are cautious about the notion of Arvon. If you are practically minded you will be looking at the £460 price tag for a 5 day stint, and doing the maths of how many days you could spend in Europe with an easy jet flight for that sort of fee (this crossed my mind, but since I couldn’t go to Europe alone I reckoned I’d get a lot less writing out of it!) I was fortunate in that I managed to get funding from the arts council to attend an Arvon (a lot of people don’t realise you can apply for money for this, and I didn’t either, as soon as I found out I applied- so it’s worth a go.) The first thing is to get a brochure or visit the site to see what courses are on offer. Once you find one that is of interest to you, and you believe you would get the most from for your writing, you may be wondering about what actually happens once you are there and what the deal is.

There are 4 different Arvon sites, and I have attended two of them over the years. My favourite is Lumb Bank, not only because of the beautiful location (as I understand that all the Arvon sites are in remote locations) but because it offers a great deal of space and resources upon the site. There are 14 computers in the old barn, for your use, and the layout of the house means that there is usually a quiet spot you can find to sit and read or write without being surrounded by other people, if you don’t want to be confined to your room. The other Arvon I attended was a few years ago at Monjack moor, Inverness, which was also beautiful, but I found I did a lot less writing there because the layout of the house is such that the living and dining area are in one big room, which is also where the only computer in the building is. Thus, it was difficult to get access to the PC, and even then there was always people about which I found distracting. It depends on what suits you, and how you like to write.

Ok, so once you have got there (be sure to download an AA map first if you can, as the map given by the centre isn’t that great, and try to arrive when it is still daylight, as the turn off to the house is really easy to miss in the dark) what happens? At about 6 ‘o clock participants on the course will meet up in the living room, and the centre director Steve will come to tell you the rules of the house etc. What times writing workshops start will vary depending on your tutors, but usually workshops will start at 10am, with an hour lunch break at 1. The course I went on in December then had more workshops at 2-4, though some tutors will use the afternoons as time for one to one tutorials about your work, and this time will be free writing time for you to develop what you began in the workshop. The centre director will sort the meals out on the first night, and tell you that people have to go in groups to make the evening meal. The amount of students on Arvon courses varies from around 12 -16 people, so the size of cooks groups will vary. If you are like me the thought of having to cook for 18 people will be terrifying, unless you are allowed to serve toast, but to be honest the cooking rota is fine. The group of cooks you are with will only have to cook one night of the week, and also do the dishes on a night they are not cooking. The food you will make is all recipe carded out with the ingredients ready and quantities marked out for you to follow, there are about 4 of you doing it so it’s not bad. If you are lucky there will be at least one member of the cooks group who isn’t phased by cooking and will just tell you what to do (although one time I did have the situation of being the only woman in the group and having all the other cooks look at me expecting me to tell them what to do, which is a little daunting!)

Beware that unless you pay extra for your own room you will be expected to share a room. The bedrooms are nice, and simple, a bed, some drawers, and a desk for you to write at, and a view of a lot of sky and trees for your money- which is all you need. Also you have been warned that there is no TV, or radio at Arvon, which may seem a little worrying at first. Also, and this is what more of you will find scary, there is no internet on site. What? Maybe at first this will be a terrifying prospect but the beauty of Arvon is that after you have been there a day you really do stop thinking about the world you have left behind, and just get on with the writing. I found that there were times when I was tired and on my own when I felt I would turn on the TV if it was there and just veg out, but because it wasn’t there I got out my pen instead.

My little room at Lumb Bank

Everyone will have of course a different experience of Arvon, depending on how well you are able to mix with people and talk to them, I felt a little strange being the only Northerner at the course, and the only person who didn’t have a “proper job”, this wasn’t helped by the fact that I am too shy to ask people questions and make friends, but in terms of writing this didn’t prove to be a bad thing. I did a lot of writing, and if that is what you are after you can do no better. I was also really energised by listening to the conversations people had about poetry, that after the work of the day was done people would be sitting around talking about the work of great poets, and reading out poems by Ted Hughes etc. To be honest I had forgot about him, forgot about poems I loved by other people because it was a while since I’d had time to read them, but I came home not only with lots of new work of my own but a hunger to read more poetry, and to re visit old favourites.