Learn to make a book...

Whether it’s a travel journal, a diary or a present for a special occasion, a handmade book is an object of beauty. Just ask Sarah Bryant, whose love of letterpress printing and bookbinding has seen her teach book art classes all over her native America and led to her own work being displayed in institutions including Harvard University and the New York Public Library.

Now resident in Brighton, she is passing on her skills through a range of hands-on courses. She is currently taking bookings for a class at the Phoenix Arts Centre, Grand Parade, on June 2 where she will share the basics of bookbinding and look at how altering and combining techniques can produce exciting results.

Students will be introduced to the basic tools and terminology of bookbinding and will leave with several handmade books of their own, along with the skills to produce more.

  • Simple Books: Innovative Structures takes place from 11.30am on June 2 and costs £35 per person. Find out more at phoenixbrighton.org.

Forage for your lunch...

If you think flowers are just for displaying in vases, prepare to have your mind changed on one of Iona Fraser’s foraging courses. The first part of the day is spent identifying and collecting edible flowers, leaves or fruits in the Ashdown Forest, followed by a lunch cooked over an open fire.

In the afternoon, students learn recipes and cooking techniques to turn what they have collected into a gourmet meal or store cupboard treats such as pickled wild garlic buds, hawthorn ketchup and rosehip syrup.

Should you develop a taste for wild food, she also runs courses on turning elderflowers and other flowers into wine and “champagne” and identifying edible mushrooms.

“I think there’s nothing as fun as getting outdoors and getting your hands dirty, whether trying field butchery, making jam on a fire or studying colourful and slimy funghi. You’re guaranteed to come away with an experience that will change the way you look at the world around you,” says Fraser.

  • A foraging and hedgerow preserving course takes place on May 5. Hedgerow brewing is on June 5. Courses cost £60 per person. For more information, visit ashdownforage.co.uk.

Join a choir...

Singing offers a range of benefits both physical and psychological and it’s never been more fashionable. None-theless, many of us are far too shy to give it a go, concerned that we might be tone deaf or just a bit rubbish.

Sussex’s numerous community choirs are well aware of this but specialise in building people’s confidence with an open-access policy and laidback attitude.

Bellacapella, which runs at Westergate Community School, Chichester, every Monday during term time, invites anyone to turn up and join in, with no auditions and no experience necessary.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Thomas of Brighton’s Soul Of The City choir (pictured above) refuses to believe there’s anyone out there who can’t sing with a little encouragement, and Mid Sussex Choir – one of the county’s longest-established – also welcomes singers of all abilities to its weekly meetings in Perrymont Road Methodist Church in Haywards Heath. Be brave and reap the rewards.

  • For more information, visit bellacappella.moonfruit.com, soulofthecitychoir.com and midsussexchoir.org.uk.

Become a butcher...

As we become more interested in what we eat and the number of traditional butchers dwindles, interest in home butchery has grown.

Courses have sprung up all over the country to equip home cooks with the skills needed to prepare sausages, chops and everything else in between.

Plumpton College runs a farm training kitchen in Netherfield, near Battle, where students can take part in a range of one and two-day courses in preparing lamb, pork, chicken, beef or venison.

Contrary to what many believe, butchery doesn’t require much equipment, just a kitchen table, chopping board and knife, and the range of products that can be made is vast.

While some students want to learn the full range of skills, others come just to make their own sausages or cured meats. It also offers financial benefits; carving and curing one’s own meat is reported to slice the cost of delicacies such as pancetta by up to two-thirds and even restaurant chefs prefer to use DIY methods to save money.

  • To find out more about the courses, visit thenether fieldcentre.co.uk.