Get involved in our Grinbygg strawbale bunkhouse build community building project @ the Land Skills Hub Fivepenny Farm, Dorset
The Land Skills Hub is a not for profit activist centre dedicated to the sharing of practical and political skills connecting people to the land and community. All of the natural building projects at the land skills hub have been built by our community through low cost courses and community volunteering opportunities using popular education methods accessible to a wide range of levels of experience.
We need a bunkhouse to be able to put people up during our events and courses, so have decided to dedicate this spring to a series of learning opportunities, which will also get our bunkhouse built as a long term asset for the movement.
Read more about it and get involved here.
Plastering course
Paid course (£250) 4th-6th July
María Sierra Sánchez is an architect and educator specialising in natural building and regenerative architecture. She has hands-on experience working with earth and straw, teaching and building with these materials across the UK, Europe, and Latin America. Founder of Senda Design and an active EBUKI member, María collaborates with organisations like the Centre for Alternative Technology to place earth at the core of the regenerative transition.
María's courses offer immersive, learning-by-doing experiences in earth plastering—from sourcing and testing local subsoils to mixing, applying, and finishing. Her teaching methods, refined during her MSc research, empower both beginners and professionals to gain practical skills, autonomy, and self-sufficiency. Beyond the skills, she helps people rediscover the beauty of using the earth beneath our feet—connecting with the land and embracing the human instinct of building with mud.
You can find more of what she does with mud on her Instagram or website.
Past events
11-12th June 2025
Land Justice talks
In June we were lucky to host Keralan activist C K Janu, who shared her experience of campaigning for land justice in India and helped inspire discussion about access to land in the UK.
April-May 2025
Timber framing courses
From April to May we had 3 separate week long courses in roundwood timber framing for the Norwegian ‘grindbygg’ system.
Richard Andersen led the build sharing knowledge of building techniques, combining modern roundwood timber framing methods with the ancient system of “grindbygg”. This framing system was developed by and for farmers to be a fast, strong and durable structure for barns, outhouses, and even dwellings.
April 13th 2025
Lucy and Hazel gig
We enjoyed a magical afternoon in the sun and roast dinner, followed by a fundraising gig by Sheffield-based queer folk duo Lucy and Hazel. They charmed audiences with self penned folk laced with humour, harmonies and heartache. With influences drawn from a lifetime steeped in traditional English and European folk music, song and dance, Lucy Huzzard and Hazel Thompson combine a love of groove, soulful raw harmonies and passionate song writing to give you hope in these strange times.
21st December 2024✨
Solstice Celebration ✨
Join us for our annual potluck feast and solstice celebration. Singing, ceremony, and dancing to the amazing Skalatans band to celebrate the coming of the light
19th-21st December 2024
Wool, whittle, and wallop
Join us for a few days of winter craftmaking before the longest night of the year.
9th - 13th October 2024
Apples, Art, and Anarchy
Come join us at Fivepenny's Land Skills Hub steering group meeting and apple pressing session - it's gonna be a mix of learning and chaos!
9th - 18th August 2024
Plums, Ponds and Politics
Join us for a week of plotting politics, picking plums, building ponds and playing! Plus Plums, Ponds and Politics PARTY! Featuring KMT Freedom Teacher & Soul Sanctuary, growing, workshops, farm tour, forestry, natural building, crafts & more!
