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Spend 12 weeks with us and leave with the skills you need for a career working in nature.

Accessing employment in conservation is tough. Higher education often struggles to provide the practical skills that employers demand. Our mission is to fill this skills gap.

Ambios offers a comprehensive residential training programme based on 130 acres of conservation farmland on the banks of South Devon’s River Dart. Over three months you’ll be immersed in education and learning experiences that will allow you to build the skills you need to move ahead with your career in nature conservation. We do this living and working as a community, farming the land while being committed to its ecological recovery.

This unique formula really works – as proven by our alumni who have a successful track record of moving into jobs within the conservation sector in the UK.

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Spend 12 weeks with us and leave with the skills you need for a career working in nature.

Accessing employment in conservation is tough. Higher education often struggles to provide the practical skills that employers demand. Our mission is to fill this skills gap.

Ambios offers a comprehensive residential training programme based on 130 acres of conservation farmland on the banks of South Devon’s River Dart. Over three months you’ll be immersed in education and learning experiences that will allow you to build the skills you need to move ahead with your career in nature conservation. We do this living and working as a community, farming the land while being committed to its ecological recovery.

This unique formula really works – as proven by our alumni who have a successful track record of moving into jobs within the conservation sector in the UK.

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Lower Sharpham Farm, Ashprington, Totnes. TQ9 7DX.

We run 3 residentials a year in Spring, Summer and Autumn. Eight places are available in each cohort. All accommodation, food and tuition is provided throughout the 12 week course.

Ambios are a team of professional scientists, land managers and nature conservation educators with a 30 year track record. We have a range of skills that will support your placement, train you and enhance your learning experience by working alongside you to run the farm and share our knowledge.

Autumn 2022: 3rd October – 23rd December.
Spring 2023: 20th March – 9th June
Summer 2023: 26th June – 15th September
Autumn 2023: 2nd October – 22nd December

Residential training is perfect for:

Recent graduates needing practical skills to kick start their career
Someone considering a change of career into the conservation sector
Anyone looking for a unique experience immersed in the natural world

We operate an open recruitment policy and welcome applications from all.

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Training with Ambios

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We have two complementary strategies for restoring this part of the Estate.  In 2020, the Sharpham Trust secured a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for developing rewilding education and outreach programmes resulting in the Sharpham Wild for People project.  Then in 2021, we entered into a 5 year Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship agreement which supports us in the recovery of the countryside for future generations.  

This work sees us:

  • echo some of the elements of the historic parkland and a naturalistic landscape
  • make more space for wildlife and take action for nature
  • assist in turning the Sharpham Estate organic
  • re-wild parts of our historic landscape
  • help more people engage with nature here

We’re doing this by:

  • reducing grazing with a diversified range of animals who mimic natural grazing, encouraging enrichment of vegetation
  • planting new native trees in great numbers to restore the 19th century parkland
  • ecological monitoring of birds, bats, mammals, reptiles, butterflies, earthworms and soil chemistry to demonstrate the ecological benefits of rewilding
  • Offer volunteer opportunities, traineeships, walks and talks and visits for school groups to engage with our work

Practical Conservation Courses

Breaking into a career in nature often requires practical skills and lived experiences – yet gaining these can be very difficult.  Our residential, real world, experiential traineeships provide practical skills alongside theoretical learning.  We’re able to do this as a learning community within our working farm in the beautiful River Dart Valley, South Devon. Our courses have been created to give you the tools you need to secure employment within the conservation sector. 

Restoring natural landscapes

We actively work to reprioritise the value of nature, encouraging an abundance of wildlife habitats and restoring ecosystems. At our farm on the Sharpham Estate, and in our partnerships and projects, we strive to create more space for nature. We mentor and inspire the next generation of conservation professionals by providing a relevant and real world learning environment.  Hope is here, and much can be achieved when we work together.

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