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THE PROGRAMME

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THE PROGRAMME

Now in its 21st year, this five-weekend programme entails the telling of myths or fairy tales by Dr. Martin Shaw, and then study and response to it. Over the gatherings a braided knot of relationship is formed between the story of your own life and the great ocean of these epic tales. The atmosphere is studious and lively in appropriate measure. It’s a migratory voyage through the grandeur of language, mythos and place. See below for a new programme of weekends for 2025.

Dartmoor School of Myth Manor House

The Singing Bone

Myths That Make Us

A new programme of weekends with Dr Martin Shaw

This year the School of Myth is offering a programme of five residential weekends that will run as a series or standalone. Covering stories and ideas both loved and fresh to Martin, they promise to be a spellbinding immersion into the ways both myth and place talk to each other. In each gathering, there will also be an opportunity to learn a folk tale to take home yourself. This will be a voyage across a landscape, with strong threads running through the weekends for those who choose to attend them all.

These weekends offer a unique opportunity to work with a master storyteller on his home ground of Dartmoor. See below for descriptions of each weekend, and scroll down for fees and schedule information.

Please note these weekends are in-person attendance only. They are open to participants who are new to the School and to those who have previously attended courses.

The Singing Bone

Myths That Make Us

A new programme of weekends with Dr Martin Shaw

This year the School of Myth is offering a programme of five residential weekends that will run as a series or standalone. Covering stories and ideas both loved and fresh to Martin, they promise to be a spellbinding immersion into the ways both myth and place talk to each other. In each gathering, there will also be an opportunity to learn a folk tale to take home yourself. This will be a voyage across a landscape, with strong threads running through the weekends for those who choose to attend them all.

These weekends offer a unique opportunity to work with a master storyteller on his home ground of Dartmoor. See below for descriptions of each weekend, and scroll down for fees and schedule information.

Please note these weekends are in-person attendance only. They are open to participants who are new to the School and to those who have previously attended courses.

The Programme
The Programme

September 5th – 7th 2025

The Hazel Bush & the Magic Hour

A weekend exploring the mysteries and grandeur of the Celtic and Arthurian traditions. From the Invasion Tales of Ancient Ireland to the magic of Deirdre of the Sorrows, through to lesser-known gems of the Arthurian cannon. This is a masterclass into a world filled with fairies, quests and adventure. Alongside the stories will be readings from bardic sources and some exploration of the Irish philosopher John Moriarty.

Scroll down for fees and schedule information.

November 7th – 9th 2025

The Red, The Black & The White

The genius of the fairy tale – a gathering dedicated to the compact vitality of this wonderful folk tradition. Martin will be revisiting some of his favourite stories while introducing some that are quite new to him. What separates a fairy tale from a myth from a folk tale or epic? Alongside the stories, Martin will unpack classic motifs and themes from the tradition.

Scroll down for fees and schedule information.

December 12th – 14th 2025

Wild Christ

A weekend of Christian Wonder Tales. From stories of the early saints through to Joseph venturing through the Underworld in Egypt, to tales of Yeshua himself, what do these amazing stories tell us about how to live? Martin brings 30 years of exploring myth and story to the immensity and mystery of the Christian tradition.

With guests Dr Rowan Williams, Mark Vernon, Heather Pollington & Natasha Kozaily.

Scroll down for fees and schedule information.

February 6th – 8th 2026

Bearskin

A gathering for men, exploring myths and stories that underpin masculine consciousness in its most elevated form. We will learn from myth and folk tale of the Chivalric tradition, and the concept of Noblesse Oblige. This brings much of Martin’s previous work with Robert Bly, Maildoma Somé, Daniel Deardorff and many others into new ground. What does mythopoetic work have to say to us in the 21st Century?

Scroll down for fees and schedule information.

March 27th – 29th 2026

Red Bead Woman

Our final weekend is to follow an ecological thread into the heart of the mythic. We explore stories that talk about a world that thinks in myth. These are tales that invigorate us with narratives far from the city gates, that are strange and redemptive, enabling us a sophisticated kind of hope in troubled times.

Scroll down for fees and schedule information.

September 5th – 7th 2025

The Hazel Bush & the Magic Hour

A weekend exploring the mysteries and grandeur of the Celtic and Arthurian traditions. From the Invasion Tales of Ancient Ireland to the magic of Deirdre of the Sorrows, through to lesser-known gems of the Arthurian cannon. This is a masterclass into a world filled with fairies, quests and adventure. Alongside the stories will be readings from bardic sources and some exploration of the Irish philosopher John Moriarty.

Scroll down for fees and schedule information.

November 7th – 9th 2025

The Red, The Black & The White

The genius of the fairy tale – a gathering dedicated to the compact vitality of this wonderful folk tradition. Martin will be revisiting some of his favourite stories while introducing some that are quite new to him. What separates a fairy tale from a myth from a folk tale or epic? Alongside the stories, Martin will unpack classic motifs and themes from the tradition.

Scroll down for fees and schedule information.

December 12th – 14th 2025

Wild Christ

A weekend of Christian Wonder Tales. From stories of the early saints through to Joseph venturing through the Underworld in Egypt, to tales of Yeshua himself, what do these amazing stories tell us about how to live? Martin brings 30 years of exploring myth and story to the immensity and mystery of the Christian tradition.

With guests Dr Rowan Williams, Mark Vernon, Heather Pollington & Natasha Kozaily.

Scroll down for fees and schedule information.

February 6th – 8th 2026

Bearskin

A gathering for men, exploring myths and stories that underpin masculine consciousness in its most elevated form. We will learn from myth and folk tale of the Chivalric tradition, and the concept of Noblesse Oblige. This brings much of Martin’s previous work with Robert Bly, Maildoma Somé, Daniel Deardorff and many others into new ground. What does mythopoetic work have to say to us in the 21st Century?

Scroll down for fees and schedule information.

March 27th – 29th 2026

Red Bead Woman

Our final weekend is to follow an ecological thread into the heart of the mythic. We explore stories that talk about a world that thinks in myth. These are tales that invigorate us with narratives far from the city gates, that are strange and redemptive, enabling us a sophisticated kind of hope in troubled times.

Scroll down for fees and schedule information.

Piano playing
Holiday on the Moor

Schedule

Mornings

In the mornings Martin teaches from 9am to approaching 1pm. This is a combination of story, ideas, poetry and back and forth conversation.

Afternoons

The afternoons are spent in small groups facilitated by the school’s core team, and then on the land exploring writing tasks Martin has suggested.

Evenings

There will be an optional 5pm lecture, food shared together and an evening of entertainment, including time outside around a fire.

Included

 

Fees for each weekend include all teaching, accommodation, evening meals on Fridays and Saturdays, simple buffet breakfasts on Saturdays and Sundays, and all beverages. Meals will be vegetarian, local and seasonal where possible, cooked on site by a chef and School of Myth team.

Our base is an old manor house, and accommodation is mostly in shared rooms of up to six people. The budget beds are bunk beds in these shared rooms. There are a few single person and two-person rooms.

If fully booked there will be 60 participants at each weekend.

No experience of storytelling is needed and there is no performance aspect to these weekends.

Fees For Each Weekend

(Including VAT at 20 per cent)

Budget shared room: a bunk bed in a standard shared room: £510

Standard shared room: sharing with up to 6 others (single sex): £534

Twin/Triple: sharing a room with one (or two) others: £570

Double: there are a few rooms for couples, sharing a double bed: £570

Single: there are a few rooms for one person: £648

Please see Terms and Conditions of Service.

Schedule

Mornings

In the mornings Martin teaches from 9am to approaching 1pm. This is a combination of story, ideas, poetry and back and forth conversation.

Afternoons

The afternoons are spent in small groups facilitated by the school’s core team, and then on the land exploring writing tasks Martin has suggested.

Evenings

There will be an optional 5pm lecture, food shared together and an evening of entertainment, including time outside around a fire.

Included

 

Fees for each weekend include all teaching, accommodation, evening meals on Fridays and Saturdays, simple buffet breakfasts on Saturdays and Sundays, and all beverages. Meals will be vegetarian, local and seasonal where possible, cooked on site by a chef and School of Myth team.

Our base is an old manor house, and accommodation is mostly in shared rooms of up to six people. The budget beds are bunk beds in these shared rooms. There are a few single person and two-person rooms.

If fully booked there will be 60 participants at each weekend.

No experience of storytelling is needed and there is no performance aspect to these weekends.

Fees For Each Weekend

(Including VAT at 20 per cent)

Budget shared room: a bunk bed in a standard shared room: £510

Standard shared room: sharing with up to 6 others (single sex): £534

Twin/Triple: sharing a room with one (or two) others: £570

Double: there are a few rooms for couples, sharing a double bed: £570

Single: there are a few rooms for one person: £648

Please see Terms and Conditions of Service.

Enquiries

For enquiries and booking please email tina@schoolofmyth.com.