I'll be interested in your comments after you've been.
We attended a five-day residential course, "Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape" at Flatford Mill (
http://www.field-studies-council.org/centres/flatfordmill.aspx) in 2007, also led by Oliver Rackham.
Overall it was very good with most days comprising classroom lectures and a field trip. Some of the classroom lecture sessions were perhaps too long. Ignoring the evidence that people retain most knowledge when presented with it in short bursts, some of them went on for many hours with only a brief break. I'd also suggest that while Professor Rackham is obviously extremely knowledgable and his books gain excellent reviews, his style of presentation in the classroom could benefit from some adjustment - he could talk at length without seemingly being aware of any of the signals/cues/feedback coming from the audience. I recall after a few days, we protested at the end of one long afternoon classroom session, the attendees stating that the after-dinner evening lecture would be replaced by a walk to the local pub where we would be delighted to provide the professor with his drinks at our expense. He agreed most readily and we had a delightful evening of chat and tales instead.
