We invite you to join us on a three-day / four-night adventure in one of the most stunning parts of Spain.  We'll be staying in a large, comfortable private house in the Sierra de Aracena, a beautiful national park 100 km north-west of Seville, 50 km from the Portuguese border.

We describe the advanced course as a journey of the imagination because engaging imaginatively with the experience of being in a foreign place will act as a powerful creative stimulus for your business and personal thinking and writing (just consider, for example, that Aracena is only 150 miles from Africa as the vulture flies; or that the Spanish Civil War is still within living memory of many local people).

The advanced course is primarily designed to build on work begun on the foundation course.  Priority will be given to people who have already been on the foundation course.

The starting point will be what you can find out about the local area, its businesses, people and culture.  You will use this raw material to inspire your writing.  You will work in groups of up to four people, with a tutor leading each group.   There will be three main elements to the course:

Research – we have a number of English-speaking contacts in the Aracena area who work in agriculture, tourism, the food industries and the arts.   They will be available to brief us on these and other aspects of local life.

Group creative projects – to take this raw research material and interpret it in new and original ways that expand your creative thinking and show some aspect of Andalucian life in a fresh light.

Personal pieces – to write something that is a personal, creative response to some aspect of the experience of being in Andalucia.

The aim of the course will be to give your business writing the kind of reinvigoration that you will have experienced from the Dark Angels Foundation Courses.  But, in line with those same principles, we aim to do so by encouraging a more personal approach to business writing.

It's our fundamental belief that the more personally engaging you make your writing, the more effective it will be.  We want you to come away saying "that was fantastic fun" but also "that really worked".

This is the Spanish home of writer Robin Pilcher, and centre for the Pilcher Foundation for Creative Writing.  A working chestnut farm, it is surrounded by the cork and oak forests, olive groves and wooded mountains of the Sierra de Aracena, a beautiful national park 90 km north-west of Seville and 50 km from the Portuguese border.

Nearby Aracena (population 7,000) is a small but thriving local centre of business and culture, dominated by a hilltop castle and church.  The whole area is steeped in history (the Moors were driven out of Aracena by the Portuguese in 1251 AD).  We'll be spending one of the four evenings in Aracena.

Accommodation – Finca el Tornero de Abajo is an extremely comfortable private house that can sleep up to a dozen people in five twin and two single rooms.  Most but not all of the rooms have en suite facilities (shower or bath). 

We will allocate the rooms on a first come first served basis.  You can request a single room and if numbers permit you will be given one, but we can't guarantee it.  It's part of the Dark Angels ethos that people should be prepared to share.

Food and drink – Breakfast and lunch will be help-yourself meals from fresh local produce brought in daily.  The evening meal will be prepared for us.

The price of the course includes all food apart from one evening meal in Aracena, and all soft drinks, tea and coffee.  Wine will be charged at £5 per bottle.

A little light work in the kitchen is also part of the Dark Angels ethos and we hope that people will be happy to take their turn preparing meals, laying the table, clearing up and stacking the dishwasher.

Weather – It will still be warm in late September with daytime temperatures around 24° C (75° F), the nights cool and comfortable.  The house has a large swimming pool.  There are several shaded outdoor areas for working.

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