The feedback on this page is for all courses we have offered, including the Bleddfa Week of Storytelling which is not running this year.
A week in a glorious setting with storytelling facilitators who help everyone feel at ease and find ways for all to develop their skills.
Appreciated the warm learning environment that brought out the best in people and that encouraged much mutual support.
Really excellent, skilled facilitators working well together and being so open.
Good group bonding.
Humbling to watch stories growing from scratch to a stunning performance. I could not think of more attentive and affirmative teachers – they made us listen, work and learn, but also enjoy, laugh and dance!
The tutors are so generous, warm and energising; highly skilled storytellers and facilitators. Above all it is such good fun!
Being immersed for a week in story images was inspirational in a way I never would have expected, and watching the whole group develop in their storytelling was a pleasure and a privilege
I like the format of the week with two guest tutors, the performances, the workshops and the opportunity to perform to an audience is brilliant. Everyone is supportive and gets things done.
Having the chance to work with tutors who are such wonderful storytellers – and really different in style was just fantastic.
the difference the course made…
I am more confident generally about finding my own voice and path within storytelling, and can appreciate the many different styles there are, whilst recognizing the need to be true to myself.
I feel more aware of the connection between teller and listener and how fluid and dynamic that is.
Increased my confidence that I can self-critique and to trust my own instincts as to what works and what doesn’t
A welcoming and encouraging place to start my exploration of storytelling…
Inspiring, energizing, connecting and full of joy. A true road on the journey of storytelling.
Bleddfa storytelling course allows a teller to discover her own authenticity and self-expression… A transformative immersion into the world of traditional storytelling that warms the heart and feeds the soul. A magical week. An opportunity to be in a storytelling community for a week, to explore stories and storytellers in equal measure…Living and breathing a storytelling community. Wonderful teaching, wonderful sharing.
Magical journey, powerful learning, safe space in which to grow and jolly good fun…a good mixture of fun, lightheartedness and serious art crafting…I went from being a superficial storyteller to one who found a connection with myself, the story and the audience. Magic!
A uniquely relaxed and encouraging environment. A little camp on the journey to find oneself and what one can contribute by discovering the amazing power of storytelling.
A beautiful place, great teaching and stories, stories, stories
A week packed full with tutors who so generously shared their insights into the value and performance of stories.
Highly valuable course. Inspiring and very able leaders
A great storytelling experience…A glorious week, living in community and delving in a rich feast of tales…The week is a a perfect blend of community, performance, stimulating teaching and relaxation
A fantastic opportunity to learn alongside fellow storytellers and from inspirational professionals. Flexing our wings together! Space to grow in depth and skill.
I have been immersed this week in the magic of storytelling guided with love, experience and humour and such generosity of spirit. To be part of a group (with such varied knowledge and practice of storytelling) in such peaceful surroundings, working through many aspects of storytelling outside in to inside out, I feel has been transformational
Some participant feedback from 2014…
Excellent week… Very practical exercises and teaching of skills…completely in the service of getting to the heart of storytelling. Clear structure …with room for flexibility based on the group’s needs
Rich and varied workshop content Very experienced tutor who held and challenged the group.
I felt safe enough to take risks and the facilitators really listened and responded to the group as it changed and developed
A very safe space was created to enable and allow participants to deepen their storytelling skills be they beginners, seasoned or somewhere in between.
A wonderful week full of richness
A fantastic opportunity to learn alongside fellow storytellers and from inspirational professionals. Flexing our wings together! Space to grow in depth and skill.
Participant Feedback
I have been immersed this week in the magic of storytelling guided with love, experience and humour and such generosity of spirit. To be part of a group (with such varied knowledge and practice of storytelling) in such peaceful surroundings, working through many aspects of storytelling outside in to inside out, I feel has been transformational
Some participant feedback from 2014…
Excellent week… Very practical exercises and teaching of skills…completely in the service of getting to the heart of storytelling. Clear structure …with room for flexibility based on the group’s needs
Rich and varied workshop content Very experienced tutor who held and challenged the group. I felt safe enough to take risks and the facilitators really listened and responded to the group as it changed and developed
Although I didn’t realise it at the time, pitching my tent in the orchard at the Bleddfa Centre for the Storytelling School, run by facilitators Michael Harvey and Hazel Bradley, marked the beginning of a life-enhancing, life-changing week for me. I booked up with virtually no experience of storytelling but enough exposure to the craft to know that I wished to investigate more: I left with a pocket full of stories and the conviction that there was nothing I wanted more than to be a storyteller.While the course catered for tellers of all abilities, the workshops provided by Michael and Hazel, began by addressing fundamental techniques and questions. The sessions then built throughout the week and provided a novice with the skills and confidence to tell a story for the first time to a fee paying audience at the final nights Ceilidh. However, there was nothing prescriptive about the tuition on offer, and with the inclusion of workshops run by guest tellers, it soon became apparent that there was no single right way to approach storytelling.But what made the week at Bleddfa truly magical were the camaraderie, support and collaboration of my fellow participants. Without them a great week would have been merely good. Camping in the orchard, learning, cooking and living together with as diverse a bunch of people as you could wish to meet, made for a kind of hothouse atmosphere, in which the sharing of stories, experiences and knowledge flourished.Traditional stories are full of magic, and for one week at the beginning of August 2011 it seemed we existed in a magical world that was given over to the telling, exploration and enjoyment of stories. Thanks to Bleddfa, I made several life-long friends and began to find my storytelling voice. And thanks to Bleddfa, I now call myself a storyteller. Phil Okwedy
Course Participant Feedback
To tell stories, you need your body, your soul, your words, your memory, your brain, and a deep sense of joy and freedom… Nothing is forgotten in Bleddfa!
Be selfish. Raid the housekeeping and pay to go to Bleddfa. The return on your investment will be enormous.
The Best, the warmest, the most fun and Beneficial course (residential) I have ever been on – DEFINITELY…
I so enjoyed my week with you both. It was wonderful and restorative and interesting and creative and totally mind expanding.I want to come next year. Thank you for the most wonderful week ever.
Michael and Hazel don’t rush the sessions, nor pack too much in: there’s time to reflect and work on technique and to relax in the Powys countryside. The variety of the timetable provides a lot of stimulation and there is nearly as much time to tell and listen to stories – each other’s and those of guests – as there is to talk about the craft and polish one’s style…
A storytelling school to charm and encourage!
Bleddfa. A tiny hamlet on a bend in a road in mid Wales. Be careful of the tight bend as you drive and you won’t even know you’ve passed through. Go to the storytelling week at the converted barn – now a rather sophisticated arts centre – and you’ll have Bleddfa imprinted on your heart for ever…
I remember the Bleddfa Storytelling Week as a place of generous smiles, support, encouragement and friendship. Michael and Hazel’s style is informal and affirming and lots of fun. Their individual skills complement well and their open personalities invite the best input from the participants.
Every morning Hazel and Michael, gently led us in numerous story based activities, encouraging us all to unfold into a realm usually far away, but now infinitely inviting, a realm of imagination and the profound reality which grows from that encounter. There were also guest teachers, well known storytellers, who shared their insights with us, further adding to the richness of the course. We moved, mimed, hummed and muttered, in our journey to find our storytelling identity. We had time to tell, time to listen, time to learn and time to reflect. We had the chance to just find our voices and to know that yes, I can stand up in front of everybody, and yes I have got the voice. I can do it.
A wonderful week, – plenty of fun and very encouraging for relative beginner.
Living in story for a week – freeing my soul, imagination and body! I feel truly nourished. Thank you!
A very good week to fall in love with storytelling!
To tell stories, you need your body, your soul, your words, your memory, your brain, and a deep sense of joy and freedom… Nothing is forgotten in Bleddfa!
Les animateurs nous enchantent par leurs contes… Ils transmettent leur passion. Avec respect et délicatesse ils nous donnent confiance. The facilitators enchanted is with their stories. They passed on their passion and gave us confidence with subtlety and respect.
The week showed me at least two things : how to tell stories in my own way… And How to be part of that immense tradition !
I wondered if storytelling was for me… I discovered that storytelling was in me ! Thanks!
The week of storytelling at Bleddfa was an amazing, life-giving experience which released in me new and unsuspected energies and a deep appreciation for the power and importance of stories.
I discovered how thirsty is my imagination. Stories, and storytelling, feed the imagination, which needs exercise as much as hands, head and heart.
A really excellent course which I will remember for a long time. A dazzling and comprehensive and enjoyable introduction to the world of stories and storytelling.
Course content inquiries: Michael Harvey Tel +44 (0)7812 166138 michael@michaelharvey.org
Storytelling at Bleddfa 
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