You’ll enjoy perusing the pick of the photographic exhibition on Friday night in Murrurundi, and then spend Saturday taking photos around the beautiful landscape of Fernleigh, guided by a local, with some helpful tips from the judge of the competition.

View the accommodation and get in touch if you’d be interested in attending.

[events]

I’ve just come back to Fernleigh. Last weekend, we ran a weekend NLP course with my guru, Sue Knight.

Sue Knight

I met Sue in India when I started my NLP training. She’s calming, perceptive and I noticed that when she talks, people change. She gets results. She uplifts people.

I wanted some of that, so I set out to follow what she does.

Sue has a way of giving feedback, she tells me challenging things, about my behavior and how it might change, in compelling ways that makes me inclined to pay attention and comply.

On our way to Fernleigh, as we wound our way along the luscious and green Broke road, past the quaint town of Wollombi, her advice was: ‘Ask more questions;’ ‘Do less work’, which I think means ‘Talk less’ and ‘Let people discover for themselves’ I spent the weekend trying to follow that much-needed guidance.

I am sometimes tempted to reject suggestions because they were suggested to me, and I realized this was also true of some people that I coach. I began to see how much other people could learn from being asked a question rather than told an answer.

We arrived at Fernleigh – and I my heart lifted. I love this place, I’m privileged to have it and I live to share it with people.

It was so green, I’ve never seen it so fertile. We went for a drive, and up on the plains atop the mountain, the grass was so thick and high that it felt like swimming through an ocean of rippling seaweed. The gardens were a kaleidoscope of colour, the trees fluttering with noisy Australian birds.

The delegates were very interesting, the varying levels of experience that were able to teach one another the techniques while learning more about it themselves. I love the model of organic learning, challenging people and nurturing them, letting them grow.

It was a budding, sprouting, haphazard growth of all kinds – for me, for the delegates it was a top up, or for others an introduction, but we all got a feeling that we’ve started something here. We’ve made a new beginning.

So happy. Can’t wait for the next one!

Sue Knight

International trainer, author and awesome example of NLP will be running an introduction to NLP at Fernleigh Academy on November 27th & 28th.

Sue pioneered the application of NLP into the business world, and it is now used extensively in sales, negotiation and HR. She is a living example of the positive effect of NLP, she is a perceptive and receptive leader, insightful coach and inspirational teacher.

Our special introductory offer: $1000 for premium double rooms and $500 for basic rooms, tuition and food included. This is a rare offer, and places are limited. For that reason, please be aware the not all applicants will be offered a place. Please use the contact form to e-mail us, telling us a bit about yourself and why you’d like to attend. In some cases, we’ll welcome your spouse or partner to attend for free.

Guests will be welcome to arrive from the night of the 26th, and leaving the afternoon/evening of the 28th.

Sue will be assisted by Harry Key, Bollywood actor and provocative voice coach, who teaches confidence and influence through the power of speech. The areas that will be covered in the course include:

• Modeling: This is ‘pure’ NLP: The practice of recognizing excellence and replicating it for yourself.
• Rapport: Observing and matching someone to create a receptive state in in them (very useful in sales)
• Anchoring: Attaching thoughts or feelings to a touch, gesture or sound – like that smell that reminds you of your childhood.
• Language patterns: Learn to listen not to what someone says, but to how they say it for insights into their motivations.
• Timelines: Accessing someone’s past to alter their present state
• Hypnotic language: Subtly nuanced communication has a powerful effect on the listener
• Humour: How to heal with humour: Provocative coaching (always a confronting favourite)

It’s also likely that royal physio and author Sarah Key will be in attendance as a model of excellence. It will be a remarkable weekend for those fortunate enough to attend.

See you there!

Fernleigh is a large, working cattle station that sits in the gorgeous Upper Hunter Valley, New South Wales – about an hour out of the quiet town of Scone.

Hours from the hubbub of the city, it’s the perfect place to enter a reflective mood. The close connection with nature allows people who come there to reattach themselves to the earth and appreciate their own humanity. The isolation also offers a unique opportunity to connect with other participants in an intense and meaningful way – we often find that our guests to Fernleigh become friends for life.

Our newly built facilities include a lecture hall, 8 deluxe and 4 standard rooms. All food is prepared by Kerrie, who lovingly cooks sumptuous meals, often from home-grown vegetables, lamb and Angus beef. Special meals for people with dietary requirements can be arranged, within reason. Though if it comes to a matter of preference we prefer to encourage that everyone eat the same food, together – as we’ve found that is a powerful bonding experience.

Nights can be spent around the open outdoor fireplace, roasting marshmallows, discussing the learning’s or just staring at the stars. The clarity of the night sky that far from lights and smog of the city is absolutely awestriking – and really very humbling to observe the expanse of the Milky Way shining brightly overhead. These experiences will often strike to the core of a person, and drive the learnings deeper – adjusting one’s sense of self to align more neatly with their purpose.

I find that a change of pace, a change of place is exactly what I need to make the necessary adjustments to my life. The most profound change came when I left the incessant noisy buzz of Mumbai and went to South India for one of Sue’s courses. It was that change that caused me to move from the glamour and craziness of Bollywood to offer this course!

I feel that Fernleigh might similarly offer a sanctuary of calm, provide new challenges, and allow visitors to construct a new perspective on their life. One of the days will include a visit to ‘The Hut’ a quaint stone cabin we’ve built way up in the back country, 4,000 feet above the homestead, where we can play a friendly match of softball overlooking the Barrington tops, sip locally produced world-class wines, or simply stand and breathe the freshest air in the world.

We must offer a word of warning though – aside from the odd creature that we might spot, a few roos, an echidna, perhaps even a snake or a wombat, there is a real danger: You might never want to leave.

But that’s no problem – we’re always on the lookout for a new Jackeroo or Jillaroo.