Widehorizons Outdoor Education Trust
Widehorizons Outdoor Education Trust

The Townsend Environmental Study Centre

The Townsend Environmental Study Centre ,
Cobblers Lane, SWANAGE, BH19 2PX 
 
T: 01929 422448 F: 01929427739   

                                                                                                                          

                       
E: townsend@widehorizons.org.uk


How to find us.....

The Centre

The Centre is a six-acre site overlooking the town of Swanage on the Isle of Purbeck and is just one mile from the ‘Jurassic Coast’, the United Kingdom’s only World Heritage Site.

Opened in the 1930s and refurbished in the 1990s, Townsend has a long standing of tradition of excellence in teaching environmental education and personal and social education which is achieved through learning outdoors.

Each course is tailor made to maximise the learning potential of the programme, whether it be a single session or extended residential experience. The site can accommodate up to 80 children and 10 staff catered for with wholesome home cooked food. There are two classrooms, fully equipped to enhance a wide range of environmental experiences which primarily take place off site, often within walking distance from the Centre.

Examples of sessions include contrasting localities, low ropes and team challenge, Earth education, river landforms, sandy and rocky shore habitats, beach geology, orienteering, bushcraft, history and drama at Corfe Castle, fluvial, coastal, urban and rural environments, ecosystems, soils, tourism, geology and ecology for GCSE and A/AS Level.