Corvus

Good points. I would pursue these but I have hit a bit of a wall and will have to shelve my plans for now. My elderly mother (nearly 90) had a fall on Saturday and broke her hip (culminating in a hip replacement) so I've been up and down to London like a yoyo and in and out of the hospital to the point that I think I need her bed. Not thinking too far ahead but I guess my sister and I will probably need to spend a lot of time with her when she comes out of hospital next week and may have to find her somewhere else to live with less (or no) stairs. Thanks for all your help guys, I may be back when things settle down and my mother is mobile again (fingers crossed, she is a very determined woman!)

They quoted £590.50 + VAT The 'invoice' they sent was for £649 + VAT

Thanks guys, info about cheap hostel much appreciated. I'll call Chalky. I've received an invoice(!) from Eastec which is slightly odd as I've not actually booked. It might be they're being helpful by dating it before the VAT increase but the total is actually more than they quoted (and more than I had calculated even with 20% VAT) so Fakenham is looking increasingly attractive.

Chalky White runs Tree Worker Training, trouble is it's a bit too far for a daily commute. B&B is a possibility if I can find somewhere cheap, it would still end up costing more than the Eastec one but might be worth it as then I'll only have a very short drive. still considering my options. Andy Campbell will run the Eastec one, I've seen his name mentioned on here. Has anyone got any experience of him as an instructor?

Thanks, that's useful info and cheers for the

Actually no, can't think why not as they came up as a possible when I was web trawling. Thanks for the reminder, I'll ring them tomorrow as they aren't too far away either (20ish miles)

Accepted Steve! I did notice that you've stickied an Eastec course (rather out of date now ) do you have any experience with them?

Hi Steve, if you read my first few lines you'll see I'm not after a career as an Arborist! I just want to learn how to use and take care or the tool I own and be able to use it safely.

Hi, new member here although I have been browsing for a while and reading. I don't have a background in daily physical work although I am fairly fit and active (but not in the first flush of youth..um...50 ), I use a chainsaw occasionally and own a Husqvarna 450e but I've never had any training and having bought 2.5 acres of woodland I'd like to be able to manage it myself and be able to take the occasional tree down safely. Whilst I don't actually need tickets, for the extra it would cost on top of the training it seems to make sense as You never Know..... To this end I've been looking at getting on to a 5 day course and found three possibles... 1 - BTS £858.05 inclusive of assessment 2 - Eastec £708.60 inclusive 3 - Tree Worker Training £680 inclusive The last is the cheapest but is furthest away, about 38 miles. The first is a lot more money but I can stay at friends about 13.5 miles from the site whilst the middle one is probably the most sensible but is still 18.5 miles each way. So my questions are...does anyone have experience of these courses and opinions (or can anyone suggest others I may have missed - I'm near Thetford), does anyone know if BTS are worth the extra money and finally..how tough are the work days! In other words, will a long drive at both ends of the day be knackering! Thanks - all input much appreciated!