Sparsholt College

I had never even heard of - much less visited - Sparsholt before receiving an invitation to join a group of teachers and advisers who were inspecting this splendid college. My work as a careers adviser meant that I spent a lot of time going to see colleges, universities and businesses all around the country as a means of gathering first hand information to pass on to my students as they made difficult choices about courses and work.

Over twenty or so years I must have seen several dozen different universities and colleges throughout Britain but the one that sticks in my mind as the most memorable is Sparsholt College in the depths of Hampshire. I spent just a single day there inspecting the land based course facilities and came away with the most amazing and diverse information on subjects including fish breeding, gamekeeping and horticulture!  In fact the knowledge I gained about fish that day helped me greatly as just a week or so later I was faced with one of my Hertfordshire students posing the very question - "How can I get qualifications to follow my interest in fish?".

Sparsholt may be only a small place to the west of Winchester but despite being surrounded by countryside the college managed to set up facilities to let most of their teenage students either live on the campus or find "digs" nearby. I was truly impressed and will long remember that sunny summer day in 1992 being shown round Sparsholt College by the staff and students. I understand that they do have "Open Days" so it might be possible for members of the publc to look round and see for themselves just how impressive it is.