Prepare for your workshop

Sanborn Mills Farm, 7097 Sanborn Road, Loudon, New Hampshire 03307.

Please check in at Reception before you go to the dining hall or your studio, even if you've been here before and know the way. Checking in is how we know you have arrived, and it is where you'll find your studio, your room, and any changes to the day.

The campus map shows parking, Reception, the dining hall, the dorms, and the studios.

Directions   Campus map

When you register: you'll get an email confirming your workshop, your housing, and your meals. Keep it; it is your receipt. Then read the tools and materials list on your workshop's page and start gathering what you need, since some tools and supplies take weeks to find or order.

30 days before: this is the last day to cancel with a refund (see Policies below).

The day before: look over the campus map so you know where Reception, parking, and the dining hall are.

Arriving the night before? The night before your workshop is an extra night with its own fee, booked when you register (or with the registrar at least two weeks ahead). Check in at Reception between 3 and 6 p.m., unload there, then move your car to Visitor Parking. Dinner on the night before and breakfast before your first class are available for purchase.

Your first morning: check in at Reception first, and you'll be directed to your studio. Workshops begin at 9 a.m. Most students check in that morning, so meals start with lunch on the first day. If you arrived the night before and bought breakfast, it's ready from 7:30 a.m.

Every day follows this schedule unless your workshop's page says otherwise.

Every meal, continental breakfast included, is bought ahead of time when you register. Breakfast on your first morning and dinner after your last day are extra, and you can add them then.

Open studio is up to each instructor, and it runs only when the class assistant is there to staff the studio. Your instructor will tell you if it's offered.

Chef Kelly Fahey cooks for students in the dining hall, with produce from the farm and neighboring fields when possible. You choose a meal plan when you register. Every meal, continental breakfast included, is bought ahead of time when you register. Meals start with lunch on your first day. Breakfast on your first morning comes only with an extra night before the workshop, and dinner on your last evening only with an extra night after.

• Lunch. Lunch on each workshop day.
• All meals. Meals from lunch on the first day through lunch on the last day, with dinner each evening and breakfast each morning in between. There is no breakfast on the first morning.
• Arriving the night before? Dinner that evening and breakfast the next morning is available.
• Staying the night after? You can add dinner on the last evening, but there's no breakfast the next morning. 
• One day workshop? Your meal includes lunch on the workshop day. Staying the night before? You can add dinner that evening and breakfast the next morning. Staying the night after? You can add dinner on the evening of the workshop.

Extra nights, and the meals that go with them, are booked when you register. To add them later, contact the registrar at least two weeks before your workshop so the kitchen can plan.

The kitchen cooks two menus, a regular menu and a vegetarian or vegan menu, and you choose yours when you register. Every dish is served with a list of its ingredients, so most people can easily put together a satisfying meal.

Food allergies. Sanborn Mills Farm can no longer accommodate food allergies or sensitivities beyond these menus. Because we care about your health and safety, anyone with a severe or life-threatening allergy should bring their own food. A shared refrigerator and microwave are available for students. If you tell us about a severe allergy when you register, you are not charged for meals. 

Prices are shown when you register.

You choose where you'll stay when you register. Rooms on the farm are in the Carriage House dormitory, which has air conditioning and heat. When the dormitory is full, private rooms are in the Red House, on the road beyond the main campus. Every room, in either building, has a shared bath with showers.

• Shared room: $65 a night, in a room with one other student. The registrar pairs roommates.
• Private room: $130 a night for a room to yourself. Private rooms are limited, especially in weeks with several workshops. The registrar assigns them and tells you before your workshop whether yours is in the dormitory or the Red House.
• Camping: free. Tent sites have drinking water and portable toilets, but no showers. RVs and motorhomes are welcome with notice; electricity is $20 a night, arranged with the registrar.
• Commuting or staying nearby: see Places to stay nearby, below.

Room prices are before New Hampshire's 8.5% meals and rooms tax. Rooms come with linens, towels, a blanket, and a pillow. You can add the night before your workshop, the night after, or both, when you register.

If you have a mobility limitation, tick "I have a mobility limitation and need an accessible room" when you register. The Carriage House dormitory is accessible and the Red House is not, so your room, shared or private, will be in the dormitory. For any other accommodation, please contact the registrar before you register at registrar@sanbornmills.org or (603) 435-7314.

Rooms on the farm are limited. If they're full when you register, the registrar will help you find a place nearby. 

Your workshop's page lists the tools and materials to bring, and what is included in the workshop.

For every workshop, bring comfortable clothes you can work in and don't mind marking, sturdy closed-toe shoes, and layers: the barns and studios follow the weather. A water bottle and any medicine you need are good to have, too.

Safety. Every workshop has its own safety practices, which your instructor goes over at the start and throughout. This is a rural farm: if you are allergic to insect bites, tell your instructor and bring an EpiPen. If your workshop works with the draft animals or spends time in the woods, please read the tick safety information from Tick Free NH before you come.

Smoking, including electronic cigarettes, is not allowed anywhere on the farm. Please leave pets at home, since dogs aren't allowed in the rooms or the studios.

In effect for the 2027 season.

Age: workshops are for people 16 and older, with no exceptions. For students who are 16 or 17, a parent or guardian accepts the participant release.

If you cancel: cancel at least 30 days before your workshop begins and you'll get a refund of tuition, less a $75 nonrefundable registration fee, and a refund of your meals. Materials fees are paid to your instructor or collected at check-in on the first day, so they are not part of a refund. Housing on the farm is always refunded in full. Cancellations fewer than 30 days before the start are not refunded, apart from housing. Moving to a different workshop counts as a cancellation and follows the same rules.

If the farm cancels: we'll tell you at least a week before the workshop begins and refund everything you paid. Refunds for gifts go to the person who bought the gift. The farm cannot cover travel or lodging off the farm, so we suggest travel insurance.

If a workshop is full: ask for a reminder on its page, and we'll email you if a seat opens.

Registering someone else: register as usual and choose "Someone else" at checkout, with their name and email.

Housing, meals, and extra nights are chosen when you register. To add them later, contact the registrar at least two weeks before your workshop; we can't always fit them in.

The participant release: workshops involve fire, hand tools, other equipment, and animals. At checkout you confirm you've read these policies, sign the farm's release and waiver and the no-smoking policy by typing your name, and tell us whether we may use photos of you.

Questions about a registration: registrar@sanbornmills.org or (603) 435-7314.

The campus is a working farm with historic buildings, gravel paths, and uneven ground. If you need anything to take part fully, tell us before you register and we'll do our best to make it work: registrar@sanbornmills.org or (603) 435-7314.

If rooms on the farm are full, or you'd rather stay in town, these are close by. Each link opens Google Maps.

• Quality Inn Loudon-Concord
• Courtyard Concord
• DoubleTree Concord Downtown
• Hampton Inn Concord/Bow
• Cascade Campground

The farm isn't affiliated with any of them, and we check the list each fall.