The University of Gloucestershire is offering the opportunity to get creative in the New Year with a series of evening and weekend workshops that will wile away the winter blues.

Aimed at learners of all abilities, the five and 10 week courses based at the Pittville Studios campus in Cheltenham will start from the third week in January.

The two-hour sessions include a range of subjects such as digital photography, design software, life drawing and portraiture.

New for 2008 is a series of Saturday schools including landscape drawing, portraiture, professional writing and producing a short film sequence.

The University is also continuing its programme of Talking Walks, taking in the ecology, archaeology and natural history of Gloucestershire. Those with a passion for nature may also be tempted to explore historic wooden landscapes and discover ancient trees on one of three courses run in partnership with the Woodland Trust, which will include visits to the beautiful Lineover Wood at Dowdeswell near Cheltenham.

The full range of courses and enrolment information can be found at http://www.glos.ac.uk/subjectsandcourses/allagelearning/