In the United Kingdom, land based colleges are

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

s specialising in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

, and other topics useful for rural economies. Most land based colleges are members of

Landex Landex – 'Land Based Colleges Aspiring to Excellence' – is a subscriber organisation with 39 member colleges and universities in the United Kingdom. To qualify for membership, a provider must deliver significant volumes of land-based education ...

, which promotes and coordinates the colleges.

List of rural colleges in the UK

England

Askham Bryan College Askham Bryan College is a specialist land-based college based in Askham Bryan, York, England. It also has centres in Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Saltaire and Wakefield. It was built in 1936, but not opened until after World War II as the Yorksh ...

Askham Bryan Askham Bryan is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of City of York in the north of England, south-west of York, west of Bishopthorpe, and close to Askham Richard and Copmanthorpe. According to the 2001 census the parish ha ...

, North Yorkshire *

Berkshire College of Agriculture Berkshire College of Agriculture is a further education agricultural college at Hall Place in Burchetts Green, Maidenhead, Berkshire. It was founded in 1949, as the Berkshire Institute of Agriculture. Courses The college was built to provide a t ...

Burchetts Green Burchetts Green is a small village to the west of Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire. It is half in the civil parish of Hurley and half in the civil parish of Bisham. According to the Post Office, in the 2011 census, the majority of t ...

, Berkshire *

Bicton College Bicton College is a college with around 1,000 full-time and 3,500 part-time pupils, located near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, England. It is part of the Cornwall College group. The college specialises in agriculture and currently offers course ...

Budleigh Salterton Budleigh Salterton is a seaside town on the coast in East Devon, England, south-east of Exeter. It lies within the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and forms much of the electoral ward of Budleigh, whose ward population at t ...

, Devon *

Bishop Burton College Bishop Burton College is a further education land based college based in Bishop Burton, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. History The college was established in 1954 as the ''Bishop Burton Farm Institute'' and was one of the first in the co ...

Bishop Burton Bishop Burton is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies on the A1079 road approximately to the west of the market town of Beverley. According to the 2011 UK census, Bishop Burton parish had a population ...

, East Riding of Yorkshire *

Brooksby Melton College SMB College Group, formerly Brooksby Melton College and Stephenson College, is a further education college based in Leicestershire. The college has three campuses: Stephenson Campus is in Coalville, Melton Campus is in the heart of Melton Mowbr ...

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...

, Leicestershire *

Capel Manor College __NOTOC__ Capel Manor College is a special environmental college located in Enfield, London. The College has six campuses across the capital, Brooks Farm (Leyton), Crystal Palace Park, Enfield, Gunnersbury Park, Mottingham and Regent’s Park. ...

Bulls Cross Bulls Cross is a road and hamlet in Enfield, England, on the outskirts of north London, forming part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. Although it now lies within the ceremonial county of Greater London, prior to 1965 it was in the historic count ...

, London Borough of Enfield *

College of West Anglia The College of West Anglia (often abbreviated to CoWA or CWA) is a four-campus college of further and higher education in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, England. The college has three campuses, located in King's Lynn, Milton and Wisbech, Cambridges ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

* Easton College in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Hadlow College Hadlow College is a further and higher education college in Hadlow, Kent, England, with a satellite site in Greenwich. The curriculum primarily covers land-based subjects including Agriculture, Horticulture, Conservation and Wildlife Managem ...

Hadlow Hadlow is a village in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. It is situated in the Medway valley, north-east of Tonbridge and south-west of Maidstone. The Saxon name for the settlement was Haeselholte (in the Textus Roffens ...

, Kent *

Hartpury College Hartpury University and Hartpury College, formerly Hartpury College, is a provider of further and higher education which describes itself as specialising in the "agriculture, animal, equine, sport and veterinary nursing" sectors. The university a ...

Hartpury Hartpury is a civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It has an area of about , about 270 homes and a population of about 700 people, increasing to 1,642 at the 2011 census. The village is about north of Gloucester. Geographically the parish ...

, Gloucestershire *

Houghall College East Durham College, formerly known as East Durham & Houghall Community College, is a community college with campuses in Peterlee and Houghall, south-east of Durham. The college student roll at the time of a February 2014 Ofsted report was 1,5 ...

Houghall Houghall ron: /ˈhɒfl/is a hamlet in County Durham, in England. It is situated approximately to the south of Durham city centre. It is also the location of the Houghall Campus of East Durham College, associated gardens, a small number of ho ...

, County Durham *

Kingston Maurward College Kingston Maurward College is a college for land-based studies situated two miles east of Dorchester, Dorset, England. The college is a member of the Landex grou an association of institutions that provide courses in agriculture and horticulture ...

Dorchester, Dorset Dorchester ( ) is the county town of Dorset, England. It is situated between Poole and Bridport on the A35 trunk route. A historic market town, Dorchester is on the banks of the River Frome to the south of the Dorset Downs and north of the ...

Merrist Wood College Guildford College of Further and Higher Education (GCFHE) in Guildford, Surrey was a Surrey County Council-funded educational establishment for students of age 16+ undertaking full-time and part-time studies, established in 1939. It became par ...

Worplesdon Worplesdon is a village NNW of Guildford in Surrey, England and a large dispersed civil parish that includes the settlements of: Worplesdon itself (including its central church area, Perry Hill), Fairlands, Jacobs Well, Rydeshill and Wood S ...

, Surrey *

Moulton College Moulton College is a further education college based in Moulton, Northamptonshire, England. Although initially established as the Northamptonshire Institute of Agriculture in 1921, it now has expanded its teaching curriculum to cover a wide ...

Moulton, Northamptonshire Moulton is a large village in West Northamptonshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 3,454. The villages name origin is uncertain. 'Mula's farm/settlement' or ' mules' farm/settlement'. Education There are many pre- ...

Myerscough College Myerscough College (pronounced as ''Myers-coe'') is a Higher and Further Education college near Bilsborrow on the Fylde in Lancashire, England. Origins Myerscough College was founded on 15 March 1894 as the ''Lancashire County Institute of Agr ...

Bilsborrow Bilsborrow is a village on the A6 road and the Lancaster Canal, in the Wyre District, in the English county of Lancashire. The village population at the 2011 census was 632. It is approximately east of Myerscough. Bilsborrow was a civil pa ...

, Lancashire *

Newton Rigg College Newton Rigg College was an agricultural college near Penrith, Cumbria, England, founded in 1896 as the Cumberland and Westmorland Farm School. From 2011 it was part of Askham Bryan College, which in 2020 announced that it would close in 2021. ...

in Penrith, Cumbria, part of

Plumpton College Plumpton College is a Further and Higher education college in Plumpton, East Sussex, England, with courses in a variety of land based and related subjects. The college provides a range of full-time and part-time land-based courses, FE courses to ...

Plumpton, East Sussex Plumpton is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is located five miles (8 km) north-west of Lewes. The parish measures 6.5 miles in length on its north–south axis and 1 mile at its widest o ...

Reaseheath College Reaseheath College is a land-based further education college offering a range of diplomas, apprenticeships, and adult courses. It is mainly located on the outskirts of Nantwich in Cheshire, England. The college offers courses in adventure sports, ...

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

, Cheshire *

Riseholme College Riseholme College is a Further and Higher Education college in Lincolnshire, specialising in land-based subjects such as Agriculture, Equine and Animal Management. It is a part of Bishop Burton College and is based across two campuses - the Ri ...

in Lincolnshire *

Royal Agricultural College ;(from Virgil's Georgics)"Caring for the Fieldsand the Beasts" , established = 2013 - University status – College , type = Public , president = King Charles , vice_chancellor = Peter McCaffery , students ...

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

, Gloucestershire *

Shuttleworth College (Bedfordshire) Shuttleworth College is a further education college in the village of Old Warden in Bedfordshire, England. The college is part of Bedford College, and mainly offers courses and training related to agriculture and the natural environment. Hi ...

Old Warden Old Warden is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about south-east of the county town of Bedford. The 2011 census shows its population as 328. The ...

Sparsholt College Sparsholt College is a Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) college located at Sparsholt near Winchester, with a secondary campus in Andover, both in Hampshire in the south of England. The college provides courses from sixth form ...

Sparsholt, Hampshire Sparsholt (/ˈspɑːʃəʊlt/) is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, west of Winchester. In 1908 its area was . The 2011 Census recorded its population as 982. The parish also includes the hamlet of Dean, Farley Mount Country ...

* South Staffordshire College specifically Rodbaston College based in Penkridge, Staffordshire * Suffolk Rural College in

Otley, Suffolk Otley is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is around north-east of Ipswich in the East Suffolk district. The parish, which covers an area of about , had a population of 676 at the 2011 United Kingdom census. The B1 ...

* Walford Campus in

Baschurch Baschurch is a large village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It lies in North Shropshire, north-west of Shrewsbury. The village has a population of 2,503 as of the 2011 census. The village has strong links to Shrewsbury to the south-e ...

, Shropshire * Wiltshire College Lackham, near

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

Writtle University College Writtle University College is a university college located in Writtle near Chelmsford, Essex. It was founded in 1893. Writtle obtained University College status in May 2016. Its countryside estate features a wide range of facilities, includin ...

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

, Essex

Northern Ireland

College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) is a public tertiary level land-based college offering training in agriculture, food technology, horticulture, equine and agri-business operating at three sites in Northern Ireland. The c ...

Scotland

Scotland's Rural College Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) is a public land based research institution focused on agriculture and life sciences. Its history stretches back to 1899 with the establishment of the West of Scotland Agricultural College and its current organis ...

Notes

{{reflist Lists of universities and colleges in the United Kingdom