THE new season at the Rural Life Centre promises to be another invigorating breath of fresh air.

Leading the way on Sunday, April 9, will be the spring vintage tractor road run, which is due to set off from the award-winning Tilford-based museum of village life at 10.30am.

The tractors are due to arrive at about 10am, organised by the Central Southern Vintage Agricultural Club, and a spectacular sight is promised as they depart for their tour of the local countryside.

Famous makes from the past will give this trip down memory lane a real sense of direction.

“The run is fun in the sunshine and not bad during the rain,” said a clubspokesman. Between 20 and 30 vehicles are expected to participate.

The ever-popular activity Thursdays begin again on April 6, and will offer free workshops and demonstrations on Thursdays during school holidays.

They provide an ideal opportunity for youngsters to learn about the past and how it relates to today. This is history at first hand and there will also be a chance to milk Daisy the cow.

A series of talks will take place at the Rural Life Centre on the second Thursday of the month, beginning on April 13 with Building the Post-War world – Britain’s prefab homes. The talk will be given by Elisabeth Blanchet and Jane Hearn and starts at 7.30pm.

It will be followed on May 11 by Gerald Baker’s presentation on the Wealden Iron Industry, with particular focus on the museum’s very own iron furnace.

The series continues with ‘People and Heaths’ by Mike Coates of the Farnham Heath RSPB nature reserve on June 8, and John Cooksley’s Blacksmith, Centre of the community or modern indulgence (July 13). John is the Rural Life Centre’s on-site blacksmith.

Norman Emblow, project manager of the museum’s Deeks Cycle Workshop, will give a talk on August 10 entitled ‘Bikes to a Buick’ and the series concludes on September 14 with a talk yet to be announced.

The car boot sales, which are held on the first Sunday of the month through to October, resume on April 2, from 8am until midday.

A host of other events, ranging from a wartime re-enactment and a bus and coach rally, to Rustic Sunday and the popular Weyfest music weekend, are also on the menu.

The Rural Life Centre can be found on the Reeds Road, halfway between Tilford and Frensham, off the A287 three miles south of the Farnham.

It is open Wednesdays to Sundays from 10am to 5pm and its Old Kiln Cafe provides breakfasts, lunches and light refreshments.