One of the South West’s longest-running and best-known PR agencies, Empica, has teamed up with a hidden treasure of a venue to provide the perfect learning environment for its media training.

Empica can now deliver a range of full and half-day media skills training and crisis management training courses within the spectacular setting of the Belmont Estate, near Bristol.

The heritage country estate, nestling in the North Somerset countryside a short distance from Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge, provides the perfect venue for the training.

And for companies who want to incorporate some team-building and other activities alongside the essential training, the venue offers something to ensure candidates have an educational and enjoyable day out.

Empica was launched in 1989 by Managing Director Martin Powell, and operates from offices in Wraxall, just outside Bristol, in addition to having an office in London.

During a recent review of the firm’s media training, he was determined to find a venue that added a suitable sense of gravitas and was delighted to discover the solution right on Empica’s doorstep.

He said: “For the past 30 years, we have travelled across England, hiring hotel conference rooms that are fairly featureless and offer nothing that inspires and stimulates candidates.

“The superb Carriage House on the Belmont Estate provides a setting full of character and charm, which makes people sit up and take notice.

“The Belmont Estate has to be one of the best-kept secrets in the region, and people we’ve already trained there were extremely impressed with the quality of the venue.

“It created a buzz and excitement among the candidates even before the training started and created expectations that this would be a day of high-quality learning, and an experience they would remember for some time to come.”

Not only do the manicured gardens, woodland areas and panoramic views provide an inspiring setting, but in the current climate the venue offers plenty of room for the delivery of safe, socially-distanced, training courses.

The day can be made even more memorable if businesses combine a half-day media training with some of the many activities that the estate itself offers, such as mindfulness, yoga, butchery or cooking with fire.

Mr Powell said: “The Carriage House has been transformed into a superb training and entertaining facility.

“Safe group training can be held, with outside interviews in the spectacular Walled Garden and   terrace, if the weather permits. If not, there is plenty of room inside this exceptional venue.”

Empica’s experts create specially-tailored training courses to help individuals and organisations deliver their messages in a positive way and give them the skills and confidence – through practical sessions - to conduct effective broadcast media interviews.

Mr Powell added: “People are more likely to retain knowledge and new skills if they have had a memorable and enjoyable day’s training.

“Teaming up with the Belmont Estate as our home training centre gives us an inspiring setting in which to provide our training.”

Gil Martin, from the Belmont Estate, said: “We have carefully and tastefully transformed the Carriage House into a flexible space for business events, and Empica were among the first to use this space for a crisis media training session.

“We are very pleased to be building on the success of that session by linking up with our close neighbours to offer these valuable training packages to businesses.”

For more information about the range of off-the-shelf and bespoke training that Empica offers, visit www.empica.com/training or call 01275 394 400.