By Justin Parkinson BBC News Online education staff

You would expect to see him hopping around in the blazing heat of the Australian outback, rather than southern England on a snowy January morning.

Rolf the wallaby looks a little out of place

But Rolf the wallaby is symptomatic of changes to the countryside.

Farmers and landowners are diversifying to make a living.

Environmental protection, survival training weekends, wildlife parks, wine-making: you name it, they are trying it.

So would-be countryside workers, who once limited their areas of study to crops and farm animals, are having to change too.

Survival courses

Plumpton College, set in 2,000 acres of rural East Sussex, now teaches wine-making and gecko nutrition, among other subjects.

Principal Des Lambert said: "These days, agriculture only accounts for about one-fifth of what we do.

"We offer a whole range of other skills and subjects, from sports and survival course-training to working in the horse-racing industry."

Fittingly, Plumpton has constructed a wine-making centre and a rare animals care centre where the chicken run once stood.

Apart from Rolf and his fellow wallabies, Higher National Diploma (HND) students learn how to look after and breed species as diverse as chinchillas and pythons.

Principal Des Lambert is keen to move with the times

The growth in rare pet owners and wildlife parks has created a need for wider expertise.

Greg Cross, 21, has to slop out the heated room which is home to Biff, a rescued metre-long monitor lizard, as part of his HND course in animal science.

He said: "I would like to work with reptiles. I think it's important to look after them well.

"They are becoming increasingly popular as pets, so there is more and more need for people to learn about them."

Growing industry

Plumpton, which started off as The East Sussex School of Agriculture in 1926, has expanded to 600 full-time and 2,000 part-time students in recent years.

They range from 14 year olds to pensioners.

Mr Lambert said: "We try to reflect what's going on in the real world. We have good feedback from businesses.

"We have students coming from all over the country and not just from rural areas. There are also lots of people from overseas who come here to learn from us."

Greg Cross wants to work in educating the public about reptiles

Among the more international-looking courses is wine-making. Historically, the British industry has not been held in high regard.

However, Australian-trained wine-maker Keith Salter's students turn out 10,000 litres a year of Plumpton Estate, selling most of their reds, whites and roses to local businesses as soon as they are bottled.

New students pick the grapes from vines tended by those at Plumpton the year before.

They learn the chemical theory behind wine-making, ferment the grapes in 1,000-litre vats and eventually see the wines bottled.

Mr Salter said: "With the quality of the fruit we grow here, there is a potential to have a successful sparkling wine industry.

Keith Salter predicts the UK wine-making industry will grow

"With wine-making comes the tourism side. When people visit wineries in New Zealand and Australia they go to attached restaurants and tasting areas.

"This area, with its rich tradition of good-quality food production and beautiful countryside is ripe for that sort of development."

The college still provides conventional farming training, despite losing its "agricultural" tag in the 1990s. Its courses go up to degree level.