Meet the Maker: Coppicewood College

Could you tell us a little about Coppicewood college?

Coppicewood College was founded 20 years ago with the help of a kind local woodland owner who rented us their land. The founders wanted to be able to cycle into the woods with their tools on the back of the bike and sustainably manage woodland, hence the hand tools only Woodland Skills Course was born. The college has evolved and grown over the years, is now a registered charity and provides a range of short and longer workshops/courses, all of which focus on woodland crafts, green woodworking and sustainable woodland management. We managed our first site for 16 years and moved to the beautiful Pengelli Forest 4 years ago where we’re now doing the same - coppicing, teaching, sharing.

We have 3 resident tutors and guest tutors join us occasionally too. Everyone has a slightly different story but all are dedicated to the aims of the college and practice their craft in different ways. We also have a committed group of volunteer Trustees who are actively involved and a team of regular volunteers who join us for volunteer sessions every month.

What's your workshop space like?

We have a beautiful timber framed workshop set in the ancient woodland of Pengelli Forest in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park (photo above). One of our ex-students and former teachers, who now runs a successful roundwood timber framing business, built the workshop with a team of volunteers. It’s light, quirky and has a huge log burner to keep us warm through the colder months.

When we’re teaching woodland management skills, we walk 10 minutes down to the plot in the heart of Pengelli Forest. The forest is a 163 acre richly diverse ancient woodland, one of the largest of its type remaining in Wales. Some of the forest is thought to have been wooded since the end of the last Ice Age – 10,000 years ago! It is one of Wales’ National Nature Reserves and an important habitat for many species. It also has a long and deep history stretching centuries as a working woodland from a valuable resource for local people to timber for World War II.

What do students learn on your courses?

We have a very considered approach to learning that allows for real understanding and skill development. Almost all our courses include theory which gives a good grounding for the practical skills. We run courses such as ‘How to Carve a Wooden Bangle’, ‘Make a Shave Horse’, ‘How to Pole Lathe’, ‘An Introduction to Coppicing and Products’ and ‘Kimchi and Kitchen Treen’, to name a few. Students learn the techniques and practice of green woodworking to produce lots of different crafts and products, how to manage woodland sustainably and as a resource for craft materials, and how to use the traditional skills they’ve learnt in a modern context.

Tell us about your team!

Tracey: Tracey is our lead tutor and has 20 years experience in sustainable woodland management, woodland crafts and green woodworking. She owns and lives in her woodland, using traditional coppicing methods and producing woodland crafts for her own business as well as teaching at Coppicewood College. People always comment on her friendly teaching style which is both welcoming and fun.

Ian: when Ian moved to a rural community in Pembrokeshire in 2009, his interests moved towards a more land-based existence and he signed up to our 6 month Woodland Skills Course. After that he began restoring and managing an ancient woodland, then bought a horse and trained it as a horse logger to help with the management. Ian stayed involved with Coppicewood College as a volunteer over the years and then joined us as a tutor in 2022.

Andrew: Andrew is our new tutor for this year. His journey to becoming a tutor started with a love of spoon carving that evolved into a much broader practice - earth building, timber framing, coppicing, milling, and larger-scale carving. He moved to Pembrokeshire to complete our 6 month Woodland Skills Course and is now part of the Coppicewood College team alongside running his own green woodworking business.

Volunteers: we also have a team of dedicated Trustees who put a lot of time and energy into running and developing the college, plus the volunteers who support us through monthly sessions. We would not be where we are today without this wonderful team of people who help Coppicewood College to exist and thrive.

Describe a typical month as a maker.

There’s not really a typical month at Coppicewood College, as things change through the seasons. From October to March we teach sustainable woodland management and green woodworking through our 6 month 'Woodland Skills Course'. 

Every week we’re out in Pengelli Forest coppicing a plot and sourcing our own wood for the day a week in our workshop teaching green woodworking. We also run 4 day courses that run alongside this throughout the coppicing season which cover coppicing, hedgelaying and green woodworking. We weave workshops into the calendar throughout the year. Our tutors also work with the seasons; teaching in the winter months, crafting in the warmer ones and running their own businesses producing a beautiful range of products.

Do you still craft in your spare time?

All the tutors and some of our Trustees are crafting in their spare time. Some craft just for the joy of it, some craft professionally (but still for the joy of it)!

What other craft/s do you love apart from that which you teach?

Tracey loves to paint, especially large textured paintings, and also gets stuck in with some lino cut printing too.

Ian enjoys drawing, photography and painting.

Andrew likes making natural cordage and working with natural fibres, plus a diverse range of other crafts such as welding, stone carving, illustration and wood block printing. All these come together for him sharing a common thread: slowing down, paying attention to the materials, and learning to work with them rather than against them.

Who/what is your biggest source of inspiration professionally?

For the founders of Coppicewood College, the inspiration to start the college was from the ‘people who came before with the knowledge and skills’, using simple hand tools to manage woodland and produce woodland crafts in a way that is beneficial to nature…and we can’t forget the aspiration of the founders to be able to cycle into the woods with all your tools on your bike!

Tracey’s biggest source of inspiration comes from Toni and Les Brannon, a husband and wife partnership who have worked hazel and birch coppice for the last 40 years. Tracey met Les in a hurdle making workshop, a workshop Les was in despite being in recovery from a stroke and struggling to speak or use his arms! They are experienced bessom broom and hedging teachers and have given so much encouragement over the decades, including handing down their tools to Tracey while they move on to gentler crafts.

Ian’s biggest inspiration has come from the students he teaches plus the huge array of online content from makers, artists and teachers. There’s not one person but just an admiration for the many inspiring people out there.

Andrew takes his inspiration from the woods themselves and the landscapes around him; the forms, materials, and quiet lessons of the natural environment are an endless source of ideas and guidance. With that said, he also deeply admires the work of people such as Alex Walshaw, who embodies everything he values about traditional craft. He is also very fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful crafters and artists who create a community of inspirational people!

What advice would you give to other people looking to teach their art?

Just do it! Once you start teaching you will continue to learn and be able to pass that knowledge on. Follow your heART.

Thank you so much to the Coppicewood College team for answering our questions - we've really enjoyed learning more about Coppicewood College as a whole, and the individuals who are a part of it. We absolutely love the image of those original founders riding their bikes, loaded with tools, to the forest - and of course, the image of Ian's horse hard at work! 

Pengelli Forest is close to us here at CraftCourses, and most of us who work here walk there regularly, and have often heard the distant noise of people at work, or caught the occasional glimpse of groups of people out on a walk amongst the trees, rucksacks on and faces smiling. It's truly a gorgeous place to be, learn and create - if you're interested in keeping up with the courses Coppicewood College has on offer, you can do so here.

Who knows, perhaps you'll also find yourself permanently relocating to the Pembrokeshire wilds, and a life in the woods.