Outdoors and rural skills courses, craft kits and handcrafted gifts

Your tutor will guide you through the process from selecting a log through to a completed spoon. Mark Saich Originally trained as a carpenter/joiner, Mark has worked as an eco-builder, sustainable construction consultant and trainer. He has a degree in Environmental Sciences, obtained a post graduate diploma at the Centre of Alternative Technology. He now owns and lives in 23 acres (the venue) of woodland practicing green woodworking and sustainable woodland management. The session includes: * Tool review - an overview of the various tools available for spoon carving and...

You can make a multi-coloured round shopping basket on this one day course. Learn ancient weaving techniques and take home your own creation. Jon and Becky are both qualified teachers and have been teaching basket making for 25 years. Basketiers sit or stand to weave at table top height. We have regular workshops teaching people to make their own coloured willow baskets using locally grown and Somerset willows. If you are a beginner and you want to make a large, strong and durable basket in coloured willow, this is the...

Learn how to make a lip-work straw skep.  You will make your skep from a long straw wheat with cane lapping.  The course tutor, Chris Park, will explain how to split bramble and willow as needed. You will be able to make about one third of your skep during the day, and take home the skills, tools, and materials to finish off at home.

These two-day courses in shave horse making teach a wide range of green woodworking techniques whilst making your own traditional green wood shaving horse using timber sourced within the woodland. The topics covered include the properties of green wood, cleaving techniques and the use of traditional hand tools and equipment such as draw-knives and pole lathes. A shave horse is a fundamental piece of kit needed by all green woodworkers and it will be yours to keep at the end of the course, and the course fee is less than...

This is a one-day introduction to spoon carving where we will work together carving a cooking/stirring spoon from a log using carving axes, knives and hook knives. You will start by selecting a suitable log and cleave the timber using traditional tools and techniques. After roughing out the blanks using a carving axe you will learn the safe and effective knife grips needed to carve the outline of your spoon with a woodcarving knife. You will then use a hook knife to hollow the bowl of your spoon. At the...