Rural crafts 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...

One-day dry stone walling course. A unique opportunity to take part in constructing a Dry Stone Boundary wall, in the heart of the Bedfordshire countryside. These workshops are a 'hands on' experience to the introduction of building a dry stone wall for DIY and interested persons over 16y years. You will assess setting out of building pins, batter frames and lines. You will stack out material in the appropriate manner and commence building. You will consider foundation stones and continue building and assess position of placing through stones. You will...

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...

How can we ensure the survival of honey bees? This is Bees for Development's Sustainable Beekeeping Course, a weekend Course held at Ragman's Lane Permaculture Farm in the Wye Valley, Gloucestershire.  The Course covers the management of bees, and natural ways to take care of them. Course content: Meet the bees - a hands-on look at honey bee colonies housed in different hives The natural life-cycle of honey bees - honey bee biology and ecology Being a beekeeper - what does keeping bees really mean? The relationship between bees and...

Hello, and thanks for your interest in taking one of my weekend classes on how to make a traditional leaded glass window. I hold regular classes throughout the year from my professional stained glass studio in beautiful rural Leicestershire. This is a fun and friendly introduction to learning all the skills you will need to design and make your very own A4 size coloured leaded window 21 x 29cm. Students can choose from a selection of designs, learn how to create a full size design on paper, how to identify...