Cob Clay Pizza oven building with David Alty: a 'Quirky Workshop' at Greystoke Craft Garden & Barns near Penrith and Ullswater

I just wanted to drop you a line to say how much I enjoyed yesterday's oven course with David. It didn't matter that the weather was less than perfect; it was good fun and no one seemed to mind. There was a lot of enthusiasm amongst the course group and we all had a good laugh as well as learning something. Thank you to you both for providing the fab food throughout the day. Keep up the good work!
Steve

Hi Annie & Dave,

Thanks for a great day yesterday - David was a great tutor, the pace was great, his instruction clear and well explained. The food was lovely as well, and the setting was beautiful. I look forward to visiting again in October.

This was just a one day course, very busy and hands on, a really fun day with Dave and 5 others learning how to tread the cob, make the 'loaves' and create a full size pizza oven between us. Fab food, great fun and the afternoon topped off with cooking fresh pizzas in another oven alongside the one we'd built.
Would highly recommend.

An excellent introduction to skills in making an oven. The emphasis on touching and feeling the material means that even though you may wait until the spring to start it is more than just x sand to y clay but a real feel for what is required

I thoroughly enjoyed the course. It was well structured and although the second day was rather slow it allowed us to fire up the oven and get some practical experience of how to operate it. Only one problem. The timing was poor. It is not practical to start building an oven in late summer early autumn. A base must be built, fire bricks and clay sourced and the oven left to dry. Drying is not likely to be successful in the autumn and the oven is sensitive to rain. The process really needs to start in the spring and the course should reflect that by being held in early spring.