Latest reviews

Richard Embling reviewed: Learn to carve wooden spoons, beginners and improvers

"I’ve been wood carving for a number of years but never tried green woodworking or spoon carving. After being gifted a Gransfors wildlife hatchet recently I got in contact with Dave. This is such a fantastic course. Dave clearly knows his stuff from his many years experience. His teaching style is relaxed and clear. Demonstrating safe use with both axe work and knives. I learned a huge amount and felt inspired at the end of the session. I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in learning spoon carving."

Tamahine Boyd reviewed: Country House Crafting Retreats in rural Hertfordshire

"Great weekend away, large table to spread out, great people really helpful, plenty of food. I have a great time every time with lovely (and funny) people. If crafting is your thing then I can highly recommend this weekend."

Zoe reviewed: Percher hat making - blocking for beginners millinery workshop

"I wasn't sure what to expect from this course, but I absolutely loved it. I had no experience in millinery or sewing but by the end of the day I had made my own unique fascinator which I love and all I need now is an occasion to wear it. I have already ordered materials in order to make some more fascinators at home. I am waiting to see what other courses Rachel might run next year."

Jeff reviewed: Rustic thumb walking stick

"A great day all round with a good group of people and came away with a nice stick too. Would highly recommend. Thankyou."

Heather Mather reviewed: Silver Clay Jewellery at Cowshed Creative in the Lake District

"A wonderful day. Jo is an excellent teacher who guided us all through the use of silver clay with plenty of detail and useful tips. She has endless patience and supported everyone to develop their own ideas. I was delighted with the pieces I made and would recommend every aspect of both the workshop and venue. We had a lovely lunch sitting in the beautiful sunshine, I will certainly go again."

Cowshed Creative responded:

"Thanks Heather for lovely comments. I will pass them on to Jo. Look forward to seeing you again."

Joan reviewed: Silver Clay Jewellery at Cowshed Creative in the Lake District

"What a lovely day we had. Wonderful views! Excellent lunch. And a very good teacher. We all came home with beautiful pieces of silver jewellery. Jo had time and patience with everyone. Joan"

Cowshed Creative responded:

"Lovely to meet you Joan and thanks for your kind words. We look forward to seeing you again."

Make a fan bird reviewed: Make you own fan bird

"As an absolute beginner with no knowledge or experience of carving or using tools of the trade, I attended a half-day course to make a fan bird. Steve is a great teacher who demonstrated, explained and inspired. Everyone in the group created their own carved fan birds and I never thought I'd be able to make something so lovely on my first attempt. I have a beautiful fan bird! It was a relaxing environment and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of learning how to make something very special with wood. Thank you!"

Jennie Palin reviewed: Residential two day monoprinting and collagraph print workshop

"What a brilliant experience! Ruth is a very talented and patient teacher who really helped my daughter and I produce lots of work using various techniques with which we were very pleased. Her home is beautiful and she made us extremely welcome and her catering was perfect. Highly recommended!"

Anne Gregory reviewed: Upholstery course - bring your own project

"Hi Polly A very big thank you for a wonderful 5 day course. I can't believe how much we covered and feel confident to get on with future work on my own. Your passion and enthusiasm is infectious and a real tonic. To everyone reading this - don't wait and book a course now - you won't regret it. I certainly will recommend Polly to everyone I meet in the hope they meet this excellent tutor. Anne"

Helen Williams reviewed: Country House Crafting Retreats in rural Hertfordshire

"One of the highlights of my year !!! I share a room with my mum, which is fun in itself ! From start to finish it’s full on fun and crafting... we try and stay up as late as possible to get as much done. Crafting rooms are huge with plenty of space to spread out. The food is excellent and plentiful!! You can have a go at different workshops and learn something new. I love the page challenges, the page swaps and the evening game/quiz . All set in beautiful grounds and run by the very lovely Linda. What’s not to like??"

Jane Cunningham reviewed: One day mosaic workshop - Lincolnshire

"A brilliant day with wonderful tuition and access to a huge array of resources. We came away with a lovely mosaic mirror and tummys full after a delicious lunch served in the garden . Thanks Carol"

Mayfly Mosaics responded:

"Hi Jane Lovely to met you all, has been a smashing day and all your mirrors looked great hope to see you again soon ?"

Catalina reviewed: One day fused glass

"Melissa is a fantastic teacher and incredibly skilled. She is great at explaining how things work, and she is very encouraging and supportive! There are lots of different colours and types of glass to work with, as well as extra little things like frit (ground-up glass) and tiny fused glass blobs. It's a lot of fun to make a little picture - I really liked playing around with how things looked and trying different colours and all of that! It's a really nice introduction to working with glass: you learn some new skills while in a relaxed environment, and I'd definitely recommend it."

Jeff reviewed: Stonecarving Weekend, Gloucestershire Cotswolds

"Two very enjoyable days carving stone by hand in the great outdoors, Sebastian did not over cook the instructions, allowing us to get on with it and offering instruction and advising as we went along. If you are looking to get plenty of hands on stone carving and dust in your boots this is just the course for you."

Denise reviewed: Silver clay jewellery making

"What a fantastic day. From the moment we arrived Yolanda and John made us very welcome and within minutes we had a cuppa! Always a good start to any experience. Yolanda made us feel at ease in their amazing studio, talking us through each stage in the production of our silver master pieces. Lunch was provided by John and that was epic. So much choice and such full bellies. (It didn't stop there......we also had afternoon tea!). Thank you to both Yolanda and John for an amazing day that will stay in my memory forever and for having aircon! Love my pendant and shall wear it with pride. What a lovely way to spend our wedding anniversary.xx"

Helen Wilson reviewed: The Drawing Circus comes to Towersey

"What a wonderful summer’s day experience…quite out of this world. Excellent tuition and such professional and committed models who stoically melted in the heat for us! A very special art day."

Kath Hudson reviewed: Cyanotype workshop (half day)

"Booked 2 places on this course and we really loved our time there. Lucy was very helpful but left us to do our own thing . Reloved is a great creative venue and we just loved being there as part of this lovely workshop. Came away with some prints I am so pleased with I will be proud to frame them and say ‘ I made them’. Would love to do something similar with fabric Lucy ....."

Viv Billam reviewed: Copper Foil Technique Stained Glass

"A lovely day spent with Amanda, she loves her craft and it shows with her talent and patience, a very good teacher. Felt very welcomed and at ease during the day and came away with three lovely pieces of stained glass ornaments, inspired to learn the art."

Juliet reviewed: Make 2 fused glass summer flower plaques 7” x 4” to decorate your home

"Loved the glass fusing with Matt. Can highly recommend it."

Jessie reviewed: A 2 day bag making workshop with Sylvia Turner of Sylvia’s handmade bags

"The handbags are fabulous. You will love this place. Workshops are very good too.... Definitely recommend....."

Max Jebson reviewed: Hand forged rustic knife course

"When you arrive at the forge the sounds, smells and heat can be a little intimidating but have no fear. Within minutes Andy will have you swinging a hammer with glee as you begin to shape and craft your own knife from glowing hot steel. The course is fun and informative from start to finish. Andy is always on hand to help correct mistakes and provide guidance. A few points of advice. 1. Make sure you follow the suggestion above and take plenty of drinking water. 2. If you can secure yourself a pair or grip/impact supporting gloves for your hammer yielding hand you may save yourself the odd blister. If you can't then you'll still be able to hammer away so don't worry. Enjoy your time in the forge. I certainly did and will be booking again in the near future."

Guy Thomas reviewed: Stonecarving Weekend, Gloucestershire Cotswolds

"A fabulous 2 day course, in a wonderful setting just below the Cotswolds edge. From the outset, Sebastian did an excellent job at getting us to be free to express ourselves, without any formal constraints as to how we should create our masterpieces! All 7 of us on the course seemed relaxed and we got on well, and all produced something to be proud of at the end of 2 excellent days. A great selection of hand tools (same hand made by Sebastian himself), and just enough tuition, for us to explore the use of these tools without being too prescriptive. Thoroughly excellent and recommended."

Veronica Stanley reviewed: Percher hat making - blocking for beginners millinery workshop

"Thoroughly enjoyed this course, and thanks to Rachel's patience my end result was pretty good, despite my mistakes. Would not hesitate to recommend this to friends and hopefully Rachel would not mind me joining another workshop."

Debby reviewed: Furniture Painting Workshop (levels 1&2 techniques covered) in Preston, Lancashire

"Myself and my friend have always fancied upcycling furniture but have never been brave enough to have a go so we decided to go on a course to see what it was all about and I'm glad we did. Jo is a fantastic teacher, very good at explaining things and with it being a maximum of 6 people per class she had time to come round and give advice and help to everyone individually. The afternoon tea was to die for and it was lovely to sit and each lunch in such beautiful surroundings' I would recommend any of Jo's courses - we will be attending many more in the coming months Now - where's my paint..."

The Boho Shed responded:

"Thank you for a lovely review Debby. I'm so pleased you and Deb enjoyed the workshop. You did such a fantastic job of those chairs, I really loved them. I look forward to seeing you at the level 2 creative workshop in September."

Alex Coldron reviewed: Pole Lathe Bowl Turning - Your First Bowl

"I had a brilliant day learning how to turn and carve the wooden bowl and will definitely build on the skills. I'm already looking forward to attending more courses!"

Angharad Lescott reviewed: Residential two day monoprinting and collagraph print workshop

"I really can’t rate this course highly enough. It was a jam packed programme with the chance to try many different printmaking techniques in Ruth’s lovely garden studio. Ruth was patient and full of enthusiasm, giving us direction and assistance when we needed it, whilst letting us develop our own ideas. We were astonished at how much work we managed to do. Lunch was delicious and even involved some home grown produce and we stayed in Ruth’s lovely house overnight as we aren’t local. Far and away the best value creative course I’ve ever done."