Hazel, willow, beef and storytelling from Bedfordshire

Make your own willow basket – S...

Make your own willow basket – Sunday 17 May
Imagine a day spent in a peaceful hazel coppice, listening to the songs of melodious warblers flitting frantically amongst the trees; being brought home made cakes and cups of tea and enjoying the company of a small group of like-minded individuals, as you are driven half crazy by the frustration of trying to make a [...]

Spring flowers

Spring flowers
Yes, it’s spring, although for very early May the temperature’s rather low. What a joy to discover some colour. Here three fairly common species that grow in our old meadows in Gravenhurst. Cuckoo flower, a member of the cabbage family, appears in the damper parts of the meadow, in amongst soft rush. The name is [...]

Hurdles for garden design competition

Hurdles for garden design competition
I’ve nearly finished three willow hurdles that will be part of  a garden design competition that a college’s design students are entering. They  were after low impact, local materials, these should fit the bill. I hope they like them – I’m quite pleased! I think the competition is at Earls Court next month. Would be [...]

Coppice day with Clophill Heritage Tr...

Coppice day with Clophill Heritage Trust
A day  spent talking about coppicing, ancient woodland and the stuff we do? Hardly a tough assignment really! Given that this is stuff I should be able to do in my sleep, I did spend a whole load of time preparing for it. This was a trial run for the  Clophill Heritage Trust , a [...]

Balls and how to make willow ones

Balls and how to make willow ones
We’re leading a day in the as yet undiscovered craft of making a ball from nothing but willow, on Sunday 22 March, here in Gravenhurst, Bedfordshire. We will be using willow grown on the farm to create something that’s eye catching, beautiful and unusual, but otherwise has no practical value at all. These are purely [...]

Pond update

Pond update
I know you are all gripped by this stuff and wait with bated breath for the next installment. Well ok, perhaps not, but I thought it worth providing an update on something I wrote a few weeks ago. In early December 2014, we contracted a neighbour, Gordon, to bring a small digger in and clear [...]

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