All courses start at 10.0am and finish at 4.00pm each day.
Participants should ensure that they bring sturdy boots, warm outdoor clothing, your own food and loads of enthusiasm. All tools will be provided.
Hedge Laying
Duration: 4 days
Starts: Mon 13th Feb 2012
Fee: £175
Do you have neglected hedges on your land? Then join us to learn how to make them stockproof and more beneficial to wildlife. We will teach you traditional hedgelaying using hand tools. Learn how to use a bill hook – the iron age tool that is still the best for the job today.
Spoon Carving
Duration: 1 day
8th December 2011
Fee: £35
Spend a day sat around the fire chatting and carving a spoon. Our instructor(s) will give you step by step instruction on turning a piece of branch wood into a functional spoon that can be used for cooking, eating, serving – the choice is yours. You will learn various techniques of shaping the wood including axe work and knife cuts. Once you’ve made 1 spoon you won’t want to stop.
Charcoal Burning
Duration: 1 day
8th March 2012
Fee: £30
A one day introduction to charcoal burning. Learn how to successfully convert timber into charcoal using easily available materials. Our instructors will show you how to turn an old oil drum into a charcoal kiln, how to prepare and stack the wood and how to control the burn which is the key to creating charcoal and not ash.
Making charcoal is a great way to increase the value of small branch wood that would otherwise be left to rot or thrown on a fire.
Pole Lathe Turning
Duration: 2 days
14th & 15th March 2012
Fee: £80
Learn to turn wood the traditional way using good old leg power.
Green Woodworking
Duration: 4 days
Monday 19th March
Fee: £180
This is a craft course which demonstrates how to use green wood rather than timber bought from the sawmill.
You will learn how to split and shape green wood using hand tools, a cleaving break and a shave horse.
The understanding of the basic skills can then lead to simple furniture making or producing your own gate or carvinga spoon. The mysteries of traditional craft work can be revealed in this course.
Weave a Garden Structure
Duration: 1 day
Starts: Sat 10th April 2012
Fee: £28
A chance to experiment with willow and hedgerow materials and learn some basic weaving techniques. Make your own garden plant support to take home.
Make a Shavehorse
Duration: 3 days
Starts: 28th April 2012
Fee: £175
Make your own shave-horse workbench to take home with you. All materials and tools supplied.
The shave horse is an ingenious device for working hands free on various greenwood work pieces.
At the College we use a shave horse for making:
- chair and stool parts
- Legs for saw horses and chopping blocks.
- Pegs for wellie boot racks
- Coat hooks
- Parts for shave horses
- Tent pegs
and many other items besides using this essential part of the green woodworkers kit.
Sharpening and Maintaining Hand Tools
Duration: 1 day
TBA
Fee: £30
Well maintained, quality tools are a joy to use and will give you years of service. Learn the mysteries of sharpening and edge tool care in this informative 1 day course.
An Introduction to Coppicing
Duration: 4 days
TBA
Fee: £175
This course will introduce you to the skills needed, to take a neglected broad-leaf woodland and transform it into a productive coppice with wildlife benefits.
Our tutors will demonstrate how to cut a coppice plot safely using appropriate hand tools. You will also learn to identify different tree species and understand their value.
Coppicing is the sustainable way to get our needs from wood so join us and learn how.
Festive Weaving
Duration: 1 day
TBA
Fee: £20 + materials
Spend a day in our woodland workshop weaving christmas decorations from locally grown materials.
Roundwood Timber Framing
Duration: 4 days
Starts: TBA
Fee: £200
Learn the basic skills needed to construct a building frame, from roundwood timber.
- Measure and level a building on uneven ground.
- Simple foundation methods.
- Suitable timber use.
- Jointing techniques.
- Different frame work constructions, set floor beams.
- Raise a timber beam.
- Discuss cladding and roofing methods.
During the course Students will be raising a frame and reciprocal roof for a communal fire pit within a forest garden at the College’s HQ in Moylegrove.
Introduction to the Scythe
Duration: 1 day + free half day*
TBA
Fee: £40
Learn to mow your lawn with a scythe.
These courses will be held within Bruce’s 4 acre Forest Garden situated in Moylegrove, Pembrokeshire. The Forest Garden is managed with the use of a scythe and has all the likely ground conditions anyone may encounter, including lawn, bramble and open meadow.
All Scythes and equipment provided, however you are welcome to bring your own and have it properly fitted and sharpened.
Max 3 students.
Bruce teaches with Austrian Scythes and a range of blades and covers fitting, sharpening honing and peening of blades and of course mowing.
Bruce has used his Austrian scythe to manage his 4 acre Forest Garden and his 2 lawns for 4 years now and highly recommends this method for efficiency, satisfaction and good exercise. Most importantly this method is truly sustainable.
Contact the College for more information and to book.
* Students wishing to buy a Scythe following this course, will be welcome to return at a later date for a FREE half day session, where you will be given assistance with setting up and using the Scythe in the field.
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