Home About Us Products and Prices Courses and Shows Good Advice Links
About Us
Brian Williamson:
I first became interested in the old wood-working crafts as a conservation volunteer in the early eighties, when scrub-clearing, hedge-laying and coppicing were part of my regular habitat management tasks. It was a short step from producing a supply of raw materials to wondering what people would have done with them in times gone-by. Unfortunately, the old craft industries were probably at their lowest ebb around then and it was very hard finding anyone to teach me any of the old skills. But a mixture of trial-and-error, reading such books as were then available and talking to the few old-timers who could still be found demonstrating at agricultural shows deepened my interest and advanced my knowledge.
A number of years paid work in nature conservation in and around Oxford followed before I moved into full-time forestry. In both occupations I was able to work on my craft skills and, eventually, started doing demonstrations myself and then selling as a side-line and,, eventually running courses. After some twelve years in forestry I decided to make the sideways leap into hurdle-making and became a full-time coppice worker in association with the Pang Valley Countryside Project in Berkshire. In 2000 I moved down to rural north Devon and remained there until March 2008.
Initially, my career as a coppice worker revolved almost entirely around hurdles and charcoal, but after a couple of seasons I dropped the charcoal burning and concentrated on the 'cleaner' crafts, expanding my repertoire to include gate-hurdles, post-and-rail fencing, wooden rakes, beesom brooms, tent pegs, shingles and laths. In fact, virtually anything that can be made from cleft and unseasoned wood. Since I moved down to North Devon, I have started to look more at the local coppice materials (good quality hazel is very hard to find down here) and I am increasingly working with oak coppice and the building of small round-timber framed garden structures. Being joined by Ruth (my apprentice) has meant that I can keep almost all of my old business whilst expanding into this new field.
As well as our local cutting work we are involved in a major coppice restoration program in the National Arboretum at Westonbirt, Gloucestershire. This is providing us with a small (but growing) supply of hazel, some good quality ash and the occasional oak from the thinning programme. It is also offering the opportunity to 'sell' the benefits of coppicing to a wide audience (Westonbirt is a very well visited site) as well as selling the coppice products themselves.
We also regularly cut hazel up in north Hampshire where there are still good supplies of well-managed coppice, bringing the rods back down to Devon to be made up into hurdles. These cutting expeditions will probably decline in years to come as the hazel at Westonbirt improves, but at the moment it gives us a third area to market our products into.
For anyone wanting to come and have a look at what we make, we always welcome visits (by prior arrangement, to make sure that we are actually here), or we can be found demonstrating at a number of shows in the west-country during the summer months (have a look at the Courses and Shows page).
Ruth Goodfellow (apprentice):
I joined Brian at the beginning of 2007 and am apprenticed to him for three years. The apprenticeship is part of the national BHMAT (Bill Hogarth Memorial Apprenticeship Trust) scheme, and is administered through the Green Wood Centre. Its aim is to train young people in the skills of the coppice trade(s) by allowing them to see the full workings of a small coppice business, in the manner of traditional apprenticeships, and thus ensure the development and continuation of this ancient craft.
I am 27 years old and came to coppicing via a roundabout route: the mainstream education system up to university, and then a fairly long spell wwoofing (Willing Workers On Organic Farms), mainly in Britain. I was determined to find a way to earn my living working outdoors, and coppicing is by far the best way I found since it allows me to incorporate other important factors like sustainability, working closely with the natural world, and long-term thinking.
Most of my time is spent with Brian learning to make hurdles as well as the other products in his repertoire. I also have the opportunity to spend time with other green woodworkers and coppice craftsmen as part of the scheme. It's an excellent, flexible scheme and I have learnt a lot so far. I'm starting to take my own hurdle orders now and am looking forward to the coming show season!
Our Future:
We recently moved to Stroud in Gloucestershire, where much of our work is based around Westonbirt Arboretum. We are still making hazel hurdles and continue to develop a range of small, oak framed buildings like summer-houses and sheltered seats from local timber. Hopefully, we will also be able to supply our products further west, combining the occasional delivery of orders with visits to see old friends.