Mallinson Ltd - woodwork courses in Dorset. Perfect short breaks for everyone.

Before I mention anything else, this is a loud reminder to everyone with a gift certificate to book a place on a course! Places on courses are strictly limited and the year is filling-up fast. So, please, get in touch by 'phone or via the web site and book your preference sooner rather than later. Certificates are valid for one year from the date of issue.

Just In Time

Well, the March newsletter has only just made it into March! This is not solely because we have been busy down in the woods. I've just finished the final prototype of the wishbone stool and really wanted to have it photographed to give our newsletter readers first news of the finished piece ... and the photographer came back with the images just in the nick of time.

(There are several more photos are on the newly added 'Green Woodworking Furniture' page on this web site.)

The details of this project are in the January newsletter, but in a nutshell it is made entirely by hand from one log of freshly cut Ash. There are no machines involved, no glue or anything nasty - just good healthy hard work and a bit of craftsmanship thrown in. The stools will be made to order and will be launched at an upcoming exhibition with John Makepeace.

April/May Exhibition

Talking of exhibiting, the show in question is called SYZYGY and features a group of furniture and rug makers invited to exhibit by John Makepeace. It runs from the 12th April to the 10th May at the Alpha House Gallery in Sherborne.

I hope that lots of you will be able to come down to Sherborne for the show as it promises to be a very interesting mix of excellent well-known designer-makers. The details are:

http://www.alpha-house.co.uk/

Alpha House Gallery
South Street
Sherborne
Dorset
DT9 3LU
Tel: +44 (0)1935 814 944

Private Bookings

Amongst all the other activities, we had a very enjoyable private booking in March, from a group of like-minded dads and their boys. (See the latest picture on guests' galleries). A great day was had by all and some interesting Mother's Day presents were made by the boys.

I'm pleased to say private bookings are proving very popular and are working well in practice. Don't hesitate to call or email me with any ideas for any diverse group you may have in mind - we are very flexible and can normally respond positively, whether it's a company outing with a difference, a group of old friends, a family reunion or anything else.

Moving Times

We are moving! After all this time, we've finally sorted out a new home for the long-term future. As quite a few of you will already know, I have been searching West Dorset for a new venue for the courses. Our current venue, now being sold, was only ever a temporary solution as we didn't have a long term lease on the property. Naturally, we needed security - for our peace of mind, for the business to develop on a firm footing and to enable us to start the thirty-year plan we want to embark on for our woodland workshop.

So, after much searching I am delighted to say we have now found the most idyllic woodland only a few miles west of Mangerton, and have just agreed a long term lease on it. There is a lot of work to be done to get a new woodland workshop established, but that's already started and is all going well. With a bit of luck we should be moving the courses later in the summer - and in the meantime we're able to stay at Mangerton until we're ready to move. Of course, I'll keep you posted with more details as and when.

It must be said that April is shaping up to be a hectic month, with seven events here at Mangerton, private views in connection with the exhibition, the new woodland workshop building, and we're moving house too. I'll need a few days off in the woods myself after that lot!

Guy and the team

Tree of the month - Blackthorn Prunus spinosa

After so many deliciously spring-like days in February, the recent cold, winds, rain and sleet has come as rather a shock. Just a couple of weeks ago, walking in a local nature reserve on a bright, crisp afternoon, I was admiring delicate primroses and the fountains of bright green leaves which herald the sea of bluebells to come. Hawthorn trees were breaking leaf, and the blackthorns stood out along the hedge line with their mass of delicate white blossoms carried on stark, black branches. The blossoms are appearing a little early this year, but still timed to coincide with a sudden cold snap after the false spring. Blackthorn does this so unfailingly that this unwelcome return of the cold weather is known as a 'blackthorn winter'.

The blackthorn, Prunus spinosa is a small shrubby tree, sometimes reaching up to 30ft high, but with an impressive spread, as it suckers up freely and will form dense thickets if allowed. The rather lovely French name for blackthorn is Me`re-du-bois, or 'mother of the woods', as the dense, spiny thickets of blackthorn will protect young saplings of all species in a nursery bed, allowing the trees to grow protected from predators. The thorny habit of the blackthorn also makes it a safe roost for many birds and mammals, although one bird, the now very endangered redbacked shrike, will use the long thorns to impale and store its prey of small birds, animals and insects. Observation of this behaviour led to blackthorn being known as the 'dirty thorn', and, indeed, blackthorn is likely to cause a nasty infection in humans. For this reason blackthorn, which is a common and useful component of mixed hedges, is unpopular with hedgers, as an injury from the formidable thorns will almost always become septic, and the tip of the thorn will often snap off under the skin, leaving a black mark when the injury eventually heals.

As well as being a hazard to hedge layers, the vicious spines of the blackthorn will easily puncture a tyre, if, as I was, you are unfortunate enough to drive down a lane after the hedging flail has been at work. One hybrid of blackthorn and the cultivated plum, P. x fruticans, even produces thorns long enough and strong enough to puncture a tractor tyre. The wood is also exceedingly hard, but as the trees are generally small and gnarled, the timber does not reach a commercially useful size. Blackthorn branches are traditionally used to make walking sticks, for which use the wood was praised by William Cobbett for its strength and attractive, knotty appearance. It is also the wood traditionally used for that formidable Irish argument rectifier (cudgel), the Shillelagh.

After the early flush of blossoms, blackthorn comes to the attention again much later in the year with its crop of small, sharp plum-like fruits, called sloes. The blackthorn is implicated in the ancestry of many species of domestic plums that have been developed over the years, but its own fruit has just a little sharp-flavoured flesh over a large stone. In earlier times, sloes were used to make a home grown 'vintage port', but are now gathered mainly to make into wine, or best of all, sloe gin. Although it is tempting to get out and gather the blue-black harvest as soon as it is revealed by the falling leaves of autumn, to get them at their best, pickers need to stay their hand until after a frost has softened the sloes, which then give up more flavour to the gin.

The dried leaves of blackthorn were once used to adulterate tea, at the time a valuable commodity. This practise was eventually legalised by act of parliament, as long as the mixture was referred to as 'English tea' The astringent quality of the fruit led to them being used for a variety of medicinal uses, including the treatment of incontinence and diarrhoea, and sloe gin was regarded as a medicinal tonic for the digestive system, albeit one with more than usually pleasant side-effects.

Carolyn Brightwater