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

I am delighted to be able to report that work is now properly underway on our fantastic new woodland workshop at our new home at Higher Holditch Farm.

We plan to move the office on May 8th and the final event at Mangerton will be Dorset Art Weeks, when we'll be open to the public every day from May 24th to 8th June. (More on this below.)

Then we'll be moving the remaining elements of the woodland workshop and doing the final preparations for the first course at Higher Holditch. Pleasingly, this will be a Bowl Carving course (June 26th-27th), which was the first course we ran at Mangerton too.

So, from the 8th May, our new contact details are:

Mallinson Ltd,
Higher Holditch Farm
Holditch
West Dorset
TA20 4NL

Tel: 01460 221 102

The website has already been updated with the new details and we have produced some new information on local hotels, pubs and B&Bs as well as new directions.

A Stunning New Venue

Higher Holditch really is another stunning location, just 10 miles west of Mangerton. The woods there offer us the chance to implement a 30 year plan and to think and work really long term about how to manage the woodland workshop area. Already, Mace is busy clearing any dead and dangerous branches and we are digging out the old dilapidated ditches. There are lots of streams too and, in amongst it all, the opportunity to manage an old Hazel coppice.

All in all, it's a great opportunity. We'll keep you informed of progress in the coming months and I'm looking forward to seeing you there this coming summer or autumn.

Dorset Art Weeks

In case you're not familiar with it, Dorset Art Weeks is a brilliant annual event which sees over 800 Dorset-based artists inviting you to visit their studios and shared exhibitions at more than 330 venues across the whole of the county. Do come and visit - both us and any other artists that you like the look of! There are more details here:

http://www.dorsetartweeks.co.uk/

Totems, Baskets, Charcoal

While all the moving-related activity has been going, this past month has also seen us hold three new courses: Totem Pole Carving, Building A Willow Garden Basket and Making And Drawing With Charcoal.

Rather than me go on about each one at length, I thought I'd simply say that all three went very well, and to get a good idea of what went on please visit the course pages, where you'll find some new photo galleries.

Totem Pole Carving
Building A Willow Garden Basket
Making And Drawing With Charcoal

There are only two dates left for each course in 2008, and they are all starting to fill up. So, if you think one may be the course for you or suitable for a gift you'd like to give, then please do book quickly.

Tipi Collapse

As visitors to the woodland workshop will know, we've long had a tipi down by the river. Well ... the Totem Pole Carving course had an unexpected but quite appropriate additional activity - tipi building. I have to say this was not entirely planned. In fact, it was more than a touch embarrassing as just moments after I'd been enthusiastically extolling the virtues of the 'almost indestructible structure' the whole thing came down like a pile of match sticks!

I now know that the fundamental flaw in the design is that the rope that ties the three main poles can rot over time. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and I was very grateful to have 10 volunteers to help me put it up again. This time I've used with synthetic rope! If you've ever considered your own tipi I suggest something similar ...

Picture Competition - Last Call

Finally, a final reminder for any of you who have been on a course and have some pictures that you have been meaning to send in for our 2007/2008 picture competition. May 15th is the deadline for entries and I'll be announcing the winner of the transferable free course gift certificate in next month's newsletter. If you have photos, send them now! There's more about the competition here:

Guests' Galleries

And that's all for this month. As always, thanks for reading.

Guy and the team

Tree of the month - European Larch - Larix decidua

Despite recent moves towards greater amenity use, forestry plantations of conifers tend to be rather uninspiring places. The dark, massed trees can be oppressive, and the low light levels and dry, acidic ground beneath present a challenge to traditional woodland plants.

In Spring however, one forestry species is outstanding; the European larch, Larix decidua, this month clad in fresh new shoots of feathery, bright green foliage. Although nearly all conifers are evergreen, the larch is fully deciduous, dropping its needles after a gorgeous show of rich, gold autumn colour, and then producing in spring the beautifully fresh new foliage that can be seen and enjoyed right now. Evergreen conifers also shed their needles, but usually do this by losing and replacing needles steadily. The oldest needles are shed at around three to five years old depending on the species, and the process produces little change in appearance, year-round.

Although it grows strongly in Britain, where it usefully reaches a commercial size many times faster than oak, the larch is native to the warmer climate of central and southern Europe. Here great forests of larch can still be found growing; the timber, being both extremely strong and very fire-resistant, was historically valued for housing and boat-building. In ancient Rome, the timber was used for buildings and bridges; the Venetians found it an ideal wood for building in their uniquely challenging conditions, and used the wood both for buildings, and for the submerged piles that support them. Beams of larch more than 100 ft long have been found in sound condition in some of the oldest houses in Venice, attesting to both the strength of the timber, and the vigour of the tree.

A relatively recent arrival to Britain, specimen trees were introduced and cultivated from around 1620. Originally the tree was grown as an exotic ornamental, but as soon it was realised that the trees would thrive in Britain, especially on poor, hilly ground, cultivation for timber began and with it the beginnings of commercial forestry. By 1830 several successive Dukes of Atholl had planted in excess of 15 million trees on their Perthshire estates, and substantial forests of larch still cover the area today. Larch is now grown commercially in upland areas across Britain; the timber is mainly used for staircases, and indoor and outdoor furniture, and the trees are also used as a fast-growing shelter belt to shield slower-growing and more valuable hardwoods.

Although now commonly viewed as just another fast-growing conifer in Britain, in its native lands the unique qualities of the larch were respected and revered. The timber is extraordinarily fire-resistant, and as a result was also used to make charms to protect against fire, as well as illness and the evil eye. As that rare thing, a deciduous conifer, the death-like loss of needles followed by the fresh green of new growth in spring was taken to symbolise the cycle of life; rest and renewal; death and rebirth. Like many members of the pine family, larches produce turpentine, a valuable resin which is collected from mature trees. For centuries turpentine has been valued for its many medicinal uses, for example as an expectorant for bronchial problems, and for treating some of the symptoms of arthritis, rheumatism and gout. It is also used to make varnish. Larch turpentine was known as Venice turpentine, as it was originally produced and exported solely from Venice.

The canopy of larch is airy enough to allow light down to the forest floor, so that native plants can thrive, unlike the dark, sterile forests of hemlock and Norway spruce. This means larch can be grown for both commercial use and amenity woodland, to be enjoyed especially in the fresh green of spring and in the golden shades of autumn, when you might also be lucky enough to find nestling at the foot of a larch tree the edible mushroom Sparassis crispa, or Broody Hen, a delicious and easily-identifiable find that grows only in close proximity to trees in the pine family.

Carolyn Brightwater